Lay gill nets ban possible by March

The Maui News
Sunday, January 28, 2007

HONOLULU - The rules and regulations that would ban the use of lay gill nets around the island of Maui are working their way through the state bureaucracy, according to Board of Land and Natural Resources Chairman Peter Young.

"I followed up to make sure it is moving," Young said Wednesday. He said a lay gill net ban approved in November by the land board was in the state attorney general's office.

"They understand the urgency," Young said.

The deputy attorney general reviewing the legal language indicated the ban would be advanced this week.

Once approved by the state attorneys, the lay gill net ban will go to the Small Business Regulatory Review Board. The next meeting of the board is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 21.

After the review board, the measure would go to Gov. Linda Lingle for her signature.

Young said the rules and regulations would then be posted on the lieutenant governor's Web site, "and the ban will go into effect."

A ban on the use of lay gill nets has been long sought by conservationists and others who call them "curtains of death" that deplete inshore reefs of marine life. Others have opposed the ban, saying it is an encroachment on traditional fishing practices.

The ban would also go into effect for selected areas around Oahu, with new restrictions imposed on use of gill net use in other shoreline areas. Additional modifications of the rule to allow use of lay gill nets for subsistence fishing off Molokai will take a little longer, Young said.

Panel approves Maui gill net ban

The Maui News
Saturday, November 18, 2006
By EDWIN TANJI, City Editor

HONOLULU - The state Board of Land and Natural Resources has approved a rule to ban use of lay gill nets around Maui island, although some sections of the proposed rule affecting Molokai and other islands will be subject to further public hearings.

During a meeting Friday that was extended by hours of testimony on the gill net rule, the board approved the sections establishing new standards on fishers using gill nets around island shorelines with prohibitions on use of the nets around Maui, three coastal areas of Oahu and existing reefs off the Big Island.

There were a number of nonsubstantive amendments, board Chairman Peter Young said.

One was to extend the hours that gill nets could be used to two hours before sunrise until two hours after sunset. The proposed rule had set the limits from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset.

"There were people testifying that we do have night species that come out after dark. That change was not considered a substantive change," Young said.

For Maui County, the key issue was the Maui island ban, which has been supported in public hearings on the Valley Isle and in surveys conducted by the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

"We are talking about moving it forward now. It may become effective by the end of the year," he said.

The rule approved by the board still must be reviewed by the state attorney general before it can be sent to Gov. Linda Lingle for her signature. It would take effect 10 days after she signs it.

"It was passed for final adoption, after the board delinked some of the provisions that are going back to public hearing for some of the amendments that the department had proposed," Young said.

The provisions that will go back for further hearings include a special rule for Molokai that would allow fishers to set nets measuring up to 750 feet and for up to 12 hours. The Molokai special rule was designed to accommodate Molokai residents who said they depend on gill nets for subsistence fishing for their families.

As approved by the board, the rule would establish new restrictions on how nets are used including requirements that all nets must be registered and marked with tags and buoys while in use. Fishing would be allowed for only four hours, and a net set in place may not be left unattended for more than 30 minutes, must be inspected for unwanted species after two hours and may not be set again for 24 hours.

Young said the board took three separate actions on the rule. In addition to approving most of the proposed rule, the board approved the referral of several sections that had been amended for public hearing, and approved a motion to require the department to address Native Hawaiian cultural practices and traditions.

"The department will made sure we address Native Hawaiian cultural practices as well as work with fishers and the Native Hawaiian communities to see what the regulations ought to address," he said.

"It was interesting. Just like the public hearings and just like the written testimony that has come in, there are a lot of people who are passionate on one side of the issue and a lot of people who are passionate on the other side," he said.

"I received a lot of e-mail coming in through the day to me today."

(read original article here)