Fishing for a solution: License system examined as fishery concerns grow

KAILUA-KONA — A feasibility study on a non-commercial marine fishing registry, permit or license system that was released Friday has laid the most stable groundwork to date for moving forward with an RPL system in Hawaii.

Bruce Anderson, DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources administrator, said an RPL system would be beneficial for several reasons, chief among them as an avenue to generate funds for better fishery management activities, including enforcement.

Another benefit would be improved data to inform management by creating a dialogue between managers and non-commercial fishers in the state. Fishermen would not be required to report the types of fish they catch or where, but every optional survey filled out by licensed fishermen would supplement the DLNR database with previously absent information. Fishing rules would also be more easily and widely disseminated.

All of this is crucial, Anderson explained, as the landscape of fishery management has changed significantly in the recent past.

“I think we face challenges today that we didn’t even a few years ago with coral bleaching and increased fishing pressures,” he said. “And I think it’s important that we at least look at the various options on what we can do to better manage our resources. Fisheries are on the decline throughout the state, and I think we need to do something different. We can’t just conduct business as usual. Something needs to change.”

Any attempt to implement an RPL system for non-commercial fishing would run through the state legislature, as the DLNR doesn’t have the authority to enact such regulation on its own in a non-commercial context.

Anderson said there have been several bills tackling the issue, or at least portions of it, over the last two decades, but none have progressed very far. Their failures were likely because the proposals were “half-baked,” not well researched or considered enough, he opined.

The feasibility study should go a long way toward informing legislation and creating a more sound foundation for it in the future.

“There’s been talk about doing this, and obviously it’s controversial and people have concerns,” said Rep. Nicole Lowen of Hawaii Island’s 6th District. “They’ve been able to fish without having to check in with the government for their whole lives, and they may not be happy about the idea of having to do it in the future.”

Anderson said the administration is not proposing a bill for the 2017 legislative session, although any legislator could put forth legislation at any time. Should the DLNR decide to propose legislation, it won’t do so before discussing the matter thoroughly with stakeholders across the state.

He added that even if legislation was proposed on the first day of the 2017 session, it would still be at least two years before licensing would take effect.

The feasibility study didn’t single out a preferred option for an RPL system in Hawaii or delve too deeply into what it might look like, but Anderson provided some insight into the minutiae of any likely RPL construct.

First, the licensing fee would be far from onerous, probably falling in the $10-$20 range on a yearly basis. There are more than 100,000 non-commercial fishers in Hawaii, meaning at least $1 million would be generated from licensing fees annually.

The DLNR manages the commercial fishing license program, but would need to expand to handle an RPL system of such massive scale. Anderson said it’s likely the costs would run somewhere between $200,000-$300,000 annually to manage a computer-based, online RPL system, which would still leave a considerable amount of money for improved management.

“I would love to establish some dedicated marine enforcement units around the state who could focus just on marine resource management,” he said, adding that DOCARE officers are too few in number and stretched far too thin to effectively manage recreational wildlife activity from mountain peaks all the way down to ocean waters. “I’ve never met a fisherman who says we shouldn’t be enforcing existing laws.”

There also may be a handful of exemptions included in the system, which would likely be age-based. Several states exempt senior citizens and children from licensing fees, Anderson said. Those unable to afford the nominal fee for a license may also be exempt.

A race-based exemption for Native Hawaiians would be unlikely, however, as the recommendations of the group who conducted the feasibility study advised against such a stipulation.

Anyone in the state would be eligible to apply for a license, and Anderson didn’t mention anything about restricting the number of licenses issued annually.

Non-residents who use fishing charters would also be required to purchase a license, but could do so through the charter company in a reasonably quick process as not to upset the industry, Anderson said. Non-resident licenses would likely be more expensive than those issued to taxpayers in Hawaii.

Anderson stressed that nothing has been decided, and if the state pursues an RPL system, the process will be long and considerable.

But discussions around an RPL system for Hawaii are as serious, if not more serious, than they’ve ever been — a development due mostly to increasing challenges of fishery management and the thoroughness of the recently completed feasibility study.

“I talk about this fairly often, and it’s controversial in a district like Kona with a lot of fishing and recreation,” Lowen said. “On the other hand, we’re the only state that doesn’t have a recreational fishing permit, and the impact to the resources of recreational fishing are really big. I think it’s something that’s worth at least looking at, worth discussing.”