Hawai'i groups praise ocean policy plan
| • | Ailing oceans need help, panel says |
By Janis L. Magin
Associated Press
A report by a presidential commission proposing the creation of a trust fund to protect oceans has greater importance for Hawai'i than most states because of the islands' dependence on the seas.
"Hawai'i over probably all other states has a dependence and interdependence on the ocean," said Peter Young, chairman of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy draft report released yesterday also drew praise from scientists and environmentalists for its focus on ecosystem-based management that incorporates every aspect of ocean health — from inland estuaries to marine fisheries — while acknowledging that people's needs also must be met.
The oceans report recognizes that "unless we make some substantial changes in the way we manage our marine resources, coastlines and the waters that drain into the sea, the ocean which was once perceived to be a boundless resource will cease to be able to sustain us in the ways to which we have become accustomed," said Rick Gaffney, a Big Island advocate for recreational fishing and co-chair of the West Hawai'i Fisheries Council.
The document was sent to governors, including Gov. Linda Lingle, who, along with the public, have until May 21 to comment on it. A final report goes to Congress and the White House later this year.
The report recommends the creation of the Ocean Policy Trust Fund, which would come from the annual $5 billion from oil and gas royalties, and newer activities.
It proposes that $3 billion be used for federal programs, but that $1 billion be shared among the states. Hawai'i likely would gain a share of that money, but it's premature to say how much or in what form, Young and other officials said yesterday.
Roger Lukas, a professor of oceanography at the University of Hawai'i who testified at one of the commission's public meetings in Hawai'i in 2002, noted that the report was the result of two years of research and gathering input on ocean policy from scientists, policymakers and other stakeholders.
"It's a good thing in general to take stock of the way in which we manage our ocean resources and govern them, and that's what this commission was all about," he said.
Lukas said one of the recommendations in the 500-page report calls for the creation of a sustained integrated ocean-observing system, a collection of focused observations of such things as temperatures, current, marine life and pollutants. Such information could be made available in real time in forms that would be useful, such as a map of currents that ocean rescuers could consult, he said.
"It's fair to say the policymakers, the managers, the leaders, cannot make informed decisions ... without having better information about what's going on in the oceans," Lukas said.
Paul Dalzell, a senior scientist with the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, said the report pays close attention to the idea of fishery management and appears to support the nation's eight regional councils.
He noted one recommendation that is of particular interest for Hawai'i, where local anglers may cast a line into the ocean without asking anyone's permission.
The report "recommends that everybody has a license to fish," Dalzell said. "That's something that's been a contentious point in the past in Hawai'i."
"Everybody knows the ocean's polluted; the only question is what are we going to do about it," Lukas said.
"A big part of what we do about it has to do with getting a variety of government agencies from the federal level all the way down to the cities and counties working together."
Advertiser staff writer Jan TenBruggencate contributed to this report.
