ISLAND VOICES
Fisheries in Hawai'i must be curtailed

By Tina Owens

Recently a bill was sent before the state Legislature that would have vastly improved each island's fisheries management. However, the proposed Marine Reserves Network legislation has effectively been killed for this year.

This is discouraging because this is the bill the fishermen really should have supported. It would have been the first time that a law would have granted more power to fishermen to make their own decisions about their own local fisheries.

The basic content of the bill said that fishery decisions would no longer be made solely by a centralized government agency sitting in Honolulu, but that each island would have its own individual fishery management area, to be overseen by an advisory committee of members of each stakeholder group and each community affected.

It also mandated that the local communities would advise where to position no-take areas within their own management area. These no-take areas were to be approximately 20 percent of the shoreline distance of each island.

It seemed that the real sticking point in the bill came from the 20 percent no-take areas. There was fear that the no-take areas would be more than 20 percent, perhaps even 100 percent. This is obviously not going to happen if the local residents are the ones to be deciding the issue.

Scientists strongly believe that no-take areas are much more effective than other management tools. The ancient Hawaiians were very aware of the value of "kapu" areas, and they established and enforced them.

The state is eventually going to have to put aside 20 percent as no-take areas, and I believe that most fishermen know in their hearts that that day will come.

Before automatically dismissing bills such as this, fishermen should be asking themselves the following questions:

• Do I honestly feel that the fishing is as good or better than it was before?
• Do I honestly think that fisheries do not need management to continue to thrive?
• Do I honestly think that everyone should be allowed to fish anywhere for anything in any numbers that they want?
• Do I honestly prefer to have these decisions made by an agency in Honolulu, rather than in my own community?

Tina Owens is with the LOST FISH Coalition in Kailua, Kona, Hawai'i.