2019 02-12 Game Management Advisory Commission Minutes

Home

Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – February 12, 2019 they’re doing is, is they’re going around and they’re talking to different kupunas and people that have ancestral knowledge or a spiritual connection – aumakua – things like that – so they’re kind of going to – we’ve narrowed the scope of the document so instead of doing the entire Island we’re only doing the West Hawaii Fishery Management Area – that 145 mile stretch that I was describing when I was kind of giving you guys the background – so this company that’s doing the EIS – they’re going to the different ahupuaas and the kupunas in the area up and down the West coast of the Big Island and spending less time in the areas where the FRAs are – like the current – if we don’t fish there – like the management – like I was telling you – that’s kinda why I was giving you guys the background – it’s kind of complicated but the areas we don’t fish – they’re spending less time there because there doesn’t need to be a whole lot of dialogue in particular that helps the land board make their determination or the chair – so they’re kind of focusing more specifically in the areas where there is – you can measure an impact, right, there is actually fishing taking place – so that’s kind of where we’re at right now – so basically this company ASM – it’s who we contracted out – and they’re currently involved in the interview process and we as a group have reached out to our community to a lot of different fishermen and people that we know that are of Hawaiian descent that wanted to participate in this discussion and that’s where we’re currently are sitting right now is it’s just a process of interviewing and they’ll talk story with one guy and he’ll say, oh, you need – go talk to these guys over here and it’s just like one thing leads to another but the whole process is supposed to take another six to eight months before it’s completed. TN: Are you waiting for an EIS study to be done which the dateline should be completed in six months? Does it include Maui, Oahu, Kauai, Lanai, Molokai. EK: Six to eight months, and EIS study only applies to West Hawaii. TN: It’s only on this Island. EK: Specifically, it’s just the management area... TN: The 37% of the coastline – from Upolu Point to Ka Lae? EK: The reason we did that is because this management area – this big rules package – this Act 306 that was done in 1999-2000 was significant. When they set this thing up there’s no other fisheries that have these types of rules and this intensive a set-up that’s been done – so I’m – we limit it to this area because that’s where the most of the data is – we can prove our case – we can measure impact and there’s research and studies. We’re not just pulling numbers out of the air... 26