2022_12_13 Game Management Advisory Commission Minutes

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NR: Abraham, I’m so sorry but, we have to have our statements from the public at first because some of them have to get back to work. AA: OK. That’s fine. Sorry about that. Any statements from the public on agenda items? Please state your name and you have 3 minutes. JV: OK. Can you guys hear me? I don’t have a video that’s why. SW: Yes, we can hear you. JV: OK. Thank you. My name is Joanie Valencia – I am a small business owner who operates a snorkel company out of Keauhou that does manta ray \[unclear\] out at the Keauhou site. I am born and raised here in Kona and I wanted to start a business with our passion of the ocean and our Island to educate every person who joins us of our rich culture of Hawaii and how to love and respect our ocean and land. \[Unclear\] in regards to the upcoming proposed manta ray rules. Having 3 minutes I wanted to narrow this down to how I feel that this will hurt many business families in our community. My company along with other small business companies have invested every penny we have to start our company or purchase an existing company. We started our company about 10 years ago – the \[unclear\] DOBAR is now looking to decrease the amount of manta ray permits that I think from somewhere around 72 to 74 down to 48 with having 24 commercial mooring permits, giving each permit holder 1 of the 2 time slots per night to help control the overcrowding at the sites. What will this do? I feel if the small companies, such as myself, only has 1 permit – were to lose its permit for the manta ray tours – we would lose about 80% of our income, which would then cause our business to fold along with other companies. DOBAR wants to control the overcrowding for safety but with the proposed rules this wouldn’t happen. Many Keauhou permit holders leave out of Keauhou and take their guests to the Keauhou site on multiple trips per night. For instance, our company - we take 6 guests per trip and we do two to four trips on any given night, allowing less guests in the water at once to prevent the overcrowding and does not over crowd Keauhou Bay’s limited vehicle parking situation all at once. So, for instance, our one trip will have maybe one to 3 cars per trip. But with the new rules the state says up to 60 passengers on a vessel. So, let’s just say my small company who goes out of Keauhou obtains a permit that allows me to have one trip per night - with everything I invested instead of just doing my two to four trips down to one – why wouldn’t I try and find funding to create a larger vessel so I can take 60 passengers – then creating overcrowding not only out at the manta site but also at Keauhou parking. So, for instance – having 30 vehicles at once. To me – letting smaller boats spread out our guests throughout the night is a lot safer and not overcrowding them all at once. I feel there is a way that we can come to an agreement that allows… SW: Thirty seconds warning. JV: ….OK. \[Unclear\] permits, also taking a look at the capacity of the vessels that are operating out of the Keauhou site such as large vessels with 60 guests or more – possibly leaving a facility like Kailua Pier that is built and designed for parking and larger docks for those vessels. Thank you. AA: Thank you. NR: Thank you, Joanie. 11