Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water and Land Use, to which was referred H.R. No. 29 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this resolution is to request the Department of Land and Natural Resources to conduct administrative hearings to determine which coastal areas should be designated as marine life conservation districts or fishery management areas due to overfishing and degradation of habitat.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs provided testimony in support of this measure.

Your committee finds that several programs are in use today to manage our marine resources such as Marine Life Conservation Districts (MLCD) which impose limited fishing or the prohibition of all forms of harvesting; Fishery Management Areas (FMA) which included areas that are closed to certain types of fishing or temporarily closed to allow for the recovery of fish population; and community-based management of subsistence fishing areas.

Your committee further finds that although there are a variety of fish refuges, it should significantly be expanded to allow fish populations to recover.

At the request of DLNR, your committee has amended this resolution by stating that public meetings instead of public hearings are to be conducted. The title of this resolution is also amended to reflect the intent of this request.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water and Land Use that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.R. No. 29, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Finance, in the form attached hereto as H.R. No. 29, H.D. 1.