SB1093 HD1

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that many traditional and local management methods have survived the test of time and that local-community involvement is critical to effective ocean resource management. The legislature also finds that catch and fishing-effort limits, time and area closures, and various fishing method restrictions will work when they are followed and that Hawaii's public trust doctrine provides principled guidelines to leaders concerned about tensions between development and preservation and about the rights of native Hawaiians and non-indigenous peoples.

The legislature further finds that lack of consensus among Hawaii's numerous economic, scientific, and local-community ocean health stakeholders is a primary reason that known solutions do not effectively address known threats to ocean health. The key to consensus and to adherence or enforcement is building long-term commitments among all stakeholders to identify knowledge gaps, communicate findings, resolve conflicts, ensure fairness, and enlist local and indigenous-community expertise. A consensus-building approach usually requires more time at the beginning of the process than in the later stages, but in the long term, a consensus approach takes no longer and costs less than top‑down approaches. Consensus builds broad solidarity and agreement, getting stakeholders to accept shared solutions that combine expertise with responsibility. An educated and participating public, in particular, has tremendous potential to influence future policies toward sustainable ocean health.

The purpose of this Act is to fund an ocean health consensus project to build community-based consensus in establishing a coordinated, transparent process for developing marine resource regulation to manage Hawaii's ocean resources for the benefit of all.

SECTION 2. (a) The center for conservation research and training of the University of Hawaii shall develop an ocean health consensus project to build community-based consensus to explore viable options to establish a coordinated, transparent process for developing marine resource regulation to manage Hawaii's ocean resources. Two key principles will be critical to this project. First, any consensus must be based on equity, fairness, and best available scientific knowledge. All stakeholders must be responsible for their actions, with decision making and accountability shared cooperatively by all stakeholders and government officials. Second, given the inherent variation and complexity of the ocean, the project must employ an adaptive management approach to consider long- and short-term temporal and spatial changes and fluctuations.

The ocean health consensus project shall consist of the following:

(1) Convening key stakeholder representatives to exchange ideas in ways that invite productive problem solving. Key stakeholder groups shall include commercial and recreational fishing, federal and state resource-management agencies, policymakers, scientists, environmentalists, tourism, ocean tourism, local communities, and kupuna, and the general public and consumers;

(2) A professional facilitator to assist participants in determining roles and responsibilities, ground rules, and desired goals, outcomes, and benchmarks;

(3) The facilitation of group problem solving;

(4) Reaching consensus agreement on the ideas discussed and considered;

(5) Holding participants to their commitments; and

(6) Consultation with the following:

(A) Director of the Joint Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Research, University of Hawaii;

(B) Director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology;

(D) Administrator of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Islands.

(b) The center for conservation research and training shall submit its report to the legislature, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2008, on the outcomes of the ocean consensus project to build community-based consensus that explores viable options to establish a coordinated, transparent process for developing marine resource regulations to manage Hawaii's ocean resources.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2007-2008, for the center for conservation research and training to develop, implement, and coordinate an ocean health consensus project to build community-based consensus in Hawaii for managing ocean ecosystem resources.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the University of Hawaii for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2020.

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	1093
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007		S.D. 2
STATE OF HAWAII		H.D. 1