EDITORIAL
Honolulu fishery hub must be kept open

With domestic budgets being slashed from one corner of the U.S. government to another, it was hardly surprising that money allocated for fisheries management would also take a hit.

Thus, the White House proposal to trim some $100 million from the National Marine Fisheries Service budget to around $727 million was not totally unexpected.

What was unexpected, and we believe unwise, was a plan to eliminate altogether the Pacific Islands Regional Office in Hawai'i. This office has management and research responsibilities over a huge area of the Pacific.

No doubt it is believed that some of the functions of the Hawai'i office can be relocated to San Francisco, which already has major responsibilities up and down the West Coast.

What will be lost, however, is the expertise and detailed knowledge the Honolulu office has developed about fishery practices, customs and international relations that dominate the Pacific region. That's not easily replaced.

Some have argued that federal fisheries officials have not done as aggressive a job of protecting and managing the resource in this part of the world as they could. That may be so, but this is a matter of degree.

It cannot be disputed that the work of the Pacific islands office has led to important conservation programs and new knowledge on how to manage our fisheries on a sustainable basis.

The fishing industry is an important economic driver in Hawai'i and is by far the dominant economic activity in many Pacific islands. It deserves a knowledgeable, experienced and on-site federal management presence of its own.

The Honolulu office must not be shut down.