STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2792

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2583

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2583 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO IMPOUNDED VESSELS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to clarify that all costs and expenses associated with the disposal of an impounded unauthorized vessel by the Department of Land and Natural Resources shall be borne by the vessel owner.

     Testimony in support of the measure was submitted by one state agency and one organization.  Written testimony presented to the Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

     Currently, section 200-16, Hawaii Revised Statutes, as interpreted by the Hawaii Supreme Court in Brown v. Thompson places the burden, along with the costs and expenses of disposal of all impounded unauthorized vessels, on the Department of Land and Natural Resources when the vessel owner does not repossess the impounded vessel prior to disposition.  91 Hawaii 1 (1999).  This ruling also prevents the Department from recovering mooring fees incurred by the vessel owner during the impoundment.  Your Committee finds that this measure will clarify that the vessel owner should be responsible for absorbing the costs and expenses related to the disposition of impounded unauthorized vessels within small boat harbors and for all mooring fees incurred prior to impoundment.

     It has been alleged that shark tours, the practice of charging customers to venture into the ocean to view sharks, feed sharks and use attractants to attract and hold many sharks near their operational sites.  This practice is prohibited and illegal.  A recent study concluded that illegal shark feeding by the tour operators has caused larger sharks, specifically the Galapagos and Tiger sharks, to displace the smaller sharks from the cage diving sites.  Ocean users near the shark feeding sites have reported increased sightings of, and interactions with sharks since illegal shark feeding began.  The illegal use of food and other attractants by commercial shark tour operators raises concerns over the health, safety, and welfare of ocean users and is disruptive to the ocean's ecology and natural environment.  Enforcement of illegal shark feeding has been minimal, and your Committee believes increased civil penalties for shark feeding need to be implemented to deter this practice.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Establishing civil penalties for shark feeding, including seizure and forfeiture of any commercial marine license, vessel, and fishing equipment, and administrative fines; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for the purpose of clarity. 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2583, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2583, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair