Task force to have say in
Pupukea fishing rules

By Harold Morse
Star-Bulletin

The North Shore Neighborhood Board has recommended a task force to take a look at proposed new fishing rules for the Pupukea Marine Life Conservation District around Shark's Cove.

It backed the idea at the suggestion of state Sen. Robert Bunda (D-Wahiawa, Waialua, Sunset Beach).

Last night, he discussed results of a survey his office carried out that drew about 50 responses on community concerns related to suspected depletion of marine life there.

Tim Johns, director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, said the state prefers to work with a community task force.

"A task force is something that I would support wholeheartedly," he said. "I personally believe in community-based planning and community-based management."

The Department of Land and Natural Resources will try to come up with an agenda within a month on what the task force will accomplish, Johns said.

Bunda said 70 percent of the 50 survey respondents backed the idea of allowing only akule fishing by pole and line in the conservation district. Fewer would accept a total ban on fishing there, he said.

"Most of the people who responded were local residents," Bunda said.

The least popular form of fishing among survey respondents was netting, he added.

Bunda said a small task force is needed to evaluate how much marine life is depleted. "We really don't have the evidence to prove to you that there is a real emergency at this point," he said.

But management of the conservation district is needed, he added.

"You want the area to come back in terms of marine life. You want coral not to be taken -- live coral. You want good-sized fish," Bunda said.

Earl Dahlin, a fisherman, said the community backs the task force to iron out ways to manage marine resources.

"The task force is good," said Thomas Shira Jr., another fisherman.

Later, fisherman David Hara, a North Shore resident of 47 years, said he had 829 signatures on a petition to allow pole fishing and the picking of seaweed as exceptions to a ban. A ban would halt all fishing and spearfishing and the gathering of seaweed or limu.

The conservation district, a longtime favorite spot of fishermen and divers, spans about 25 acres, extending from a point besides Three Tables to Kulalua Point north of Shark's Cove.

Limu gathering, some net fishing, spearing without scuba gear and pole fishing are allowed now.

Passing through the district with scuba gear to take fish outside district boundaries is permitted.