STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2296

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2124

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Water and Land and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2124 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO OPIHI,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to rehabilitate the natural populations of all Hawaiian opihi species and establish a new direction for the management of the fishery.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Aha Moku Advisory Committee, Nature Conservancy, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, and twelve individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from three individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from one individual.

 

     Your Committees find that in the past century, there was a ten-fold decline in the amount of opihi available in markets, and the average amount of opihi has further been halved in the past forty years.  The people of Hawaii, opihi harvesters, university scientists, and marine resource managers agree that the popularity of opihi as a delicacy has led to overharvesting statewide and the decline of natural populations.  Notably, the island of Oahu has been hit especially hard, where Cellana exarata and Cellana sandwicensis are rare, and Cellana talcosa is functionally absent.

 

     The key to increasing the sustainable harvest of opihi populations is protecting a portion of the populations so that they may reproduce and create the next generation.  Fisheries replenishment and management areas are promising management tools to protect breeding populations, while allowing harvest in unprotected areas.

 

     Your Committees' intent is to increase long-term standing-stock opihi abundance, as well as the amount of opihi available for consumption or use by the people of Hawaii.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting the possession of an instrument for harvesting or taking opihi as one of three objects that if possessed simultaneously would constitute unlawful activity pursuant to this measure;

 

     (2)  Clarifying that any person may take or harvest opihi from coastal areas or nearshore waters of the State from June 1 to August 30 and from December 1 through January 31; and

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water and Land and Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2124, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2124, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

____________________________

MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair

 

____________________________

MALAMA SOLOMON, Chair