Land Board pushes greater
NW reef refuge

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By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources is moving ahead with plans to increase protection of the natural resources of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands.

But it will be a slow process, not likely to arrive at the public-hearing stage until sometime next year.

Almost every island, atoll or sandbar of the 1,200-mile-long chain of Northwest Hawaiian Islands and three miles out to sea is under state jurisdiction. The exceptions are Midway Island, operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other patches of federal wildlife preserve.

The recently created Northwest Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve begins at three miles out from the land forms.

Its protection of Hawaii coral will end at the state line. Unless state officials enact protections similar to what is planned for the federal waters, the protection of coral reefs will be sharply limited, Robert Smith, reserve manager, told the state Land Board Friday.

Smith showed the board slides of the islands, which range from rocky forms that look like the tops of volcanic mountains, spiking several thousand feet out of the ocean, to rings of sandbars that barely emerge from the surf.

Within state waters there is currently no regulation of fishing or other activities, despite the pristine nature of Hawaii's remotest islands, said Athline Clark, with the DLNR's Division of Aquatic Resources.

The remoteness of the islands and the rough seas around them have served to keep most people away so far, Clark said. State officials, however, want to increase protection of the islands and their surrounding waters.

Smith told the Land Board that beginning in 2002, he will be involved in the process to declare the entire Northwest Hawaiian Islands chain a marine sanctuary. Pointing to maps that showed state and federal jurisdictions in different colors, Smith said these ultimately could be united into one cooperative venture under sanctuary status.

The Bush administration is reviewing the Clinton administration's creation of the federal reserve and has not yet said whether it will seek changes, including some sought by the Western Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Council.