Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2438, S.D. 1, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to study the migratory movement of sharks along the Leeward Coast of Oahu.

Your Committee finds that shark attacks in Hawaii are becoming all too common. Although there are ample studies on sharks and their feeding habits, there apparently are no studies on the migratory habits of sharks in Hawaii, especially along the Leeward Coast of Oahu.

This bill addresses this need by appropriating funds to the Department of Agriculture's Aquaculture Development Program to study the migratory habits of sharks along the Leeward Coast of Oahu from Ewa Beach to Kaena Point.

Your Committee has amended the bill by:

Your Committee has also required the Aquaculture Development Program to submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the 2005 Regular Session.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2438, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2438, S.D. 2.