A growing chorus of marine scientists, resource managers and reef conservation groups are calling for additional protected areas in Hawaii waters, where fishing would be banned or severely restricted.

There are 38 state-managed marine protected areas in Hawaii — 11 marine life conservation districts and 27 regulated fishing areas. Put together, the protected areas represent only 4 percent of the state's nearshore waters less than 60 feet deep, according to the 2008 report on "The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the Main Hawaiian Islands," issued by NOAA's Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment's Biogeography Branch and Coral Reef Conservation Program. The report is a collaboration by marine scientists from federal, state and nonprofit agencies.

In six of the 11 marine life conservation districts, some type of fishing is permitted. Less than one-half of 1 percent of coastal waters in the main Hawaiian Islands are in no-take zones, the report said. Taking into account the state-protected areas and shorelines around military bases on Oahu and Kauai and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park where access is prohibited or severely limited, fishing is unrestricted in 89.5 percent of nearshore areas.

Department of Land and Natural Resources chairwoman Laura H. Thielen said marine protected areas are "one of many tools" — along with "kapu" seasons and catch size and bag limits — available to resource managers.

"If people are looking at having a fisheries in the main Hawaiian Islands that is sustainable, we certainly have to take more steps to have more protected areas," Thielen said.

Dan Polhemus, head of DLNR's Division of Aquatic Resources, said erecting fences or other boundaries to set off protected areas on land is a long-established practice in Hawaii, but acceptance of spatially based management of the ocean "is slower in coming."

"Our current system of marine life conservation districts was put together ad hoc over time as people found they wanted this or that protected. Nobody ever sat down and worked out a master plan," he said.

That's why, for example, there are no marine life conservation districts around Kauai, even though the ancient barrier reef at Mana boasts the only Acropora coral colonies in the main Hawaiian Islands.

Although the state has no current plans to expand or add marine protected areas, Polhemus said DLNR is working with federal agencies under a 2000 executive order signed by President Bill Clinton to strengthen and expand the nation's system of marine protected areas to ensure conservation of representative examples of ocean ecosystems. He said implementation of the order has been slow, with national centers just recently formed to coordinate the effort.

GOING NATIONAL

DLNR this year nominated seven existing protected areas — Ahihi-Kínau, Hanauma, Molokini, Kahoolawe, Kealakekua, Pupukea and the West Hawaii Fisheries Management Area — for inclusion in a national system. All were accepted and what comes next is scientific analysis to determine if there are "gaps" in the ecosystems represented, according to Polhemus.

The nationwide planning process will guide the state in future expansion of its marine protected areas, he said.

Hawaii lags other Pacific communities in shielding coastal waters from fishing pressure. The Republic of Palau, whose economy is dependent on the dive tour industry, has set aside 40 percent of its nearshore ocean in marine protected areas, and Guam established a system of five preserves covering 15.5 percent of its coastal waters, not including other areas under federal and territorial protection.

Both Palau and Guam, along with the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, are making advances toward meeting a goal of conserving 30 percent of their nearshore waters by 2020 under the Micronesia Challenge that came out of the 2006 international Convention of Biological Diversity.

In Fiji, a network of more than 60 "locally managed areas" covering 15 percent of coastal waters was established to protect resources used by traditional communities.

American Samoa is taking steps toward setting aside 20 percent of its nearshore waters as no-take zones, and is working with individual villages to develop a community-based fisheries management program to support sustainable harvests.

Conservationists in Hawaii say the state's largely species-specific piecemeal approach to fishing regulations and inadequate enforcement by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources have allowed the continuing decline of Hawaii's coral reef ecosystems.

A 2008 study found that 75 percent of fish species in the main Hawaiian Islands are in "critical" or "depleted" condition. Scientists say current minimum-size rules fail to protect many species from harvest before they reach maturity and don't safeguard larger and older fish, which have the greatest reproductive output.

"We've spent so much time and effort lately on these size and bag limit things and there's no realistic enforcement of these rules, and it's not going to change trajectories of what we're seeing. We need a network of protected areas," said Bill Walsh, an aquatic biologist with DLNR's Division of Aquatic Resources who works on the Kona coast.

FEELING 'UNDER SIEGE'

But aquatics ecologist Alan Friedlander of UH's Cooperative Fishery Research Unit concedes that despite their apparent effectiveness, there's "a visceral hatred" of marine protected areas in some circles.

