Background

The Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) of the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) manages the State's marine life conservation district (MLCD) system. The system is made up of ten areas spread throughout the State where the DLNR either partially or fully prohibits fishing. MLCDs are designed to conserve and replenish marine resources within their boundaries.

The DLNR established the Pupukea MLCD on Oahu's North shore in 1983 and included the Three Tables and Shark's Cove areas. DAR was aware that it needed to revise the current regulations in the Pupukea MLCD to improve the protection afforded the resources and to address concerns about enforceability. DAR then began to draft amendments to chapter 34, Hawaii Administrative Rules, for the Pupukea MLCD in March 1999.

At about the same time, Senator Robert Bunda asked DAR to review the regulations for the Pupukea MLCD. At his suggestion, DAR presented the draft amendments to the North Shore Neighborhood Board at its meeting of June 22, 1999. The draft amendments and other related issues spurred a lot of discussion and concern among the community. Senator Bunda and Representative Alex Santiago then suggested to the Neighborhood Board at its next meeting in July 1999 that the concerns should be discussed in more detail through a Task Force. The Neighborhood Board supported this plan.

DLNR and Senator Bunda's office jointly discussed the goals and process necessary to establish a Task Force. Both agreed to provide the necessary administrative support for the Task Force, such as arranging the meetings, sending out the meeting notices, distributing any relevant information, and preparing the notes.

Senator Bunda began the public discussions by dedicating several articles in his "On Line with Senator Bunda" column in the North Shore News starting with the June 1999 edition. He initiated a survey of the community's views on the proposed amendments for Pupukea MLCD in the July 11th issue of the North Shore News. The following month, a notice of a community meeting appeared on August 11, 1999. The first general community meeting to discuss the Task Force formation was held at the Sunset Beach Elementary School Cafeteria on August 19, 1999.

Over 150 persons attended the meeting to select the members of the Task Force. There were ten different interest groups formed 1) Commercial Dive Operators, 2) Recreational Divers, 3) Commercial Fishermen, 4) Recreational Fishermen, 5) Boaters, 6) Scientific, 7) Neighborhood Board, 8) Hawaiian Community, 9) Local Community, and 10) Conservation. Each interest group selected their own representative and one alternate to serve on the Task Force, mainly from the persons who attended the community meeting.

The Pupukea Task Force's main purpose was to fully discuss the many community concerns regarding the fishing and diving activities in the MLCD. The Task Force was to develop a list of recommendations and then to submit these recommendations to DLNR for their consideration when drafting rules. The Task Force was advisory and did not have the ability to establish DLNR policy or create law. The Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) and DAR were both in attendance and provided technical and administrative support throughout the process.

Both DLNR and Sentor Bunda felt that there was much work to be done and not much time so it was agreed to hire a professional facilitator to assist in keeping the Task Force meetings focused and timely. The facilitator would help organize the meetings to make the most use of the time we had and to help ensure that all interests of the representative user groups were fully recognized.

At the Task Force's first meeting of September 8, 1999, the Task Force developed a list of priority issues. The main issues were unenforceable regulations leading to overfishing, overuse by SCUBA diving tours, trash build up, not enough parking, storm runoff, and general overuse of the area. The Task Force members requested that the initial meetings be mainly focused on fact finding to learn about the regulatory process, what types of scientific studies had been done for the area, or in other comparable areas, and how other areas were managed.

The scientific group representatives made several presentations on the benefits of protected areas, the current research the scientific representative was personally working on, and its implications for management at Pupukea MLCD. DAR and DOBOR staff also made presentations on their roles in managing the State's oceans.

DLNR's management authority deals with the fishing (DAR) and recreational use seaward of the shoreline (DOBOR). The City & County of Honolulu has responsibility for management of the Pupukea Beach Park landward of the shoreline along with its trash and restroom maintenance. Although the Task Force members discussed many areas of concern, DLNR asked them to focus their recommendations on those areas of jurisdiction where DLNR could make changes (mainly fishing and diving activities).

For issues where there was agreement on the recommendation, the Task Force spent relatively little time discussing. Those issues where there was disagreement, the Task Force discussed the recommendation at several different meetings. For example, in the case of the commercial fishing regulations in Waimea Bay, the Task Force discussed this one issue at three different meetings to allow for full and open discourse. The same could be said of the pole-and-line fishing and diving issues.

By the Task Force's ninth and last meeting of May 3, 2000, the Task Force had made much progress. This summary report lists the recommendations the Task Force made to the DLNR. This report is in two parts 1) recommendations to the DAR and 2) recommendations to other agencies outside of the DLNR, primarily the City & County Department of Parks and Recreation. The Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) will be reporting on the Task Force recommendations regarding the boating and diving issues in a separate report.

