Department of Land and Natural Resources

DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES
News Release

DAVID Y. IGE GOVERNOR

SUZANNE D. CASE CHAIRPERSON

For Immediate News Release July 2, 2015

OCEAN USERS INVITED TO NOMINATE MEMBERS TO 
ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR MAUNALUA BAY BY JULY 8

HONOLULU — Ocean users, especially those who live near and recreate on Maunalua Bay, are invited to submit nominations for Maunalua Bay Recreation Advisory Committee (M-RAC) members between July 1 to July 8, 2015.   

Anyone who has already signed up to participate in this process will be receiving emails allowing them to nominate M-RAC members.  Anyone who has not already signed up may do so by July 5, 2015 in order to nominate M-RAC members.   

To sign up and/or to receive more information on the M-RAC please go to: https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/dobor/mrac/.  Please note, you can sign up at any time to be placed on an email list for activities pertaining to the M-RAC but only those signed up through July 5, 2015 will be able to nominate committee members.  Please spread the word and refer interested parties to the DOBOR website for more information.   

In response to growing community concerns regarding user conflicts and levels of commercial ocean recreation activity within Maunalua Bay, the Department of Land and is working to form a Recreation Advisory Committee (RAC) to assist DLNR’s Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) in establishing and implementing new rules and guidelines for ocean recreation in Maunalua Bay. A public information meeting was held on April 20 to announce the planned establishment of an Ocean Recreation Advisory Committee for Maunalua Bay on O‘ahu.

“Some rules have been in existence for Maunalua Bay since 1994, but the user base continues to grow and the uses continue to diversify.  We find it is time to revisit our rules for this resource and make them more pertinent,” said DLNR Chairperson Suzanne Case. 

Pursuant to Hawaii Administrative Rules § 13-256-4 Rev., DOBOR seeks to gather a group of stakeholders who represent various ocean recreation interests in Maunalua Bay.   The advisory committee will consist of six members who will represent the viewpoints of various user groups in Maunalua Bay. The user groups represented will include surfers (including stand-up paddlers and board surfers), fishing (all types), paddling (individual and club), thrill craft (commercial), diving (commercial) and a member at large representing the community.DLNR anticipates that an advisory committee can help the boating division expedite the process of drafting rule changes by incorporating input from stakeholders as the new rules are still in the conceptual stage.   Past practice has shown that rules devised through this strategy already have strong user support when first presented to the general public. 

The advisory committee will act as a conduit for transmitting concerns or recommendations to DOBOR from user groups in Maunalua Bay. It will be project-based, supervised by DOBOR, and will meet to carry out specific tasks assigned to it by DOBOR in order to help the division with efficient management of Maunalua Bay ocean recreation issues, and to assist in minimizing user conflicts.

For more information call Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation, 587-1967. To view Hawaii Administrative Rule 13-256-4, go to the DOBOR website at https://files.hawaii.gov/dlnr/dobor/rules/amend/Amend-13-256-3-4.pdf

 

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Media Contact: 
Deborah Ward 
DLNR Public information specialist 
Phone: (808) 587-0320