A controversial bill to repeal a community-based subsistence fishing area on Kauaʻi quietly died Thursday, after lawmakers failed to schedule a hearing on the bill by Wednesday’s deadline.
Senate Bill 92 came as a surprise to Presley Wann, whose organization Hui Makaʻāinana o Makana led the decades-long effort to create the first-ever Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Area, or CBSFA, in Hā’ena.
However, SB92 aimed to do away with Hāʻena’s CBSFA designation.
"First of all, we were shocked," said Wann. "I think the community itself, especially our Hui Makaʻāinana, felt targeted and betrayed by the intention and motivation of this bill."
The measure received overwhelming opposition from groups like Wann's.
SB 92 also aimed to establish a sunset date for all community-based subsistence fishing area designations. Something Hawaiʻi Island Sen. Lorraine Inouye said was needed.
"If there’s a point in time where one of the communities already see the flourish of fish, there’s going to be a point in time when I think fisheries should open up," Inouye said. "That’s why we’re asking. We want to share the ocean so that our people can go back fishing."
CBSFAs began as an experiment in fisheries management — with rules created by a community that acknowledges traditional fishing practices of a particular area.
Four communities have either created or are in the process of creating a CBSFA along their shores, including Hāʻena, Miloliʻi, Moʻomomi, Molokaʻi and Kīpahulu, Maui.
SB92 died this week, after failing to gain a joint hearing of the Senate Committees on the Judiciary and Ways and Means before the Wednesday deadline.
