JIM MARAGOS / U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE Marine biologists Yuko Stender, left, and Ranya Henson surveyed the diverse beds of the rare encrusting blue coral Montipora turgescens in June 2000 in the lagoon coral gardens at Midway Atoll.

To produce or protect

Fishing and conservation interests
vie for influence over one of the
world's most unique ecologies

---

By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com

n a scientific cruise in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands last year, Alan Friedlander swam among a dozen Galapagos sharks when a school of large ulua arrived -- and chased the sharks away.

Later, an endangered Hawaiian monk seal "came right up and looked me in the face. That's when I knew it was different," Friedlander recalled. "The whole system is alive. There are very large animals. The ecosystem is thriving and intact. There's no place left like it on Earth."

"I'd never seen coral reefs like that in my entire life. I was very excited," said the Oceanic Institute fisheries ecologist. That expedition, which included 50 scientists, "got a lot of people excited. It helped draw attention to the fact the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is a very unique place."

Just a few months later, then-President Bill Clinton proclaimed the 1,300-mile-long chain of islands, atolls and reefs that extends northwest of Kauai the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve.

"It's definitely special," agreed Maui fisherman Bob Gomes. "It's so vast, so remote, it deserves to be protected."

JIM MARAGOS / U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE A large Hawaiian monk seal, far left, inspected the anchor line of a skiff off Necker Island in September 2000. Virtually all of the breeding and feeding grounds of the seal are confined to the Northwest Hawaiian Islands.

But he also wants to keep fishing there -- and there's the rub.

The split between conservationists and fishermen is being played out as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve struggles to get its bearings.

The reserve is a first-of-its-kind entity that is expected to become a national marine sanctuary (of which there are 13) but is not there yet. It is slated to receive $4 million a year for the next four years to head in that direction, but has been "on hold" in some ways while the Bush administration reviews it.

At issue is whether Clinton's executive orders creating the reserve "trump" the fishing rules of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (Westpac), which both regulates and advocates for fishermen. The conservationists say it does and should -- the resource is that precious.

JIM MARAGOS / U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE Scientists approached the shoreline of Nihoa island in September 2000, during the initial phases of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program.

Clinton's order calls for currently permitted bottom-fishers to be grandfathered in, but will not allow new permits to be issued and would close the area to lobster fishing and coral harvesting permanently. The species most caught by the bottom-fishers are onaga, opakapaka, hapuupuu and uku.

Westpac Executive Director Kitty Simonds has said she has no problem with the reserve becoming a sanctuary, but "we just don't agree with any of the fishing measures that the reserve outlines."

Reserve Council Member Issac Harp fires back that "they (Westpac) continue to develop fishery management plans not allowed" in the reserve. "My personal opinion is, this is a misappropriation of federal funds."

So two of the Commerce Department's "children" -- Westpac and the reserve -- cannot agree on the best way to proceed. That disagreement is believed to be a factor in the length of time the review is taking.

"This is one of the more interesting experiences in my career ... to have what seems to be pretty clear guidance from the president of the United States (creating the reserve) and then have there be quite a few question marks -- though not official," Reserve Coordinator Robert Smith told the NWHI Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve Council Nov. 6 at its fourth meeting.

"We still have a project," Smith said. "I can't tell you how the project will be changed -- or if it will be changed as a result of this review."

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spokesman David Miller said from Washington, D.C., that "the (Commerce) Department hopes to complete its review in the very near future. In the meantime, work relating to the designation of a sanctuary and operation of the reserve are ongoing."

Also ongoing has been Westpac's work to create its new Fishery Management Plan for the Coral Reef Ecosystems of the Western Pacific Region. It proposes fewer restrictions on fishing in the reserve area and opens the door for some activity -- such as harvesting of live coral -- that has never happened in the Northwestern Isles. That plan also must be approved by the Commerce Department before it is in force.

JIM MARAGOS / U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE Red slate pencil sea urchins, above, are in the lagoon and shallow reef slopes at Kure atoll, at the far northwest end of the Hawaiian chain.

Jim Maragos, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife coral reef biologist, said he is concerned.

"We (USFW) have a regime out there," Maragos said. "If Westpac wanted to be helpful, they should work with us. They don't recognize our boundaries and our established jurisdiction.

"If Westpac is allowed to have this go through, it potentially undermines all other national wildlife refuges in the country."

Shortly after the reserve was proposed, Westpac said its no-fishing zones could reduce the catch of Northwestern Hawaiian Islands fishermen by as much as 60 percent.

Kahea, the Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, countered there should be little effect on fishermen, since the reserve will grandfather existing ones in and allows bottom fishing beginning at a 25-fathom depth in most places.

According to the DLNR, 1,980 boats bottom-fished the main Hawaiian Islands from 1996 to 2000, while only 25 boats plied Northwestern waters for the same purpose during that five-year period. That handful, which Gomes said is down to a dozen active boats now, brought in 39 percent of the state's bottom fish catch of 1996-2000.

Just because fish appear to be plentiful in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands does not mean they should be plundered, said David Gulko, DLNR coral reef ecologist.

The much higher proportion of predator fish there offer an opportunity to study "what pristine waters look like," he said. "The importance may be global. This is the last large-scale wilderness coral reef ecosystem on the planet."

For example, Gulko said that before recent scientific expeditions there were only 12 known species of algae at French Frigate Shoals. Now there are 110 identified. "That shows there's this huge treasure trove of biodiversity."

And that diversity does not necessarily bounce back quickly.

"The first thing I learned up there is, it's a very fragile resource, quite easily upset," said Louis K. "Buzzy" Agard, who made a living fishing the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands from 1946 to 1956 and now is on the Reserve Council.

Friedlander and Birkeland assert in a scientific paper they wrote that having the bulk of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands off limits to fishing will actually increase the catch in the main Hawaiian Islands because the spawn of the mature fish there will arrive on currents to replenish overfished waters.

JIM MARAGOS / U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE Upward view of a school of nenue, or chubs (Kyphosus sp.), with marine biologists behind, off the submerged volcanic slopes of Nihoa island, September 2000.

Friedlander said that same phenomenon also means that grandfathered-in Northwestern Hawaiian Island fishermen may not see any decrease in catch because of reserve boundaries.

Environmental Defense of Hawaii scientist Stephanie Fried points also to the overharvest of lobsters in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in the 1980s and early '90s, under the supervision of Westpac. That fishery is closed, under threat of a lawsuit that pointed to depletion of lobsters being a factor in the decline of endangered Hawaiian monk seals.

Fried cites that as a warning sign that Westpac is not conservation-minded.

Off the record, players on both sides will talk about power grabs and turf battles, but there appears to be movement toward compromise.

"I'm encouraged by the progress the council has made," said Tim Johns, the former DLNR director and now chairman of the Reserve Council. "We want to see the Bush administration's review as soon as possible, but the future looks good for the council and effective long-term management of reserve."

Though as a commercial fisherman Gomes sees things differently than many of his fellow Reserve Council members, he said "there are a lot of very intelligent people on both sides of the fence there. I think it will be worked out."

To learn more To find out more about the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve, see hawaiireef.noaa.gov/welcome.html. For more about National Marine Sanctuaries, go to www.sanctuaries.nos.noaa.gov.