Marine reserve floated for Kaupulehu

KAILUA-KONA — If a local marine stewardship group prevails, a stretch of North Kona shoreline will be put off limits to most fishing for the next decade under a plan to create a new marine reserve at Kaupulehu.

The rest period — a unique concept for Hawaii Island — would allow the reef and fish stocks to recover while a subsistence management plan is forged for the 3.6 miles of coastline. The proposal would lead to the development of a kapu system based on traditional Hawaiian ways of management — giving a bigger stake to the descendants of the area who have had to watch the reef’s fish and mollusks become depleted, advocates say.

“We think it is important to rest the resource and bring it back to a sustainable level,” said Vern Yamanaka, whose family link to the shoreline goes back four generations.

The area, a portion of which fronts the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, was closely managed historically by the local families, said Yamanaka. But when Queen Kaahumanu Highway was built, then public access was mandated as part of the resort development, degradation of the reefs came to a head, he said.

“The area was always private, and the families took care of the resource,” Yamanaka said. “Then all hell broke loose. People came from as far away as Honolulu to rape the land.”

The marine reserve designation prohibits the removal of rock or reef structures, marine life, coral or algae. Fish such as ehu, opakapaka and onaga could be harvested by hook and line in water deeper than 120 feet, however.

Because fishing would be allowed beyond waters 120 feet deep, the reserve is not a “no-take” in the sense of Waikiki or Hanauma Bay, said Deborah Ward, spokeswoman for DLNR. The reserve boundaries would extend seaward out to depths of 600 feet.

The “Try Wait” initiative of the Kaupulehu Marine Advisory Committee will go out for public comment next month in the form of a proposed Department of Land and Natural Resources rule. The plan was put together by families of the area over a five-year period of meetings and outreach, but the initiative has roots going back at least a decade further.

A petition on MoveOn.org supporting the reserve had 441 signatures on Thursday. The informational session and public hearing is set for 6-9 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Kealakehe High School cafeteria.

Not everyone supports the idea of closing off the reef, supporters acknowledge, citing a lot of back-and-forth at meetings and ultimately compromises.

“It should be closed for longer, but we felt 10 years was something that would be more acceptable to the general public,” Yamanaka said.

Tina Owens, chair of the West Hawaii Fishery Council, said the initiative has the full support of the council, which helped draft the language of the proposed rule and suggested educational meetings to encourage public participation.

“This is something that has really needed to be done but has met resistance from fishers,” she said. “This is going to be a really interesting chance to give it a try.”

The initiative, “is really driven by people with genuine and documented ancestral ties to the place,” Owens said, noting that the idea of a marine reserve eventually managed under traditional practices is a unique concept for the island.

Collection of fish for aquariums is already prohibited in a network of fish replenishment areas that comprise a third of the West Hawaii coastline, and Kaupulehu is part of that system. Lay net fishing is also off limits in some cases.

But some feel protections for the reef should be much stronger at Kaupulehu.

“It’s a hard thing,” Yamanaka said. “The families have all had to come to grips with what has to happen.”