Land Board offers
rules on gill nets
off Big IsleHearings will discuss restrictions
on net size and fish-gathering
KAILUA-KONA >> Proposed state regulations controlling certain gill nets should help protect West Hawaii waters from overfishing by commercial fishermen from Oahu, says Rick Gaffney of the West Hawaii Regional Fisheries Council.
CORRECTION
Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2003>> The organization that drafted proposed regulations for lay net fishing in West Hawaii is the West Hawaii Fisheries Council. A Saturday article on Page A3 incorrectly called it the West Hawaii Regional Fisheries Council..
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The state Board of Land and Natural Resources yesterday approved holding public hearings on the regulations drafted by Gaffney's council.
The proposal would reduce the size of so-called lay nets, which are used to gather fish for food. It would also put tighter controls on the gathering of fish for aquariums.
But the proposal would loosen restrictions on taking wana, or sea urchins, for food at the Old Kona Airport State Park near Kailua-Kona.
Lay nets, which catch fish at the gills, get their name from being lain in the water and left for several hours.
The nets sometimes snag on the sea floor and are abandoned, resulting in "ghost fishing," killing fish without harvesting them, Gaffney said.
"Hawaii is the last state in the nation that allows gill netting in coastal waters," he said.
Many boats fishing off West Hawaii come from Oahu, Gaffney said.
"Because we have the last of the fertile fisheries in the state, there tends to be a lot of commercial nearshore fishing here," he said.
Commercial fishermen deploy lay nets as much as a mile long, sometimes a few hundred feet from villages like Milolii, which depend on fishing for subsistence, Gaffney said.
The proposed regulation would restrict lay nets to a length of 125 feet. Two people -- a father and son or two friends, for example -- would be allowed to combine their nets up to 250 feet.
Gaffney said commercial fishermen would be discouraged from fishing because the reduction in the size of the nets would make it economically unfeasible to fish.
Land Board Chairman Peter Young said 15 people spoke in favor of the proposed regulations yesterday. But two people objected to restrictions on gathering aquarium fish.
Those regulations would require aquarium fishermen to have "AQ" painted on their boats and to have a flag raised with the letter "A" while they are fishing.
Gaffney said such "prominent identification" would aid in spotting fishermen violating sanctuaries. Boats doing bottom fishing are already required to have "BF" painted on them, he said.
Since 37 percent of the West Hawaii coastline was closed to aquarium fishing in recent years, the number and value of that type of fish which have been caught have gone up, Gaffney said.
By protecting some areas, "the presumption is that there are more fish to be caught," he said.
