Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 2831 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to preserve and protect Hawaii's unique coral areas by establishing a network of statewide marine no-take refuges or "pu`uhonua" under the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

The Hawaii Audubon Society, Hawaii's Thousand Friends, Life of the Land, and several concerned citizens submitted testimony in support of this measure. The Board of Land and Natural Resources, Environmental Center of the University of Hawaii, KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, Environmental Defense, and the Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, submitted testimony supporting the intent of this bill.

Your Committee finds that the Natural Area Reserve System is not designed to protect marine resources. Less than one percent of Hawaii's coral reefs are fully protected reserves or no-take refuges. The no-take refuges will not only serve to restore historic levels of abundance and provide ecological baselines against which changes can be measured, but will also provide a wide range of benefits including ecotourism, scientific research, marine education, and cultural activities. A pu`uhonua network is particularly needed to protect the unique, valuable, and fragile marine ecosystems of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2831, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2831, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.