Our state and federal governments are in the process of leveling crippling economic impacts on West Hawaii’s ocean recreation industry, with their proposed rules limiting access to spinner dolphins and manta rays in our waters.
These entirely different rules, with entirely different purposes, from entirely different agencies, and two different branches of government, should not be implemented in the same time frame, because the double impact on many, many small businesses in our community will be devastating.
After many years of idle conversation about the possible need for restrictions on our local dolphin and manta viewing businesses, somehow the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) and the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are now looking to initiate their respective restrictions, at the same time.
Moreover, neither NOAA, nor the DOBOR, has undertaken a detailed economic impact analysis, and their proposals are egregiously lacking in details about the economics of the industry they are proposing to restrict. They offer no firm numbers on the size of the industry, the number of guests accommodated annually, almost nothing about the revenues and taxes they generate, or the number of people they employ, or the number of businesses that offer both manta and dolphin trips, and nothing at all about the broader economic impact on the local small businesses who service the dolphin and manta tour companies — the boat builders, engine dealers, yacht brokers, mechanics, fiberglass guys, shipwrights, painters, marine electricians, caterers, and more.
All of a sudden, after years of on-again-off-again discussions, new restrictions on dolphin tours and manta ray trips are somehow required right now, regardless of their economic impact on the community.
The goals of these agencies are laudable. DOBOR wants to make visits to manta ray gathering sites safer. NOAA wants to raise the level of protection of our spinner dolphins. Fine, but it is not necessary to take down the industry in the process of doing either of those things.
Here’s what should be done:
1) Robust socio-economic impact analyses of their actions must be undertaken by both the state and federal agencies, with broad community input, then shared and discussed with the community in a new series of public meetings;
2) There are a number of creative alternatives to the rules which have been proposed by the industry, and both agencies need to explore those alternatives more fully, and implement alternatives where possible, rather than rushing to immediate implementation of economically devastating rules;
3) If/when they opt to proceed, the agencies should at least agree which of their rules will be implemented first, and then stagger the implementation of the rules by at least 12 months to give the tour vessel operators a chance to transition out of either or both activities, change their programs, or create new tour options for their clients, without the crippling impact of a two agency shut-down of the focus of their businesses;
The ocean recreation industry is one of the principal drivers of our community’s No. 1 economic generator, tourism. There are over 250 businesses, large and small, that are directly impacted by the economic health of our local marine tourism operators. Hitting them with a vicious one-two punch, just doesn’t make sense.
Rick Gaffney, Honokohau Marina, has been involved with all aspects of Hawaii’s ocean recreation industry since 1972.