Controversial marine-reserve bill dies in House

Hawai‘i fishermen have fought efforts by state legislators to establish marine reserves aimed at replenishing fish populations in Hawaiian waters.

Due to opposition from fishermen again this year, members of the state House of Representatives decided to hold up a bill which could have set up no-fishing areas off every island, state Rep. Ezra Kanoho, D-East and South Kaua‘i, told The Garden Island.

Kanoho, who cointroduced HB131, said the bill has merit, noting the legislation, if it had become law, would also have helped halt the decline in fish populations in Hawai‘i, and worked to reduce conflicts among different folks who frequent shoreline areas.

The bill has stalled due to opponents “who exerted enough influence to put it on hold for a while,” Kanoho said.

The bill was referred to the House Finance Committee, and “it will not move in this session, but is an issue we will address in the next session (in 2006),” Kanoho said.

Under the bill, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources would create a pilot project on Kaua‘i. DLNR officials would set up a marine reserve that would encompass a minimum of 20 percent of state-managed waters that are within 600 feet of the shoreline. Other projects would be developed on the other inhabited islands, the bill said.

Kanoho co-introduced the bill along with state Rep. Bertha Kawakami, D-West Kauai-Ni‘ihau, and state Rep. Hermina Morita, D-North Shore. Other introducers of the bill were Reps. Brian Schatz, Blake Oshiro and Helene H. Hale.

Kanoho said protection of fish stock for today’s fishermen and those of tomorrow is paramount.

Fishermen in Hawai‘i have fought similar bills in the past, although the legislation is needed and overdue, Kanoho said. “We need to conserve the resource, to make sure there is fish for them in five years and fish for fishermen 20 years from now.”

The bill notes that Hawai‘i is the most isolated archipelago in the world, and that the state has one of the highest proportions of marine species that “exist nowhere in the world.” Hawai‘i is home to one-of-a-kind coral resources, the bill noted.

The replenishment of fish stocks and the protection of marine resources are “of vital economic, environmental, cultural and social importance to the people of Hawai‘i,” said the drafters of the bill.

The bill calls for formalizing ongoing efforts by DLNR officials in developing a process to receive public input to categorize marine-managed areas in Hawai‘i.

Marine parks, marine-life conservation districts, fishery-management areas and public-fishing areas would most likely be considered during the gathering of public comments, the bill noted.

“The idea is to get the community involved in the discussions so that there is an understanding of what we face (consequences such as depletion of fish stocks through overfishing, for example),” Kanoho said.

Kanoho said marine reserves have worked successfully wherever they have been implemented. Some fishermen on Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific, didn’t like the idea of the marine reserves when they were established, but they like them now because the zones will help protect fishing for future generations of fishermen from that island, Kanoho said.

State programs to conserve marine resources in Hawai‘i are in place today, although those projects cover less space than what would be managed within a marine-reserve zone, Kanoho said.

DLNR leaders have established fishery-management areas at Nawiliwili Harbor, Ahukini and Port Allen Harbor that allow for the use of fish nets in some areas and prohibits the use of nets in other areas, Kanoho said.

A marine-life conservation district, also known as a designated no-fishing area, has been established for Hanauma Bay on O‘ahu.

Marine-protection plans also have been carried out in waters off the Big Island at Kealakekau Bay.

Lester Chang, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang@pulitzer.net.