STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2435

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2174

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Economic Development, Environment, and Technology and Water, Land, and Agriculture, to which was referred S.B. No. 2174 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SEA URCHINS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to limit the number of sea urchins that may be harvested without a permit, and to authorize the Department of Land and Natural Resources to issue permits for harvesting of sea urchins above that limit.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Aha Moku Advisory Committee, Conservation Council for Hawai‘i, and Animal Rights Hawai‘i.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

     Your Committees find that sea urchins are an important component of the marine ecosystem of Hawaii.  Sea urchins are considered a delicacy in many areas of the world, and large scale commercial harvesting could have a similar devastating effect on populations of sea urchins as it has had on populations of sea cucumbers, which have recently been overharvested prompting the adoption of emergency rules by the Department of Land and Natural Resources.  Your Committees therefore find that protections for sea urchins should be established proactively, rather than reactively.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting language to exempt native Hawaiian gathering rights and cultural practices from the prohibitions proposed by this measure; and

     (2)  Amending language to restrict any person from taking, collecting, or harvesting three or more sea urchins within a one-day period, rather than a seven-day period.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Economic Development, Environment, and Technology and Water, Land, and Agriculture that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2174, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2174, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Economic Development, Environment, and Technology and Water, Land, and Agriculture,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair