Public meetings seton ocean resources management

Leaders of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs have been instrumental in bringing public “community conversations” or “listening sessions” on ocean resources management to Kaua‘i next week.

The meetings are Monday, Sept. 13, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Kekaha Neighborhood Center, and Tuesday, Sept. 14 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Kapa‘a Public Library.

The meetings are to gather public input about ocean issues in advance of a December 2004 Hawai‘i Summit-to-Sea Conference and proposed update of the state’s Ocean Resources Management Plan.

Roland Sagum and Donald Thornburg are Kaua‘i members of a statewide advisory committee tasked to represent the island in ocean matters. They are members of the Marine Coastal Zone Advocacy Council.

In an effort to assure the proper management of natural and cultural resources, OHA staff seeks ways to incorporate Native Hawaiian knowledge and management methods into the state’s, and the potential Hawaiian nation’s, resource management policy and practice, according to an OHA spokesperson.

Access and cultural rights that are woven throughout Hawai‘i state law mean little without resource management rights, the spokesperson said.

Over the coming months, OHA staff will be working to incorporate Native Hawaiian resource-management skills and knowledge throughout Hawai‘i’s ocean- and coastal-management plans.

OHA officials plan to report back to the community on results of the December conference, and participate in follow-up focus groups to revamp the current state Ocean Resources Management Plan.

The Hawai‘i Ocean Resources Management Plan (ORMP) is a statewide plan to direct all agencies in management policies and practices for the ocean and coastal regions, and was first published in 1991, although drafting began in 1988.

Four years later, it was adopted as state policy by the 1995 state Legislature. Today, it continues to remain more of a lofty plan than a guide to realized policy, with implementation hampered by fiscal restraints as well as the sheer extensiveness of the plan, OHA officials said.

By revamping it over the coming year, stakeholders and resource managers and users hope to make the ORMP a living document with an effective implementation strategy.

In 1998, the Coastal Zone Management program conducted a follow-up study to identify reasons for the plan’s seeming failure in certain areas. Researchers found that common problems with the ORMP were lack of public education, few resources for enforcement, no vision of the value of natural resources, difficulty in obtaining information about resource management, and the lack of cooperation among agencies.

The same problems and concerns appear to exist today, as noted by representatives of all state agencies tasked with some kind of ocean or coastal management. Another noted absence in the ORMP is that of any mention of Native Hawaiian resource-management knowledge or practices.

OHA staff seeks to help rectify these problems through several ongoing and upcoming efforts.

The Kaua‘i meetings are the first in a series of statewide listening sessions planned on each island to allow members of the Hawaiian community to share their concerns and knowledge about ocean and coastal issues, which are individual to each island.

These community members may otherwise be unable to attend the December conference on O‘ahu, but their input will be invaluable for assuring the protection and incorporation of Native Hawaiian values and knowledge into the current practices that impact ocean and coastal management, OHA officials said.

Staff at OHA say they do notbelieve that community members should just be used as resources, but should also be reported back to and included in the whole process. Some of these participants and CRCs will also be panelists and participants in the December conference. Also, OHA staff will be reporting back to those community members.