STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1302-12

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2012

RE:   S.B. No. 580

      S.D. 2

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources, to which was referred S.B. No. 580, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AQUATIC LIFE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure, as received by your Committee, is to require the Department of Land and Natural Resources to establish two additional Marine Life Conservation Districts on the island of Maui and require the Department of Land and Natural Resources to report to the Legislature annually on the effectiveness and enforcement of the two new additional Marine Life Conservation Districts.

     For the purposes of a public hearing on this measure, your Committee circulated a proposed S.B. 580, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, which

establishes two new Marine Life Conservation Districts on the island of Maui with a reporting requirement to the Legislature every five years and statutorily establishes the Division of Aquatic Resources under the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Numerous individuals testified in support of the proposed draft.  The Division of Aquatic Resources, Hawaii Nearshore Fishermen, and several individuals testified in opposition to the proposed draft.  Numerous individuals provided comments on the proposed draft.

     Your Committee considered the merits of both S.B. 580, S.D. 2, as received by your Committee, and the proposed draft, and upon careful consideration, adopted the proposed draft with the following amendments:

     (1)  Removing the requirement for the establishment of two new Marine Life Conservation Districts on the island of Maui;

     (2)  Specifying that the monitoring and reporting requirements to the Legislature include only the two existing Marine Life Conservation Districts on the island of Maui; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

     Your Committee notes that it is important to determine whether the current Marine Life Conservation Districts are working before two new Marine Life Conservation Districts are created.  The monitoring and reporting requirement is necessary to gather and analyze data on the existing districts.  Your Committee further notes that creating two new Marine Life Conservation Districts at this time may be premature.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 580, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 580, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources,

____________________________

JERRY L. CHANG, Chair