On February 25, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources finally approved public hearings on proposed for a community-based subsistence fishing area (CBSFA) rules at Miloliʻi that was established nearly 20 years ago.
“Miloliʻi and its surrounding coastal areas have become one of the last pockets in Hawaiʻi where traditional Hawaiian fishing practices have been preserved and are still practiced today,” according to a February 25 report by the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR).
In 2005, the state Legislature established Miloliʻi as a CBSFA. Over the past decade by the groups Paʻa Pono Miloliʻi (PPM) and Kalanihale have worked with Conservation International, Plan B Consulting, and DAR to engage community members and conduct biological monitoring activities.
“The documented work, commitment, and marine stewardship efforts of the Miloliʻi families and community members since the early 1980s” — when PPM formed and helped create a community master plan — “through today display the community’s dedication and motivation to actively manage their resources,” the report states.
On February 8, after DAR held a statewide public scoping meeting last December, Kalanihale submitted an updated management plan for the Miloliʻi CBSFA.
At the Land Board’s February 25 meeting, DAR presented the proposed rules.
The CBSFA would stretch from Paʻakai Point at Kipahoehoe down to Kaunā Point.
In addition to establishing several rest areas and protected zones that regulate the species that can or can’t be taken and the types of gear used, the rules prohibit the following:
1) Take or possess ʻaʻama crabs with eggs;
2) Take or possess any kōʻele; more makaiauli and ʻālinalina (with shell attached) than can fit in a one-gallon-sized bag per person per day;
4) Take or possess more than two ula (spiny lobster) per person per day;
5) Take or possess any ʻūʻū (menpachi) from April through June;
6) Take or possess any pākuʻikuʻi or kole less than 5 inches in length with a maximum allowable take or possession of five pākuʻikuʻi per person per day and a maximum allowable take or possession of twenty kole per person per day;
7) Spear any uhu at night using any gear type;
8) Take or possess any uhu ʻeleʻele or any uhu uliuli;
9) Take or possess any uhu ʻahuʻula or uhu pālukaluka during the months of March
through May;
10) Take or possess more than one terminal-phase uhu and two initial-phase uhu per person per day, provided that of the allowable two initial-phase uhu per person per day, only one may be an uhu ʻahuʻula or an uhu pālukaluka.
Aquarium fishing or taking marine life for aquarium purposes would also be prohibited.
Although it was the community’s wish to allow a person to take up to five pākuʻikuʻi per day, DAR suggested in its report to the Land Board that it consider reducing that limit. DAR also suggested that the pākuʻikuʻi rest area be enlarged.
The division pointed out that pākuʻikuʻi, a long-lived fish with a life span of 30-40 years, is extremely vulnerable to overfishing.
“Pākuʻikuʻi has been fished extensively in Kona for both aquarium fishing and as a food fish. As noted in the Board discussions on the Kona aquarium fish [environmental impact statement], populations of pākuʻikuʻi have plummeted in recent decades. Pākuʻikuʻi abundance has declined by a range of 50-95 percent in juvenile habitat areas and by 90 percent in shallow water adult habitats. These declines have been so severe that the aquarium fishing EIS proposed no take of pākuʻikuʻi. Additionally, surveys across West Hawaiʻi have indicated that juvenile recruitment of pākuʻikuʻi has been very low over the past two decades, indicating that recovery will be slow for this species,” DAR explained.
“It is a slow-moving fish, found in small clusters of several fish, in shallow reef habitat in the wash of the waves close to shore, so is very easily caught. Unlike kole, a food fish with quite large populations and much shorter lifespans, pākuʻikuʻi in any area could be easily wiped out in one day,” the report stated.
DAR noted that proposed rules can generally be made less restrictive, but not more, after public hearings are held. Therefore, it suggested that the Land Board “consider amending the proposed rule to 1) extend the pākuʻikuʻi rest area south to Point HH (to include all of the Honomalino Bay Pu’uhonua), and 2) limit take of pākuʻikuʻi to not more than one fish per person per day, for further discussion.”
At the Land Board’s meeting, Miloliʻi residents acknowledged the division’s perspective, but explained that the community’s proposed take limit of five was in recognition of the fact that one person may be fishing to feed many.
“Sometimes one lawaiʻa is fishing for three or four households,” Uʻilani Naipo explained. Pākuʻikuʻi is one of the kupunas’ favorite fish, she added.
