WHEREAS, the Department of Land and Natural Resources (Department) is authorized to manage the aquatic resources of the State; and

WHEREAS, the Department is authorized to establish areas where fishing and other activities associated with aquatic resources are managed for their conservation and protection; and

WHEREAS, the Department established the first marine life conservation district at Hanauma Bay, Oahu, in 1967 and since then has established nine other marine life conservation districts and sixteen marine fisheries management areas statewide; and

WHEREAS, the Department has established new Fisheries Management Areas at Kiholo Bay (Hawaii) in 1997, along West Hawaii in 1999, at Port Allen (Kauai) in 2002, and at Nawiliwili (Kauai) in 2002; and

WHEREAS, the Department has also improved regulations at existing managed areas at Molokini Shoal (Maui), Hanauma Bay (Oahu), Manele Bay (Lanai), Hilo Bay (Hawaii), and Pupukea (Oahu); and

WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that the proposals for these and other managed areas (including proposals to establish no-take Marine Protected Areas, or MPAs) have been very sensitive issues for the public; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature supports the concept of community-based processes to involve the community where marine managed areas may be established; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature recognizes that the marine community includes a number of different interest groups, such as fishers, scientists, recreational and commercial users, and environmentalists; and

WHEREAS, the scientific community can provide valuable information on biological diversity and ecosystems; and

WHEREAS, the environmental community has significant concerns about protecting and ensuring biological diversity and ecosystem integrity; and

WHEREAS, the general community relies on the Department to ensure that their public trust marine resources will be available for use today and in the future; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-Second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2003, that DLNR is requested to conduct a survey to identify areas of the marine environment where management and resources protection needs are the greatest; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this survey examine, among other things:

1. The specific goals or objectives that a marine managed area would achieve or enhance; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department is requested to survey as many stakeholders as feasible-­including the general public, recreational and commercial fishers, scientists, native Hawaiians, and environmentalists-­to solicit knowledgeable input and comments; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chair of the Department is requested to submit findings and recommendations to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2004; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department use the results of the survey to formulate a management strategy that includes marine protected areas as part of a coherent resource management strategy; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department also report to the Legislature, the results of existing efforts and programs to replenish fisheries, including but not limited to size and number limits on taking regulated fish species, regular site closures of fisheries, net size regulations, and limitations on methods of fishing in certain areas; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor and the Chair of the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

Report Title:

Marine Environment Management and Resource Protection Needs; Survey to Identify