Posted on: Saturday, May 14, 2005

Marine refuge proposed for NW islands

Advertiser Staff

The Board of Land and Natural Resources yesterday approved a plan to create a marine refuge in waters three miles around each of the islands in the 1,200-mile-long Northwestern Hawaiian Islands chain.

The plan would prohibit all commercial and recreational fishing and require an entry permit for all other uses including for Native Hawaiian practices.

More than a dozen people testified in support of the measure at the Land Board meeting.

Peter Young, chairman of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, said the proposed rules emerged from two rounds of public hearings held statewide over the last three and a half years. More than 25,000 public comments were received.

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are surrounded by some of the most extensive and healthy coral reefs in the world and are home to more then 7,000 species of marine plants and animals including the endangered monk seal and green sea turtle which find a refuge in the remote archipelago.

Young said the rules set in motion the most significant marine conservation initiative in the history of the state by creating the state's largest marine refuge.

The refuge would include all state waters from Nihoa, the tiny island beyond Ni'ihau and Kaua'i, to Kure Atoll, the northernmost land mass in the Hawaiian chain except Midway. The rules would prohibit extractive uses in state refuge waters, including commercial and recreational fishing and require an entry permit for all other activities.

Native Hawaiian practices will be allowed in the refuge.