STAND. COM. REP. NO. 637

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1220

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1220, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FISHING,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to implement a community-based fishery resource management area program for the island of Lanai.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from Robbie Alm, Executive Vice-President, Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.

 

     Your Committee received written comments on this measure from William J. Aila, Jr., Chairperson, Department of Land and Natural Resources; and one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that resource management is site specific.  Natural resources management practices that encompass traditional Hawaiian fishing practices must be adapted to the local environments and applied with a local understanding of the environmental and ecological conditions affecting the natural resources.

 

     The Lanai community, in particular, has voiced concerns about the impacts of overfishing on its subsistence lifestyle.  This measure recognizes that the residents of Lanai are in the best position to understand the yields, cycles, and patterns of their fisheries, and takes advantage of that historical knowledge by implementing a community-based fishery resource management area program.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Amending the section quoting Act 212, Session Laws of Hawaii 2007, to make it consistent with the printed version of Act 212; and

 

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1220, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1220, S.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

		____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair