2019 07-30 Game Management Advisory Commission Minutes

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Hawai’i Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – July 30, 2019 STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: BKK: Moving on to presentation. PRESENTATION: a. John Kahiapo – Division of Aquatic Resources BKK: I’m going to recognize Teresa Nakama. TN: Good evening everybody. Thank you for all being here. I’d like to introduce our guest speaker is John Kahiapo – our education outreach person from Division of Aquatic Resources. Thank you John for being here. JK: My name is John Kahiapo. I represent the Department of Land and Natural Resources – the Aquatics Division – Education and Public Outreach – so I’m here this evening just to update the Commission on the Try Wait Program and with the Kaupulehu Marine Reserve – so this was started in 2016 of July so this month is the third year that the reserve is in operation and it’s all due to the combination of the community leading and checking this program and we had a meeting yesterday and right now – we have the Kaupulehu Marine Life Advisory Committee – we meet every month and right now we’re working on the conservation action plan, so, yesterday members were able to go out on the boat and just go – go holoholo – look around and there’s a lot of positive signs – just coming from the stories of the kupuna in that area – now you starting to see schools of fish especially when you see along the shoreline all the tails sticking out of the water and feeding and that’s just from this for – just going on the third year. But there was a survey that was made in – after two years – in 2016 – two months after it was implemented the rules implemented – there was a – in September they did a baseline survey of what was out there and then two years after - 2018 – they did another survey and just by looking at the population trends – it’s heading towards the direction of when you have a place that rests and we can wait – we try wait – until after 10 years and right now we’ve tried – there’s signs that the population, sizes and even recovery of the habitat – because since 2014 there were three different incidents that happened – 2014 there was a big recruitment of shoreline fishes and that was a good sign but then 2015 they had the mass coral bleaching event but from the findings of the survey in 2018 they’re seeing this slow recovery that’s happening – there’s still some hope of what’s happening so, ah, right now the Kaupulehu Marine Life Advisory Committee – they’re working on the plan – a conservation plan – for when the reserve is open – cause this is – it’s not just from being closed to fishing but the resting the place so that we have a management plan – just where everybody can take – and there’s – right now there’s a lot of concerns – areas of concerns they’re looking at – they’re looking at the fresh water that flows in to Kahuwai Bay – looking at the protection of the salt pans that they have there – the anchialine 2