Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 5, 1 May 2016 — Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Area [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Area

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ntheearly 1990s, Governor JohnWaihe'e convened a task force to determine the

importance of the subsistence living on Moloka'i. As a result of the task force's policy rec-

ommendations, the legislature passed Hawai'i Revised Statutes (HRS) § 188-22.6 in 1994. This statute gave the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) the authority to create community-based subsistence hshing areas (CBSFA) to protect and reafhrm hshing practices customarily and traditionally exercised for purposes of Native Hawaiian subsistence, culture and religion.

CBSFAs represents a State recognized avenue for loeal community groups to mālama 'āina by proposing regulatory recommendations and management activities to sustain the health and abundance of marine resources for the current and future generations. Though CBSFAs are community driven initiatives it is not always possible to accommodate community proposed management recommendations within the State's existing regulatory and legal framework. DLNR must also ensure that the recommendations adhere to Federal, State and County laws as well as consider DLNR's management mandates and priorities. In 1994 then Governor Linda Lingle recommended that the Mo 'omomi hshery area along the northwest coast of Moloka 'i to serve as a demonstration area in whieh hshing activities would be managed by the Ho'olehua Homestead community primarily for subsistence rather than eommercial use. The Mo'omomi CBSFA Pilot project began in 1994 and ended in 1996. Mo'omomi was identihed as an ideal eandidate for this legislation because of the predominately Hawaiian subsistence hshing community that relies on traditional hshing techniques for survival. Hui Mālama o Mo'omomi (Hui) was founded in 1993 just before the Mo'omomi CBSFA Pilot project began. The Hui represents the Ho'olehua Hawaiian Homestead community, whieh is comprised of traditional subsistence hshing practitioners and families with long-time ties to the Mo'omomi area.

Since the project ended in 1996, the Mo'omomi area has been informally

but consistently managed by the Hui. Through the years the Hui has taught keiki traditional and pono methods of hshing and observation, hosted family camps to bridge generations of knowledge, sharedknowledgeof the Hawaiian moon phases and hsh spawning and preventing mauka erosion from affecting the oeean resources. They have dedicated decades and countless hours to monitoring, studying, and stewarding the resources of the northern coast.

The Hui is currently seeking to designate the areas from 'īlio Point to Kaholaiki Bay as a Community Based Subsistence Fishing Area. This proposal is the realization of over 20 years of work documenting the resources and traditions of the North coast of Moloka'i. It will help codify the code of conduct and values long understood by resident users of the area. It seeks to address and protect highly valued resources that have shown signs of depletion and that may be vulnerable to overharvesting. The rules will help to ensure that others not familiar with the practices and resources of the area are given guidance and a sense of appreciation for the island's resources, values, and subsistence lifestyles. Over the past 20 years of informal eom-munity-based management at Mo 'omomi only one CBSFA has been established in Hawai'i. The community of Hā'ena on the island of Kaua'i has received successful CBSFA designation. The process took more than 7 years of negotiations among various stakeholders and over 70 meetings. Though the Hui is still going through the process, the formal regulations proposed seek to perpetuate the practices and values that have been the foundation of Moloka'i's pride and resilience and ensure that the island ean remain a cultural kīpuka. Subsistence living is intricately tied to the health and well-be-ing, and cultural identity of the residents of Moloka'i. ■

Cūlette Y. Machadū

TrustEE Mulūka'i aūd Lāūa'i