Whoever it was that coined the moniker "The Forbidden Island" to describe Niihau, the label stuck and an air of mystery has hung over the privately owned island ever since.

But mysteries soon run up against modern realities.

Outside fishing boats head for the richer stocks of the more lightly tapped fishery off Niihau shores. Scant on-island job opportunities for the roughly 130 people living on the island’s 70 square miles have narrowed even further in recent years, making subsistence resources even more critical.

Now the strain is showing.

"The Niihau dilemma is that you have an isolated, last Hawaiian island, which is nearly dependent on its nearshore fisheries for sustenance," said state Sen. Clayton Hee, one of those at the center of recent debates over governance of island resources.

"You have the closest island (Kauai) being fished out for lack of stewardship, moving to the nearest place for fish, in a manner that can be described as predatory, without regard for the culture. You have a collision of cultures."

And while some residents are compelled to commute for work to neighboring Kauai, they have little relationship with the government that’s based there. Some complain that Niihau gets no service in return for tax revenue paid to Kauai County.

Conflicts have begun to surface in the halls of state and county government. Proposals bubbling up at the state Capitol have ranged from creating various marine resource management strategies to making Niihau a county in its own right.

In Lihue, the mayor and Kauai County Council have called for a time out from enacting such legislation until all the stakeholders Niihauans, the landlord Robinson family, Kauai fishermen and others have a meeting of the minds to work through their problems.

Earlier this month, the Council passed a resolution asking state lawmakers and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to table legislation on resources until there are "community-based discussions and negotiations on Kauai."

Mayor Bernard Carvalho agrees with that resolution and added a sentiment of his own.

"I am the mayor of Kauai and Niihau, that’s the beginning part," he said in a telephone interview. "And the most disturbing part? Nobody came to me, ask me what I think. I’m hearing things after the fact, which I don’t like.

"I know him (Hee) from before," Carvalho added. "Why wouldn’t he call me?"

Hee, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, was the principal driver behind the legislation. The bills, he said, arose out of a series of meetings he had involving officials of DLNR, fisheries agencies and councils, other legislators and members of Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s staff.

They also arose, he said, from a relationship with the owners of the island and some of its residents that started in 1975. That’s when he was working on an anthropological report on Lumahai Valley, where the Niihau Ranch company had some ranch land.

Hee said his interest in Niihau deepened while he was an Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee, when he was involved in the conversion of the National Guard Armory at Kekaha to a charter school for the Niihau children. And he described the late Ilei Beniamina, the noted Niihau educator, as a colleague.

"I recall her discussing how important fisheries were to people," he said. "This issue hasn’t arisen just this year."

About five years ago, a multi-agency teamused rodenticide to kill rats infesting Lehua, the tiny uninhabited island off Niihau. Some have blamed runoff from that action for a fish kill that affected Niihau fish stocks, Hee said.

As for Abercrombie, in response to the Kauai Council resolution and a direct letter of concern from Carvalho, the governor reportedly now says: "I have requested that our Administration not take any affirmative action on this issue unless and until we have first collaborated and provided a process for the community to be heard."

The Niihau bills, which largely stem from the concern about marine resources, remain stalled but alive in the Legislature. Following is brief summary of the issues.

MARINE CONSERVATION DISTRICT

Senate Bill 2125 originally defined "critical subsistence fisheries" as those serving an island in the state "with a total population between 100 and 500 individuals," which applies to Niihau uniquely. Taking aquatic life or fish feeding would be prohibited within two miles of shore.

The revision that passed to the House simply requires the state Board of Land and Natural Resources to convene a task force to help the state DLNR with rulemaking to create a marine life conservation district, which would be a more conventional resources management tool.

William Aila, land board chairman, said the department is already working on an administrative rule of its own but supports the intent of the bill and would work with the committee on a management plan.

KONOHIKI

SB 180 would adapt a resources management strategy from Hawaiian tradition by establishing a "konohiki." In ancient times, the term referred to a "headman" in charge of controlling land or fishing rights under the chief, according to the bill’s preamble.

The bill would vest "konohiki rights" in one individual living on Niihau who is selected by the state land board chairman. A zone extending two miles from the island’s shoreline would be defined as the "private fishery of the konohiki," meaning it would be distinct from the public fisheries that surround other islands.

The konohiki and the island residents would have equal use of the fishery for home consumption or commercial purposes, and would be subject to any restrictions the konohiki imposes under the new chapter of state law.

The reaction to this idea was contentious. Aila, for example, said there needed to be more discussion before such a step was taken.

Supporter Soulee Stroud, president of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, testified that naming a konohiki was the only way to "stop the raiding of Niihau’s food supply."

Fisherman Greg Holzman said the fish depletion should be documented through a study before the public could be reasonably restricted from what otherwise are state waters. "Please get the fishery data and then deal with the problem based on best fishery management practice," he said.

NIIHAU COUNTY

SB 3003 was introduced to give Niihau some autonomy by establishing it as a separate county for limited purposes. This is similar to the way that the Kalaupapa peninsula on Molokai is dubbed Kalawao County, and is administered by the state Department of Health, rather than Maui County as is the rest of Molokai.

Like Kalawao, Niihau would have no government but would be overseen by a state agency in this case, DLNR.

The version of the bill that remains viable would create a temporary working group to "discuss the issues surrounding the establishment of the county of Niihau." Appointments would be made by the Kauai mayor, the governor and three Niihau residents to be named by the island’s owners.

Carvalho said he was taken aback by all the proposals "I’m getting a slew of calls in my office from local fishermen," he said but perhaps the separation legislation bothers him in particular. He has heard the complaints that conventional county services can’t be delivered on the privately owned island.

"They do pay property tax," he said. "What I’m willing to do is go and look at what taxes they pay and channel it back to them."

State Sen. Ronald Kouchi, who represents Kauai and Niihau, said the annual tax revenue from Niihau amounts to $31,000.

Kouchi added that his colleagues in the Senate are "trying hard to pass something this session," although he would prefer a "community-based planning process" before any law could be enacted.

"It would seem that before we made a policy decision of this magnitude we would want to have a discussion with all the stakeholders," he added.

The notion of a separate county should not be dismissed out of hand, Hee said.

"It’s unusual, I agree," he acknowledged. "But the question of, Why not its own county’ makes sense from the perspective of taxes why should property taxes be collected by an island that does not get any services?"

However, Keith Robinson, representing the taxpaying owners of Niihau, seems willing to wait. Many people have not had enough time to weigh in, he said in written testimony.

"We most gratefully acknowledge the Legislature’s attempt to help us in these matters," Robinson said, "but we must also respectfully beg that some of these bills be deferred until everyone involved has had more time to discuss and consider and comment on them."