Laila Kaupu added that in MIloliʻi, there are only 50 households. Those with three to four generations in one household have as many as 12 people to feed, and maybe one is a fisher.
DAR’s proposed take limit would put a damper on that person’s ability to feed their family. “That’s how the community looks at it,” she said.
Kevin Chang, executive director of the community-based resource management non-profit Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo (KUA), testified that the establishment of CBSFAs help the state reach its goal of protecting 30 percent of its waters by 2030.
He noted that so far, only Haʻena on Kauai’s north shore has a CBSFA with a rule package and a management plan. “I do not see our community or state moving forward if we do not build models like the one that is before you,” he said.
Molokaʻi subsistence fisherman Kelson Poepoe has spent three years sharing his knowledge of how to collect data with the people of Miloliʻi.
“I don’t think I worked with people that learned this fast. I got to pat them on the back for really getting it and putting it to use. … It’s something that’s not simple. A lot of the knowledge that I gained took me a long time [and] with climate change … it’s something different, something new for me and I think for everybody else, too,” he said.
Poepoe was instrumental in drafting rules for a CBSFA at Moʻomomi on Molokaʻi. While the board approved public hearings on those, they have yet to be adopted.
“Miloliʻi can be the shining example,” Poepoe said.
While many Miloliʻi community members and others testified in support of the proposed rules, a handful of people from the aquarium fishing community testified in opposition to the proposed ban on aquarium fishing.
Kim Koch suggested the proposal was overreaching. “18.6 miles does not equate out to the population of Miloliʻi,” she said.
She warned that the rules would force aquarium fishing into a smaller zone, which would be counterproductive. The West Hawaiʻi Regional fishery management area north of Miloliʻi already limits aquarium fishing along much of the coastline.
“Had they sat down one on one, I might be supporting this. … Right now, I have to oppose this moving forward because they have not done their proper outreach,” Koch said.
Ron Tubbs, an aquarium fisherman for 45 years, said the aquarium fishery shouldn’t be ostracized. “It’s very well managed [and] can benefit all Hawaiians. It’s a $100 million a year fishery. … We’re fishing brothers. We should care for each other,” he said.
Board member Kaiwi Yoon responded, “Subsistence has little or nothing to do with commerce. … To the opposition, I think they really need to consider this plan is about families sustaining life and sustaining the resources.”
Board member Chris Yuen congratulated the Miloliʻi community for bringing the rules forward. “It’s a tremendous amount of work. … I hope other groups working on their management plans feel encouraged, not discouraged,” he said.
Yuen initially made a motion to approve the rules as proposed and vote separately on DAR’s proposed pākuʻikuʻi amendments.
“DAR can introduce a pākuʻikuʻi regulation covering any part of the state of Hawaiʻi. The community, they go back and forth with their members. They cannot say, ‘Let’s make a deal.’ They’ve gone to the community with the five bag limit. I want to honor their process. We should try to move forward on the terms they’re brought as much as we can. If the state feels strongly we need pākuʻikuʻi regulation, let’s move on that separately,” he said.
Land Board chair Suzanne Case was also eager to move the rules forward. “We’ve been waiting for many, many, many years for the rule package. … I’m very, very elated about it,” she said.
However, she added that she had “some deep conversations about pākuʻikuʻi.”
“I am as deeply attached to Honomalino as the Miloliʻi folks are attached to Miloliʻi. I am responsible for what happens in Honomalino (which would be included in the CBSFA boundaries and lies just south of Miloliʻi). I know where the pākuʻikuʻi are. There are about six of them. You can go in one morning and wipe them out. … I don’t feel it’s responsible not to address something. … If we go out to public haring and there’s testimony why that’s not a good idea, we can come back to this board and strike it,” she said.
DAR administrator Brian Neilson said he understood Yuen’s point about needing to look at protecting pākuʻikuʻi beyond Miloliʻi.
“This is an issue throughout West Hawaiʻi. … A one bag limit for Miloliʻi, that’s not going to help the rest of the coastline,” he admitted.
The board voted down Yuen’s motion to approve the rules, but not include a pākuʻikuʻi bag limit of one,
His motion to adopt the rules with DAR’s proposed amendments passed unanimously.
— Teresa Dawson
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