Bill Text: HI HR84 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 20-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-03-14 - Referred to OMH, FIN, referral sheet 28 [HR84 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2016-HR84-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	84
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

Urging the president of the united states to deny any request to expand the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and oppose any action to expand the monument.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument was established on June 15, 2006, by Presidential Proclamation 8031 and was officially designated as the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (Monument) in 2007; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Monument provides permanent protection for nearly 140,000 square miles of reefs, atolls, and shallow and deep sea in the Pacific Ocean out to fifty miles offshore, which are habitats and ecosystems for many species of coral, fish, birds, marine mammals, and other flora and fauna, including endangered species; and

 

WHEREAS, the President of the United States has been asked to expand the area covered by the Monument from fifty miles to two hundred miles offshore; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Monument overlays the fifty nautical mile Protective Species Zone of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council and the use restrictions that apply within the Monument's boundaries eliminated Hawaii's bottomfish fishery, which consisted of seventeen permits, including permits dedicated to indigenous native Hawaiian fishing communities; and

 

     WHEREAS, an expansion of the Monument's area would cause further harm to Hawaii's fishers and fishing industry which includes wholesalers, retailers, fish cutters, equipment operators, provisioners, and ground transportation, ice, and fuel facilities as well as shipping and boat maintenance service providers; and

     WHEREAS, expansion of the Monument's area would also harm Hawaii residents and tourists who depend on fish for sustenance and cultural uses, such as sashimi for the holidays and poke; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii is second only to Japan in fish consumption and, although residents prefer the iced fresh fish caught by Hawaii fishers, sixty percent of the seafood consumed in Hawaii is imported; and

 

     WHEREAS, the value of commercial fishery landings that enter the marketplace through Honolulu Harbor annually ranks in the top ten for all United States ports due to the value of the fish caught by Hawaii fishers; and

 

WHEREAS, an arbitrary expansion of the Monument could potentially result in an annual loss of $10,000,000 in landed (ex-vessel) value for Hawaii's long-line fishery and an annual $30,000,000 loss to the State's retail seafood markets; and

 

     WHEREAS, any reduction in the amount of fish caught by Hawaii's long-line fleet will be supplanted by seafood imports, thereby increasing reliance on unregulated foreign seafood sources; and

 

     WHEREAS, twenty-three percent of the waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands and the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are already no-take marine protected areas, which exceeds the twenty percent global standard for marine protected areas, and an expansion of the Monument to two hundred miles offshore will increase the no-take area to sixty-seven percent of the United States exclusive economic zone waters surrounding the Hawaii archipelago; and

 

     WHEREAS, existing county, state, and federal management regimes currently provide comprehensive protections for coral reef ecosystems and other vulnerable marine habitat including deep-water coral and the seabed, sea turtles, seabirds, marine mammals, sharks, and other marine species; and

     WHEREAS, large open ocean marine protected areas do not provide any buffering from the effects of climate change since ocean warming and ocean acidification can occur regardless of spatial boundaries; and

 

     WHEREAS, there is no scientific justification or conservation benefit to support expanding the Monument; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2016, that the President of the United States is urged to deny any request to expand the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and oppose any action to expand the Monument; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Hawaii's Congressional Delegation, the Governor, and the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument