(HONOLULU) – Today, the State Board of Land and Natural Resources approved a request from the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) to hold a public hearing to incorporate fishery rules for the Miloliʻi Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Area (CBSFA) on Hawai‘i Island.
Aquatic Resources
(HONOLULU) – Today the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) approved the re-opening of the remaining eight BFRAs, which were closed to fishing since 2007. The re-opening’s are effective immediately.
(Off the west coast of Maui) – Exclamations of glee and ear-to-ear grins are the order of the day, as passengers on a commercial whale watching tour are treated to tail slaps, breaches, and blows. An estimated 40 whale watch companies operate in Maui Nui, and as big as the ocean is…it can get crowded…for humpback whales.
(HONOLULU) – It all started last October, when people began seeing bag after bag of rubbish floating in the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor or within the trash catchment at the harbor’s mouth.
(HONOLULU) – This week, the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) and a private contractor finished moving more than 70 coral colonies and numerous individual corals out of the path of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) channel dredging operation in Honolulu Harbor, days before the dredging operation was to commence.
(Līhuʻe) - The DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) will hold an online community meeting for the 5-year evaluation of the Hā‘ena Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Area (CBSFA). The meeting will feature presentations from DAR staff, researchers from University of Hawaii, and Hui Makaainana O Makana.
(HONOLULU) – Beginning Jan. 1, 2022, it will be illegal to knowingly capture, entangle, or kill any species of shark in State marine waters. Act 51 (House Bill 533) passed in the last legislative session.
(HONOLULU) – A monk seal, known as L11, died of an intentional gunshot wound to the head on Moloka‘i on Sept. 19th. A postmortem analysis determined that the young female suffered severe, lethal trauma from a bullet fragment. Further testing by NOAA to determine whether the seal had any diseases is underway but is not expected to change the conclusion of the postmortem examination.
(HONOLULU) – Today the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) approved a proposal from the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) to hold a statewide meeting and hearing to amend Hawai‘i Administrative Rules regulating the possession and use of certain fishing gear.
(HONOLULU) - Coral reefs are intricate, sensitive ecosystems that are facing numerous threats on both the local and global scale. Healthy coral reefs are critical to the economy, as a natural and cultural resource, and as a sustainable source of food. One study estimated the nearshore fishery provides more than 7 million meals each year to Hawai‘i families.