Speak - An Open Letter to Hawaii's Fisherman

Congress reauthorized the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act at the end of 2006 and subsequently it was signed by President Bush. The key to this legislation was the creation of a NATIONAL REGISTRY of recreational fishermen who fish in saltwater to improve catch and effort data that in the past has primarily focused on the commercial fishing industry. The National Academy of Science advised that the eight regional fishery management councils, including the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WPRFMC, aka WESPAC) needed this data to more effectively manage sustainable fisheries in the United States.

The current Marine Recreational Fishery Statistical Survey (MRFSS) and the Hawaii Marine Recreational Fishery Statistical Survey (HMRFSS) were found deficient in such data gathering as the current random digit dialing contact process would not identify the universe of those who fish in the saltwater, and shoreline data gathering was most incomplete.

The NATIONAL REGISTRY would be a directory of those who fish in the saltwater within the EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone or 3nmi-200nmi) of the United States of America. This directory will essentially be a telephone directory identifying the number of fishermen who could be contacted to gather catch and effort fishing data on a random basis. It would also identify the number of those who fish recreationally in the U.S. EEZ. The REGISTRY provided for exemptions for qualified indigenous fishermen and others including those under age 16.

The registry was to begin January 1, 2009 and a fee to register was to be introduced on January 1, 2010. States would be allowed to request “exemptions” from this federal registry if they believed that their licensing or current data collection programs fulfilled the data needs of the registry. However, in order to give States without such programs or processes and to have their respective legislatures approve such programs or processes, the federal government delayed the dates to January 1, 2010 and January 1, 2011 respectively.

The State of Hawaii was one of those states without a program or process such as its own licensing or registration program with a data collection capability, but to date the State has not requested such an exemption. There were many fishermen including the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) team who were invited to St. Petersburg, Florida to participate in the national MRIP program workshop of which I am a member, who understood the impact this REGISTRY would have on our State where saltwater fishing has not required licensing or a registry (except for the current Bottomfish Registry). We therefore, met with DLNR (Department of Land and Natural Resources) Chairperson Laura Thielen and members of the HDAR (Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources) to recommend an alternative that would request and exemption from the REGISTRY by limiting the number of registrants to those who own boats. This recommendation was thought to be a common sense approach to fulfill the federal requirement and limiting the number of those who would be impacted to those who have the ability to fish within the federal EEZ (3nmi-200nmi). Those in attendance were advised that the State’s Boater Registration Data Base could not be used since boaters who registered, did not authorize such release of information to the federal government. We suggested that those registered be contacted via letter advising them of the NATIONAL REGISTRY requirement, and whether they would authorize the release of their vessel registry information to be Hawaii’s Directory that could be contacted fulfilling the REGISTRY requirement. The current HMRFSS program would be then structured to only intercept boats returning from the sea to gather catch data and eliminating their current shoreline intercept effort since it was the most difficult task for the data collectors as many fishing locations are inaccessible or dangerous for surveyors to access fishermen. To date the State has not requested an exemption nor considered our recommendation.

I have recently learned that the State is waiting for this legislative session to end (May 15, 2009) before considering an exemption program or process. This raised a RED FLAG as this may indicate that the State may be considering a saltwater licensing program for ALL who fish in the saltwater and not only those who fish in the U.S. EEZ. Interesting and potentially devastating to residents who fish as the DLNR/HDAR would use the Chapter 91 process to promulgate rules and the legislature would not be available to discuss a policy that would affect a great many of our state’s residents.

I personally support a licensing or registration program to gather critical information to effectively collect and process catch and effort data to sustainably manage our fishery resources. I may be in the minority of those who fish for saltwater species, but I strongly believe that the state should make every effort the comply with the federal law first (those who fish the 3nmi-200nmi) and hold off on a comprehensive licensing or registration program that would affect all saltwater fishermen and women and conduct listening sessions to determine what the mindset of our fishing community is as prescribed by the Chapter 91 process. I may be criticized by the department as I have been taken out of context as having spoken out against the use of public input in fishery management decisions but this is simply NOT true. My message is that the DLNR/HDAR needs to consider all impacts to our marine resources and simply not target fishermen as being THE cause of real or perceived decline in fishery resources without having conducted a science-based analysis of what is causing the impact to fish stocks or a fishery. For example, to declare at a recent public hearing that size limit for jacks (papio and ulua) be revised since “little kids” cannot catch papio is simply ludicrous! Kids will still hook and catch them but what a great opportunity to teach our keiki that to take undersized juvenile papio may affect their future abundance and ulua catches and it is good to release them.

Has anyone correlated population growth to catch rates by individuals? Could it be that there are more fishermen competing for the fishery resources so that individually we may be catching less than in years past but the overall catch is the same or better? This is the kind of data that is needed to effectively manage our limited marine resources sustainably.

Has habitat loss contributed to the decline of certain saltwater species? I for one have watched the demise of Maunalua Bay since the 1950’s with the construction of subdivisions above the bay and the loss of the Kuapa Pond to the Hawaii Kai development. Additionally, the increased recreational boating activities in the bay could be the reason for the absence of traditional fishery resources there.

You may have also heard discussions that current studies on Maui indicate that the use of injection wells where effluents are being pumped into underground wells may the cause of algal blooms along Maui’s shoreline met with a statement from an HDAR official as it is not absolute that these wells are causing the problem, nor is it the DLNR/HDAR’s responsibility but the State Department of Health’s. I have always believed that the DLNR is the state agency responsible for the protection of our state’s natural resources and the advocate for the voiceless natural resources it is entrusted. Am I wrong?

Fishermen, your voice has been long absent in the decision making process of the sustainable management of our marine resources. If you keep silent, fishing will continue to be the only target of regulations and all other impacts to OUR marine resources will never be investigated or monitored to the disadvantage of the marine resources entrusted to the DLNR/HDAR.

I have been asking for years that the DLNR/HDAR do its job properly and I am not a fisherman lobbyist who advocates unregulated fishing, but because I believe that only regulating fishing will not restore the health of our marine resources when all other impacts to the marine environment are ignored and left unchecked, and that it is the DLNR/HDAR’s responsibility to comprehensively protect our marine resources.

If you think that the grounding of the Navy ship off the Airport Runway was a disaster, just wait until the new channel is dug to provide ocean access to the Hoakalei Marina in Ewa.

The DLNR/HDAR needs to hear your voice too on these critical matters! If their current activities and actions are okay with you, then I have tried and failed to garner your support of common sense principles advocating for the comprehensive protection and sustainability of our marine resources and I apologize for wasting your time.

“Fishermen, your voice has been long absent in the decision making process of the sustainable management of our marine resources. If you keep silent, fishing will continue to be the only target of regulations and all other impacts to OUR marine resources will never be investigated or monitored to the disadvantage of the marine resources entrusted to the DLNR/HDAR.”