ISLAND VOICES
Your help is needed to protect ocean life
By Peter Young
The Board of Land and Natural Resources recently authorized the Department of Land and Natural Resources to explore ways the state can continue to better manage, conserve and protect our marine and coastal ecosystems as well as maintain healthy fish stocks.
Our goal is to assure there is "fish for the future."
This public effort will include holding public community meetings to further discuss, refine and review a proposed framework for marine managed areas. The process will begin with focus group meetings with stakeholders in each county and will include discussions with all affected agencies and will report back to the BLNR with further recommendations.
Some confusion exists about marine managed areas being automatically "no take" (no fishing permitted) areas. Actually, many marine managed areas, as well as marine protected areas, permit fishing and other uses.
What stresses Hawai'i's marine ecosystems? People.
Although there are natural causes of stress (e.g., hurricanes), by far the most important ones are a result of human activity.
Urbanization and coastal alteration reduces and degrades natural habitat. Inshore ecosystems are impacted by harbors, marinas, seawalls, channelization of streams, injection well seepage and many other types of habitat alteration.
Sedimentation washes soil from upland areas into the ocean. Removal of vegetation makes the problem worse. Sediment smothers corals and other marine life and often carries contaminants such as pesticides, petroleum residue and other pollutants.
Recreational overuse damages habitat and interferes with spawning, feeding and nursery areas. The impacts often occur as a result of overcrowded beaches, trampling on reefs, anchor damage and recreational watercraft disturbances.
Overfishing is harvesting marine life faster than it can be replenished through natural growth and reproduction. More people fishing, using better gear, vessels and technologies, adversely impacts fish populations.
Alien species compete with native species. Various types of non-native fishes, invertebrates and algae have been introduced by people into Hawai'i's waters, often causing substantial ecological damage.
Pollution includes toxins and excess nutrients that flow into coastal waters and harm marine organisms in a number of ways. The effect of pollution is especially pronounced in bays and harbors, which have less natural "flushing" action from tides and currents.
To better take care of our marine ecosystems, we need to take less out (fish, habitat, etc.) and put less in (pollution, sediments, etc.). This is one area where everyone can do something to help. Each of us can make an effort to reduce our own impacts.
Taking responsibility for the marine environment might mean protecting some areas. Conserving resources and sharing them with future generations is part of our responsibility. Protecting resources today is much easier than trying to rebuild Hawai'i's unique ecosystems, which might be impossible.
For nearly 40 years, the state of Hawai'i has been designating marine areas under different names for different types of special management and attention.
We don't have all the answers, but most people agree that Hawai'i's marine resources are not what they used to be. Because we do not fully understand the consequences of stresses we create for marine ecosystems, we must use caution and minimize risks.
To accomplish our task, the DLNR is helping to connect communities and constituencies with the resources that surround them. We are also working collaboratively with other agencies at all levels.
Each of us shares the responsibility for protection and preservation of our natural and cultural resources. What each of us does every day affects Hawai'i's environment. If we want Hawai'i's resources to remain healthy, we must each make a personal commitment to protect and care for them.
Please keep in mind the word "ho'okuleana." It means "to take responsibility" and refers in the broadest sense to our individual and collective responsibility to:
• Participate — rather than ignore.
• Prevent — rather than react.
• Preserve — rather than degrade.
Today, we are looking at what kinds of protection are needed to ensure we have fish for the future. To find the right tools to protect the marine environment, the DLNR needs your help. It will soon be conducting public meetings to develop a marine managed area policy to best protect nearshore and marine ecosystems. We encourage broad public participation in this process.
Peter T. Young is chairman of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources.
