WHEREAS, the Hawaii fishing industry helps to diversify Hawaii’s economy by providing alternate sources of employment and revenue; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii fishing industry generates significant state revenues, with the total annual revenues approaching $200,000,000; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii's fishing industry reduces Hawaii’s trade deficit with foreign economies by cultivating an export product; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii's fishing industry supports approximately six hundred jobs aboard vessels and nearly two thousand jobs in the service and fish processing sector; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii's fishing industry is especially important to Hawaii's culture and tourist industry because it provides more than eighty per cent of Hawaii's fresh fish; and

WHEREAS, because Hawaii’s fishing industry lacks adequate local labor to support fishing operations, it seeks laborers abroad; and

WHEREAS, the absence of an appropriate immigration status or classification and changing immigration policies and procedures require long-line operators to sail to foreign jurisdictions to hire new crew members, which necessitates significant expenditures of time, maintenance, and money; and

WHEREAS, there is significant discretion in the administration of regional immigration districts, which has had the effect of creating uncertainty in the management and direction given to long-line operators and alien-crew members; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Land and Natural Resources has used its discretion to prevent the issuance of fisherman licenses to alien crew members; and

WHEREAS, the Governor is the highest elected official of the State and has the authority to direct the Department of Land and Natural Resources; and

WHEREAS, the lack of a viable, long-term policy to address security issues concerning alien crew members threatens state security and the economic viability of Hawaii's fishing industry; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, that the Governor is requested to convene a task force to identify related security concerns and work toward a viable, long-term solution to the non-immigrant visa status of alien crew members of fishing vessels; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Governor is requested to include in the task force, representatives from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services of the Department of Homeland Security, the United States Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Long-Line Fisherman Association, and other interested groups; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in formulating this strategy, the task force is encouraged to consult with representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States Department of Justice, United States Department of Homeland Security, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services of the Department of Homeland Security, United States Coast Guard, United States Fisheries and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior, Long-Line Fisherman Association, other concerned state and federal government agencies, and any other relevant organization to ensure that any immigration or security related strategy promulgated by the task force is not only comprehensive in scope, but also well coordinated; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in formulating and implementing this multi-pronged strategy, the task force is strongly encouraged to consider radio-locator and other emerging security technologies that can be economically deployed and are designed to monitor and alert appropriate personnel when supervised personnel are in violation of protocol; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force is requested to report any findings and recommendations, including proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2006. The task force is requested to include in the report an analysis of the impacts and benefits of its recommendations, a record of the stakeholder group's process and deliberations, and the supporting rationale for the incentives being proposed; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the President of the Republic of the Philippines, the Philippine Consulate General Hawaii, the Philippines Ambassador to the United States, members of Hawaii's congressional delegation, the District Director of United States Citizenship and Immigrations Services of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the Special Agent in charge of the Honolulu Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the President of the Hawaii Long-Line Fisherman Association, and the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources who, in turn, is requested to transmit copies to any other concerned state or federal agency and any other interested organization.

Report Title:

Alien Crew members of Fishing Vessels; Immigration Roundtable