HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0333.009 2010-201206/28/2007 23:01 8088758893
Mike Nakachi
PO Box 4454.
Kailua Kona, HI 96745
September 20, 2011
Committee Chair Angel Pilago
Governmental Relations Committee
Hawaii County Council
West Hawaii Civic Center
Kona, HI
Re: Res. 130 -11 in Strong Support
Aloha Chair Pilago,
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I am Michael Kamuela Nakachi, an endemic species as a Kanaka Maoli. I am a
founding member of the West Hawaii Fish Working Group, formed In the late
1980s, that later morphed in to the West Hawaii Fisheries Council, under Act
306. I help operate 2 successful "blue" businesses: Aloha Dive Company and
Ocean Pursuits, LLC. I graduated from Florida Institute of Technology in
Underwater Technology and Sport Diving Operations.
This Blue Ocean provides for me and my family, and I have a fiduciary and
cultural bond with the ocean to protect it. I have had the honor and blessing to
lead and guide diving expeditions around the world and have found there is no
place as great as here in Hawaii. I take great pride in sharing our rare endemic
fish of Hawaii for others to see in their natural home.
I am in support of a complete ban of taking any wildlife, statewide, from our
Hawaiian reef waters for international pet and decoration trade --- the aquarium
industry.
As a past member of the West Hawaii Fish Working group / council, 1 have seen
the Kona community rally for a complete ban of this trade in 1993, with well over
1000 people in attendance, the largest DLNR public hearing of its kind. I have
spent 23 years trying to mitigate and find solutions, and understand the
complexities and problems of this aquarium industry.
Twenty -three years of time, energy and sacrifice dealing with the specific issues
as it relates to the aquarium trade. I have watched my children come in to this
world, be raised in these waters and now go off to college, with only talk, tack,
Comm. No. 333 . . q
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Ref. Date SEP 2 0 2011
06/28/2007 23:01 8088758893 PAGE 02/02
talk — waha — no real action. The WHFC has dragged on with broken promises
to the public, `ailed policies for DLNR and DAR, ultimately leading to the demise
of our ocean i.esources in West Hawaii. The WHFC was intended to provide the
community with input in to the management strategies. The 1000+ people in
West Hawaii wanted a complete ban in 1998; we settled for 35% FRA (fisheries
replenishment area) of our 155 miles of leeward coastline. WHFC had proposed
by the year 2000, to limit the aquarium fisheries permits, limit the type of
species taken and create bag limits. None of these proposed limits and controls
have been put into effect. We now have an unlimited number of aquarium
collector permits, an unlimited take of any species of fish, with no authority
within our DC CARE ARE department to deter them from going into a protected area.
The goals of :; WHFC have failed — too much talk, and no action.
1 have been blessed to dive our entire Hawaiian Archipelago, to witness the
endemic Masked Angelfish in Midway Atoll, the Sunset Bassletts off Kalae, South
Point. The Nohu Pinao, or endemic Hawaiian Uonfish that used to live in
abundance of- the Kailua -Kona pier. I watched a pair of benthic Nohu Pinao
and their 5 c$ .spring for 10 years live and thrive in Kailua Bay. But those 7 fish
were all captL::yd by collectors 13 years ago, and have never returned. Once all
the benthic fig;. are gone from an area, they will not return.
We do not want our endemic species to go the way of the Alala (Hawaiian
Crow). I ask you to please take a stand and pass this resolution requesting the
legislature to 4nact a ban on the aquarium trade in Hawaii Nei.
Mahalo Nui Lo,a,
Mike Nakachi