Holomua Marine Initiative

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Due to the wildfire devastation, we are taking a pause on the Maui Navigation Team process until Maui communities are ready to resume. Updates on the Maui pilot process will be shared as they are available..
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Aloha!

The ocean is our culture — our life — in Hawai‘i. We fish, surf, and swim in it, and gather with our ‘ohana along its shores. We need your kōkua now to ensure healthy reefs and abundant resources for current and future generations. Lend your voice to the new community-based approach to manage our marine resources: the Holomua Marine Initiative.

Let’s holomua (move forward) together.

photo: Bertram Weeks III

Today, we see that the fish, coral, and other resources that are central to our livelihoods, culture, health, and island lifestyle are not as healthy and abundant as they once were.

The loss of traditional and customary practices, a growing population, development, unsustainable harvest, climate change, and other threats are putting pressure on our nearshore environment. A recent scientific analysis showed population declines of some of our favorite reef fish by as much as 75%, and the mass bleaching event in 2015 resulted in up to 50% coral mortality on some of our world-famous coral reefs.

Our marine environment is resilient, but needs our kōkua (help) to thrive again with abundance.

I ola nā kai o Hawai‘i
i ka nui i‘a

So the waters of Hawai‘i thrive
with abundance

What is the Holomua Marine Initiative all about?

The Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) launched Holomua Marine Initiative as a way to work with communities to effectively manage our nearshore marine resources around each main Hawaiian island so that our local resources are available and plentiful, today and for future generations. This is a new community-based planning approach to ensure local knowledge is guiding marine resource management planning at every step in the process. The planning process was launched on Maui first as a pilot in October 2022. We will continue our commitment to co-management collaborations with communities statewide in areas where there is expressed interest.

STEP 1: Maui’s local communities talk story with each other

STEP 2: Maui’s Island Navigation Team drafts management priorities and a management plan for their nearshore marine resources

STEP 3: Navigation Team shares their ideas with the community

STEP 4: Navigation Team revises ideas based on community feedback

STEP 5: DAR prepares for statewide public scoping of the Maui Island Navigation Team’s proposal

Management actions proposed in the island management plan will be based on concerns identified by each island’s community members and resource users. They may include fishing regulations, enhanced enforcement, education and outreach efforts, improved signage, coral restoration, and additional monitoring, among others.

Holomua on Your Island

We are working with communities through a locally led planning process, starting with a pilot that was launched on Maui in late 2022. Communities will nominate local ocean users to their island’s Navigation Team, who will work together as a team to review science, island-specific data, and community input to identify priorities to effectively manage the island’s marine resources. Through this process, the Navigation team from each island will develop island-specific management strategies, identifying priority management concerns and solution-oriented actions to ensure the sustainability of nearshore resources.

In October 2022, we hosted three in-person talk story sessions in Wailuku, Lāhainā, and Hāna, where local residents shared their ideas on how we can partner with the community to ensure the fish and ocean resources that sustain us can thrive today and for generations to come. In February 2023, the Maui Island Navigation Team was formed and is now setting sail towards a management proposal through a series of meetings. When the proposal is developed, it will be shared with the broader Maui community where feedback and input will be gathered. Stay tuned!

Find out what more about the Maui pilot process and what we heard during the Maui talk story sessions

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