HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

173

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES TO CONDUCT A PILOT PROJECT TO ASSESS THE FEASIBILITY OF A COMMUNITY-BASED MARINE RESERVE ADVISORY PROCESS TO SUPPORT THE DEPARTMENT IN THE IDENTIFICATION, DESIGNATION, AND STEWARDSHIP OF MARINE RESERVE SITES and to conduct a survey to identify areas of the marine environment where management and resource protection needs are the greatest.

 

 

WHEREAS, the Department of Land and Natural Resources is authorized to manage the aquatic resources of the State; and

WHEREAS, the Department is authorized to establish areas where fishing and other activities associated with aquatic resources are managed for their conservation and protection; and

WHEREAS, the Department established the first marine life conservation district at Hanauma Bay, Oahu in 1967 and has subsequently established nine other marine life conservation districts and sixteen marine fisheries management areas statewide; and

WHEREAS, despite the fiscal constraints placed on the Department over the past eight years, the Department has established new fisheries management areas at Kiholo Bay (Hawaii) in 1997, along West Hawaii in 1999, at Port Allen (Kauai) in 2002, at Nawiliwili (Kauai) in 2002 and improved the regulations at existing managed areas at Molokini Shoal (Maui), Hanauma Bay (Oahu), Manele Bay (Lanai), Hilo Bay (Hawaii), and Pupukea (Oahu); and

WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that the proposal of the managed areas (including proposals to establish no-take marine protected areas) can be a very sensitive issue for the public; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature supports the concept of community-based processes to involve the community where these managed areas may be established; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature recognizes that the community is made up of a number of different interest groups, such as fishers, scientists, and environmentalists; and

WHEREAS, the scientific community can provide valuable information on biological diversity and ecosystems; and

WHEREAS, the environmental community has a significant concern in protecting and ensuring biological diversity and ecosystem integrity; and

WHEREAS, the general community relies on the Department to ensure that their public trust marine resources will be available for use today, as well as in the future; and

WHEREAS, the decline in the size, number, distribution, and quality of a wide variety of important native marine species and habitat has been observed and documented in Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, the replenishment of coral reef resources are of vital economic, environmental, cultural, and social importance to the people of Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii's existing marine management areas need to be augmented with additional marine reserves that meet the criteria set forth by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in their Scientific Consensus Statement on Marine Reserves; and

WHEREAS, marine reserves around the world have benefited fishing communities through increased spawning success, egg production, and harvest rates in the surrounding areas; and

WHEREAS, the success of marine reserves as management tools to help restore stock abundance and protect spawning stocks and nursery areas is dependent, in large measure, on local community support and involvement; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2003, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Land and Natural Resources is respectfully requested to identify a community of representative marine user groups interested, willing, and able to act as a pilot Marine Stewardship Advisory Council for the purposes of creating a community-based marine reserve advisory process that would support the Department in the identification, designation, and stewardship of appropriate marine reserve sites in the pilot area; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department is requested to convene and facilitate meetings of the Advisory Council and assist it in the development of a process whereby marine reserves could be identified and created in the designated area that would meet the American Association for the Advancement of Science criteria; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Advisory Council is requested to consider:

(1) The diversity of representative habitat types and biotic communities;

(2) The entire variety of habitats in the home ranges of key species;

(3) Lands and waters of sufficient size, number, and distribution to ensure survival of important marine resources from isolated catastrophic events;

(4) Unique ecological areas and areas of critical ecological function;

(5) Spawning populations, nursery grounds, and other habitats necessary to support replenishment of species important to subsistence, recreational, and commercial fishing;

(6) Marine resources that are important for supporting recreational and marine tourism activities;

(7) Critical, sensitive, endemic, or unique habitats and species; and

(8) Important marine cultural resources and cultural education opportunities;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Advisory Council is requested to consider activities that might be allowed or prohibited in the demonstration reserves, as well as assessment, management, monitoring, and enforcement measures needed, and education and funding sources required to make them effective, and make appropriate recommendations to the Department; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department is requested, subject to their budget and human resource constraints, to conduct a survey to identify areas of the marine environment where management and resources protection needs are the greatest; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department is requested to report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2005; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Marine reserve areas