Residents have been working with officials at Limahuli Garden in Ha’ena since summer, conducting an inventory of fish, coral, invertebrate and limu in ocean waters off the Limahuli Stream. If a similar study is done next year and shows a
Residents have been working with officials at Limahuli Garden in Ha’ena since summer, conducting an inventory of fish, coral, invertebrate and limu in ocean waters off the Limahuli Stream.
If a similar study is done next year and shows a decline in the population of marine resources there, it might “be prudent” to push for a “marine-management area” to protect sea life and resources there, said Kawika Goodale, assistant director at Limahuli Garden.
The garden is part of the larger National Tropical Botanical Garden system, which also has gardens at Lawa’i Kai.
“We are getting a baseline study on what is there now, and if we come back next year, we can determine whether it (marine resources) is better or worse,” Goodale said. The study was recently completed and “now we are in the compilation stage,” he added.
Brad Deffenbaugh, a staff writer for Hawaii Fishing News on O’ahu, said a two-year study is too short a time to properly analyze ocean waters off Ha’ena. Five years may be needed to do the job, he said.
Whether or not marine-management areas are desired by Hawai’i residents is still a debate topic.
Last year, Hawai’i fishermen successfully fought against proposed legislation calling for no-fishing zones in parts of Hawai’i, to help marine resources replenish. Freshmen see the proposed zones as obstacles to their fishing grounds.
State Rep. Hermina Morita, D-Hanalei, pushed for such legislation last year, but said she won’t back such bills unless the community gets behind the proposal. The bill will be re-introduced in the 2004 session of the Legislature, which begins in late January.
Related to the Ha’ena study, five areas were set up about 400 meters on each side of the coastal area by the stream, Goodale said.
A few auxiliary zones were used on days when weather was bad and accessibly to the study zones was not possible, Goodale said.
The areas were located between 10 meters and 200 meters from shore, he said.
The area was chosen for the study because Limahuli Garden officials and community residents want to protect the ahupua’a system of Ha’ena, Goodale said.
The study was funded through a grant awarded to Limahuli Garden by the Nature Conservancy.
The funds also were used to interview kupuna who had fished the area in the past, train community members in marine assessment, map and monitor resources, and identify past human uses of the area, Goodale said. The amount of the grant was not disclosed.
Establishing a marine management area off the Limahuli Stream coastline would not necessarily mean “they (fishermen or others) won’t be able to go there,” Goodale said.
“We are trying to sustain the health of the marine eco-system,” he said. “This is our ultimate goal.” The marine-management area could be used for viewing, for instance, Goodale said.
Morita said fishing would most likely not be banned in a marine-management zone if established by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
But Morita said small “kapu” (forbidden) areas within the zone could result in regeneration of fish populations and rehabilitation of the marine eco-system.
In addition, shoreline areas next to the protective area would very likely see increases in fish populations, Morita said. This could happen as more fish from the protective area move to adjoining areas, Morita said.
The protective area could mean fishermen on Kaua’i could have a “sustainable” source of fish for generations to come, Morita said.
Goodale said a protective zone worked on a small island in the Philippines, and indicated Hawai’i could derive similar benefits through the establishment of the zones.
“Twenty percent of the reef was closed off to fishing, and the result was that the small island, which wanted sustainable fishing, now has sustainable fishing,” Goodale said.
Morita said she would like to have marine-management areas established in at least 20 percent of the shoreline waters throughout Hawai’i.
Last year, Morita said she and other state legislators supported legislation to manage Hawai’i fisheries through House Bill 1407.
The bill would have created a network of marine reserves in the main Hawaiian Islands through a marine stewardship advisory council established on each island, Morita said.
But the legislation and versions of it didn’t move due to opposition from fishermen, Morita said.
But that attitude might change if fishermen are involved in creating the zones, and convinced of the long-term benefits of the zones, Morita said.
Opposition to proposed zones also came from “those that feel the current minimum catch size and catch method regulations are adequate,” Morita wrote in an letter to The Garden Island.
Morita said there are two prevailing thoughts on how to preserve marine resources in Hawai’i: use minimum catch sizes or marine-management area designations.
She said the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Aquatic Resources staff is divided over which method is better.
Morita said it was her opinion that marine-management areas are a better way to go. “Right now, we are fishing out areas,” Morita said. “And fishing is getting smaller, because we rely on the minimum-catch size, and they aren’t productive.”
The bigger fish that are sexually mature and can reproduce are the ones that should be saved in greater numbers, Morita said.
Staff Writer Lester Chang may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net.
