HCR199 HD1

WHEREAS, Section 187A-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, requires the Department of Land and Natural Resources to establish, manage, and regulate public fishing areas, artificial reefs, fish aggregating devices, marine life conservation districts, shoreline fishery management areas, refuges, and other areas; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Land and Natural Resources defines marine protected areas as any area of the marine environment established by law or regulation to protect and enhance part or all of the natural resources therein; and

WHEREAS, scientific studies on the impacts of marine protected areas vary depending upon the purpose, scope, and situation applied, and are not the solution to many fishery management issues; and

WHEREAS, marine protected areas have been shown to increase biomass within the closed area if it is effectively placed, monitored, and enforced; and

WHEREAS, scientific publications have cited the ineffectiveness of marine protected areas when communities that are being regulated do not support the management strategy; and

WHEREAS, in the past, Hawaii's fishing community has demonstrated its opposition to the Department of Land and Natural Resource's use of marine protected areas and questioned the agency's ability and willingness to plan, monitor, and enforce area closures; and

WHEREAS, also in the past, the Department of Land and Natural Resources has clearly reflected the department's predetermined management philosophy of supporting the use of marine protected areas without being held accountable for planning, monitoring, or evaluating their effectiveness as a management tool or being accountable to the public or community leaders; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Land and Natural Resources' report entitled, "Approach to Marine Resource Management" openly reveals the agency's absence of a strategy to monitor fishery resources in a manner that will help determine stock status and effectiveness of the management program; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Land and Natural Resources has failed to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of nineteen bottomfish marine protected areas that were created in 1998 and has not fulfilled its mandate to report on these marine protected areas by 2003; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Land and Natural Resources has failed to manage and conserve bottomfish resources, which has resulted in a declaration of overfishing by the United States Secretary of Commerce and a federal intervention; and

WHEREAS, the scientific information and analysis in the Department of Land and Natural Resources' December 2004 report to the Legislature entitled, "A Report on the Findings and Recommendations of Effectiveness of the West Hawaii Regional Fishery Management Area" was not peer-reviewed, was misinterpreted, and continues to be misrepresented in validating predetermined management actions; and

WHEREAS, the establishment of many marine protected areas, including Hanauma Bay, Pupukea, and Kealakekua Bay, have generally led to the displacement of local and traditional family ocean-related activities for commercial tourism-related businesses; and

WHEREAS, management strategies, such as gear restrictions, seasonal closures, catch limits, size limits, and others, have been and continue to be effectively used to manage fisheries in Hawaii and throughout the world; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Land and Natural Resources is requested to prepare a report to the Legislature that includes:

(1) An inventory of all marine protected areas in the State where fishing is restricted;

(2) The stated objectives or goals for each marine protected area, as defined in its establishment;

(3) A description of the management strategy, baseline data, and controls used in the establishment of each of the current marine protected areas;

(4) A description of the monitoring, control, and enforcement programs implemented by the respective divisions in support of each marine protected area;

(5) A descriptive evaluation and summary analysis of the effectiveness of each marine protected area in:

(A) Achieving the stated management objectives or goals; and

(B) Fulfilling the monitoring, control, and enforcement programs; and

(6) A summary of public comments and responses on the draft report to the Legislature, to be collected following public meetings in each county; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Land and Natural Resources, is requested to submit its report to the Legislature not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2008; and

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

Marine Protected Areas

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	199
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007		H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII