HB3440 HD1

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	3440
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008		H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the island of Niihau occupies a vulnerable position in the Hawaiian island chain. As the last bastion of native Hawaiian fishers, Hawaiian cultural practitioners, and native speakers of the Hawaiian language, Niihau stands to lose much if it is not properly protected.

The legislature further finds that the public shore access and domain on Niihau up to the vegetation mark exacerbates Niihau's vulnerability. Recreational beachgoers and fishers abuse the right to access Niihau's precious shores, often leaving behind their debris, fishing gear, and, at times, even their personal excrement. These senseless infractions have caused Niihau's residents to worry about their onshore and offshore resources, and many residents feel unsafe because they maintain an open-door policy.

The purpose of this Act is to designate the waters surrounding the island of Niihau as a marine life conservation district.

SECTION 2. The waters surrounding the island of Niihau, as defined in the administrative rules of the department of land and natural resources, shall be designated a marine life conservation district, as provided in chapter 190, Hawaii Revised Statutes. The department of land and natural resources, in consultation with the ‘aha kiole advisory committee, and when established, the ‘aha moku council, shall adopt exceptions to the conservation district and other rules and prohibitions consistent with sections 190-3 and 190-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes; provided that the department of land and natural resources shall at a minimum adopt rules permitting the following activities:

(1) Residents of the island of Niihau may take and possess enough limu kohu and limu lipe‘epe‘e, for subsistence (combined total, squeezed dry) by hand harvest only; provided that the limu holdfast is left in place;

(2) Residents of the island of Niihau may take and possess any finfish with hook-and-line from the shoreline; provided that each person may use not more than two poles; provided further that each pole may have no more than one line; provided further that each line may have no more than two hooks; and

(3) To take with legal nets and possess ‘opelu during August and September, and akule during the appropriate season.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.