Molokai fishing zone worth consideration

The path to abundance for those who rely on fish for sustenance is through a route of some restraint. That restraint — which must apply to all users of the resource in equal measure — is what the Molokai fishing community seeks, to protect an important food source for the rural island.

Hui Malama O Mo‘omomi is an organization that has proposed that the state Board of Land and Natural Resources designate the island’s northwest coast as a "community-based subsistence fishing area."

That proposal deserves serious consideration, folding in suggestions from the industry but with an emphasis on input from those who know these fisheries best: longtime fishing veterans of the area.

The hui is basing its petition in part on the precedent of Kauai’s Haena subsistence zone, which the land board approved in October. But Molokai is not new to the concept, either: The hui was the community-based group that formed after Act 271 passed in 1994, by implementing a subsistence fishing zone in 1995 as a two-year pilot project.

The current proposal would expand the zone to a broader area, extending from Kaholaiki at the east point of Haupu to Ilio Point, including the Kalaupapa Peninsula.

To demonstrate how important fisheries maintenance is to the Molokai Native Hawaiian population in particular, the proposal cites a finding by the task force established 20 years ago that for Hawaiian families surveyed, 38 percent of all food was acquired through subsistence. Taking the Hoolehua Homesteads community as an example, the survey found the per-household seafood consumption was about 10 times higher than on Oahu.

It is of concern to proponents that the far more densely populated, adjacent island of Oahu could drain the fisheries of many of the shallow-water reef fish, invertebrates and seaweeds that provide food sources, as well as the species from open-ocean waters. These include moi, kumu, papio, opihi and other types.

Lobster populations in the area are under severe stress, according to the proposal, and will need stricter protection. Overall, imposition of bag limits and other fishing restrictions such as size limits and seasonal and area bans are the likely mechanisms of regulation.

The stewardship of the area requires local participation to be effective, the proposal asserts, and that is hard to dispute. The familiarity with patterns of fish stocks and other observations will be essential in drafting the final regulations.

In addition, the hui added, the participatory approach "will serve as an instrument of community empowerment and self-determination and will relieve government from much of the cost of management and enforcement."

That’s undeniably true, but the risk is that a community-based enforcement system also will tend to favor the fishing practitioners of the Molokai over those from any other place.

As short-handed as they are, it will be the responsibility of the conservation enforcement crews of the state to ensure that the regulations developed through this process apply to everyone in the same measure.

Conservation is often a practice that must be applied to specific regions, to protect their ecosystems and keep them healthy for the long term. And regions where subsistence farming and gathering are important economic factors make conservation an imperative.

There is a proposal that at least the Kalaupapa National Park, which serves its own population, would have unique access to its own fisheries zone, and that can be discussed. But on the whole, any regulation has to recognize that this is unified state. Each island may have a sense of autonomy, but resources have to be maintained for the good of everyone.