The Task Force discussed many issues relating to the Pupukea MLCD. The following list only contains those recommendations a majority of the Task Force members voted to support.

The recommendations that follow are DAR's attempts to put into writing the Task Force discussions, as close to what actually occurred during the meetings as we could. We invite the members of the Task Force to carefully review these recommendations and to make any clarifications or changes that would more accurately describe those discussions.

Recommendations Relating to Fishing

Possession of Fishing Gear and Transiting Recommendation

• No possesion of fishing gear or marine life while within the MLCD (11/10/99, 10 yes)
• Possession of dive knife for safety is allowed (11/10/99, 10 yes)
• No possession of fishing gear or marine life while transiting Shark's Cove, Three Tables and Waimea (8 yes, 1 abstention, 1 absent). (5/3/00)

Limu Gathering Recommendations

• Limu kohu and limu pe'epe'e only may be taken at Shark's Cove, Three Tables, and Two Islands (11/10/99, 10 yes)
• Limu hold fast (roots) should not be taken (11/10/99, 10 yes)
• Limit gathering to two pound per person per day (squeezed dry) (11/10/99, 10 yes)

Spearing Recommendations

• No spear fishing while within the MLCD (11/10/99, 10 yes)
• No transiting MLCD with spears (11/10/99, 10 yes)
• No gaffing of fish within the MLCD (11/10/99, 10 yes)

Netting Recommendations

• No netting (includes throw, scoop, or gillnetting) allowed within MLCD. (The Task Force discussed this one issue many times; reached a majority approval, but did not reach total agreement) (11/10/99, 10 yes) note: this vote was taken prior to the decision to expand the MLCD into Waimea Bay.
• To permit commercial and non-commercial Kona crabbing in the bay area received 4 yes votes, 2 no votes, and 3 abstentions. (5/3/00)
• A motion to allow commercial and non-commercial gill netting only for halalu and akule in Waimea received 1 yes vote and 7 no votes. (5/3/00)

Pole and Line Fishing Recommendations

• Eliminate pole and line fishing in Shark's Cove and Three Tables; allow pole and line in Waimea Bay area with 2 poles and 2 hooks per person limit (The Task Force discussed this one issue many times; reached a majority approval, but did not reach total agreement) (5 yes, 2 no, 1 abstention, 2 absent). (4/19/00)

Boundary Recommendations

• The State should proceed to include the tidepools area into the MLCD and apply all recommendations above to this area (11/10/99, 10 yes)
• Move the seaward boundary of the MLCD from the shoreline at Kulalua Point to a point 100 yards offshore (2/1/00) (8 yes, 2 absent)
• Clearly mark the seaward boundaries with markers or buoys during summer months (2/1/00) (8 yes, 2 absent)
• Expand current MLCD to include Waimea Bay (The Task Force discussed this one issue many times; reached a majority approval, but did not reach total agreement) (2/1/00) (8 yes, 2 absent) (2/16/00) (8 no, 1 yes to reopen discussion on Waimea Bay expansion)
• Create a boundary utilizing a line from the existing MLCD Northern most point to the Haleiwa side of Waimea Bay off the heiau - inclusive of the offshore rocks (map of proposed expansion included) (12/1/99, 9 yes, 1 no)

Recommendations to Other Agencies

• Supported continued studies to assess status of resources and effectiveness of current regulations to control overuse
• Supported continuing education programs to explain the importance of the resources to Hawaii's people
• Supported revising current regulations to improve enforcement (11/10/99, 10 yes)
• Supported more frequent trash removal, restroom maintenance, and access stairs to reduce erosion along the Shark's Cove area

Website

The DAR posted a website of the Pupukea Task Force discussions. The address is http://www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dar/pupukeatf.htm. On the site are the summary notes from each meeting.

Next Steps

DLNR is drafting the proposed rule amendments for the Pupukea Marine Life Conservation District, Chapter 34, Hawaii Administrative Rules. The amendments will be based on the Pupukea Task Force Recommendations. We will send copies to the Task Force members around July 2000. Shortly thereafter, the amendments will be presented to the general public at a community meeting. Then, the amendments will be submitted to the Board of Land and Natural Resources to begin the formal rule making process.

Pupukea Task Force Meeting Dates

9/8/99
10/13/99
11/10/99
12/1/99
12/15/99
2/1/00
2/16/00
3/15/00 postponed due to road closure
4/19/00
5/3/00