Gov. David Ige has signed a law establishing a community-based subsistence fishing area in Haena, Kauai, the first of its kind.

The law will give the Haena community the opportunity to protect local fish populations using traditional fishing practices.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources is expected to hold a public hearing on the management plan for the fishing grounds. A date has yet to be set.

Thomas Hashimoto, founding member of Hui Maka‘ainana o Makana, a nonprofit organization that advocated for the designation in Haena, said, “The land and the ocean are life for the people.” Born and raised in Haena, Hashimoto learned from his great- grandparents how to protect ocean resources in his community.

“I have been honored and humbled to share knowledge I received from my kupuna from past generations with all who live in Haena, so these same places that I have fished and gathered my whole life will continue to be here for my great-grandchildren and all future generations,” he said in a DLNR news release.

The Land Board approved administrative rules for the fishing area in October. Other communities have since requested information from the state about establishing a similar designation.

Commercial fisherman Michael Sur, who has raised concerns about the administrative rules, said of the new law, “For us to comment on this is premature because we haven’t seen a management plan.”

Sur has said some of the rules for the fishing area, which include a ban on commercial harvests, could put commercial fishermen out of business.

Alton Miyasaka, acting administrator of the state Division of Aquatic Resources, said discussions will continue with the fishermen to see if they can come to an understanding.

In 1994 the state Legislature passed Act 271, a pilot project of the Mo‘omomi Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Area on Molokai. DLNR monitored activities from 1995 until the project ended in 1997. A group called Hui Malama o Mo‘omomi has continued to manage it.

Miyasaka said the group is seeking to re-establish the area as a community-based subsistence fishing area.