"They're misunderstood. Protected areas actually enhance fish populations and produce more keiki. It shouldn't be viewed as a penalty to people, preventing them from doing something. It should be viewed as a way to enhance fish populations," he said.

Marine protected areas are a "super sore" subject with those who fish, according to Tony Costa, who represents a loosely organized group called Hawaii Nearshore Fishermen.

"People say, 'You already have 100 percent of the ocean. Why can't you give up 20 percent?' We don't have 100 percent. Fishermen only have a couple places, a few koa, over here and there, and the chances of a vast network of marine protected areas doing in commercial fishermen is really great," he said.

Costa said those who fish would have been more willing to accept marine protected areas years ago "as long as they were the right areas, but today it's a different story. We're already under siege and it's one thing after another. Fishermen are fully opposed to just having a whole network of marine protected areas. It's really scary-sounding to fishermen."

Costa feels that marine resource management has shifted toward "milking the tourists" at the expense of residents who fish.

"There's an unspoken movement to turn Hawaii into a giant aquarium: Look but don't touch," he said.

Critics also say restricting fishing in some areas only increases fishing pressure in open areas, and that, since marine life conservation districts include some of Hawaii's most popular snorkeling and diving sites, they encourage overcrowding and lead to impacts such as trampling of coral reefs by recreational users.

Hanauma Bay is an example of that. After the East Oahu site was designated the state's first marine life conservation district in 1967, it was largely neglected until an influx of tourists began overwhelming the preserve in the 1980s. More than 10,000 people jammed the beach on a daily basis until the city took action, banning most commercial activities, limiting access to the lower bay to 2,000 people at any one time, and closing Hanauma one day a week.

The measures stopped further damage, and Hanauma's reefs are showing signs of regenerating along the sides of the bay.

KONA SUCCESS

Marine protected areas are created for various purposes, including conserving or replenishing fish populations, enhancing ocean recreation and resolving user conflicts.

A network of nine fisheries replenishment areas was established off the coast of West Hawaii a decade ago to quell longstanding tension between fish collectors and dive tours. The replenishment areas, in combination with older reserves, have placed 35 percent of the 150-mile Kona and Kohala coastline off-limits to aquarium collecting.

Walsh said the protected areas have boosted population densities of juvenile yellow tang — the most popular aquarium fish — to the point where they are nearly seven times as abundant in the closed sites as in open areas. At the same time, the number of licensed aquarium collectors and the catch have doubled since the fisheries replenishment areas were established.

Other studies have confirmed that the abundance and diversity of marine life are significantly higher in conservation districts than in nearby areas where fishing is allowed.

"There's no question there are more fish inside reserves. You put your head in the water and you see a massive difference," said Ivor Williams of the Hawaii Cooperative Fishery Research Unit at the University of Hawaii. "It's good for recreational users and tourism."

UH researchers have found that marine life conservation districts have more than twice the fish biomass of adjacent habitats, and one and a half times the number of bigger fish.

Studies also note a "spillover" effect that occurs when fish eggs and larvae produced within marine protected areas are dispersed by ocean currents into surrounding waters, and when fish seeking less-crowded habitat swim into open areas, increasing the potential bounty for fishers.

REELING IT IN

Friedlander of UH's Cooperative Fishery Research Unit said that even though the Hawaii reserves host more robust fish populations than open areas, their impact on fisheries is minimal because the protected sites are too small, too shallow and too limited in habitat. He and other scientists recommend the state expand protected areas to cover 20 percent to 30 percent of nearshore waters.

"If you want to have the most fish, you need no-take reserves," Williams said. "Even a small amount of fishing can made a big difference. Fish are very good at coming back if you stop fishing pressure.

"Fishing is very important to a lot of people here and it's a complicated social issue with political questions. But we have to be realistic that there is a problem and be honest about it."

Marine protected areas also provide economic benefits largely related to tourism. A 2004 study by environmental economics consultants Pieter van Beukering and Herman Cesar estimated the asset value of six marine managed areas in Hawaii, placing Hanauma Bay's worth at $648 million, Molokini Shoal at $345 million, Kahaluu on the Big Island at $154 million and Waikíkí at $6 million.

Most of the sites would have significantly higher value with better management, the consultants said.

Another benefit of marine protected areas is that it's easier for DLNR's limited enforcement staff to spot banned activities in defined zones than to enforce fishing regulations in open waters.

"Marine protected areas are the best approach because they're the easiest to enforce," Walsh said. "It's simple and effective, but the top levels don't want to go there. It's too politically charged. There's not enough understanding of what happens when you protect an area."