Sanctuary Designation - Hilo Comments

Scoping Meeting Comments
Lana‘i City, Lana‘i, Hawai‘i
Friday, April 19, 2002, 6:00 p.m

Please note that these are the raw comments extracted from the scoping meeting held at the location listed above. They were edited for the purpose of clarity where necessary. Duplicate comments were not repeated. A synthesis of comments will be available soon.

(MHI) Main Hawaiian Islands
(NWHI) Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

• Make sure the cultural practice is also in practice referring to gathering of turtles before it was illegal.
• Subsistence gathering was a necessary part of our people being able to live.
• Look at sustainability of cultural practices, that they are viable.
• If commercial interests are allowed to harvest as much as they can, then they are going to wipe out everything, just like how we got the law to close fishing of turtles.
• Need to manage commercial fishing so that there are limits.
• For the future - looking for the NWHI Sanctuary to incorporate Hawaiian cultural values and practices in how we are going to manage resources for the future, rather than introducing foreign ideas. Need to look back to cultural practices because they have been demonstrated to work, although they have not been given the recognition that they do work, like Konohiki practices.
• Would like to see spawning cycle closures, seasonal closures as a way to manage the Sanctuary vs. regulations which would implement practices of Konohiki management.
• In time, if you change the laws - you are going to change the people's existence, (ex. turtle harvesting/gathering)
• Need to control chemical pollution in NWHI, and all places. It depletes the fish population. Land and sea are connected.
• For an industry that relies on the environment and culture, ecotourism should not have that kind of access to the NWHI.
• Molokini has a lot of fish because it is a Sanctuary and it is away from all of the "wash out" from the land, just like NWHI. Molokini is a glimpse of how it was in the old days.
• If the Sanctuary keeps commercial fishers out it will be okay.
• Commentor grew up on Lana`i in the 1930's. Every fish has its own "factory"/place to grow. Scuba allowed people to wipe out fish; they can stay down and trap fish. Don't want to see same thing happen in NWHI.
• Can learn from New Zealand, they don't let commercial fishers within 3 miles from shore and they have plenty of fish and lobsters to catch.
• Malama (subsistence, caring for resource) is an important practice. It is learned from previous generations. A Sanctuary will allow continuance of the corals and marine life.
• Lessons learned from Lana‘i: poor management and land use practices are not consistent with conservation.
• Increased population of deer on East side of Lana‘i has caused runoff that has silted the reef. Reefs are directly affected by land use.
• Lana‘i is the best example of the worst thing that can happen to a coral reef through runoff. NWHI might become an example of good preservation/conservation.
• NWHI will seed our islands with fish and other animals through spawning. Can be a Ko'a for MHI.
• From a cultural perspective the Sanctuary should incorporate lessons from elders - subsistence in management.
• Cultural practices like turtle harvesting have been impacted by other uses such as commercial uses. Animals that were gathered were dried and divided among families.
• Today we have to face the fact that turtles are endangered. For cultural gathering perspective we may want to consider gathering turtles again, for subsistence. (ex. Makalo Indians whaling again. They are able to sustain their cultural practice.) Consider allowing continuation of a cultural practice like turtle harvesting.
• Native culture just takes enough; just what they need. I understand that fishing is a livelihood for many, but commercial fishing has been wiping out fish populations. Want to see managed fishing in NWHI. Does not want to see fishing in NWHI stopped completely.
• Land uses have also created pollution in water (fertilizer from sugar cane fields); hotel water is also having an effect (waste pool water); need to think about future when creating Sanctuary.
• The Konohiki system, a system where management of land and sea is integrated. It is a practice that has been established and demonstrated in Hawaii. Management of NWHI should be an extension of the practices that were already familiar with, like Konohiki system. What we do in the NWHI could be a way of reintroducing this kind of management back to Lana`i and MHI. Konohiki approach is easier, makes more sense. Man regulating how many fish, size, net size, etc.
• People are pollutants themselves. Hawaii is reliant on tourism - don't want to see us using NWHI reefs as "showcases" for tourism. Ecotourism relies on cultural information, sacred places and the environment for access, yet ecotourism does not responsibly care for environment and culture in return.
• Don't want to see NWHI accessible to tourism. Tourism requires resources, conveniences, transportation, and these requirements combined with people impacts the environment. Recent decline in resources has been a direct result of the demands and land use impacts of tourism.
• Lana‘i shoreline facing Moloka‘i is very windy for some parts of the year. The wind creates dirty water and prevents people from going there to fish. Fish populations there are high. This shows how many fish there can be when people cannot fish in certain areas for 3-6 months of the year.
  

For more information contact the Reserve office at:

Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve
Sean Corson, Sanctuary Designation Coordinator
6700 Kalanianaole Hwy, #215
Honolulu, HI 96825
(808)397-2668
sean.corson@noaa.gov