Land Board working
on possible lay-net banThe agency might exempt
certain areas if a ban is declared
The state Department of Land & Natural Resources will be fishing for feedback on a proposal to ban lay nets.
Proponents of the ban say the fishing method, which uses a gillnet left unattended in the water for up to four hours, catches too many un-targeted fish, can entangle Hawaiian monk seals and turtles, and is depleting the nearshore waters of fish for recreational fishermen.
Lay-net fishers who oppose the ban insist that their fishing method is not depleting resources and snags threatened and endangered species less often than pole-and-line fishers.
One term for lay-net fishing is moemoe -- Hawaiian for to sleep or lie in wait -- because the nets were traditionally left overnight.
State regulations set limits on the length of time a net may be left in the water, how frequently a net must be checked and the minimum mesh size of the net.
The Board of Land & Natural Resources authorized the Division of Aquatic Resources last week to hold meetings to hear from residents, but they have not been scheduled.
"This proposal calls for a ban yet may allow for certain areas to be exempted from the ban," said Peter Young, director of the Department of Land & Natural Resources.
Department staff have not developed criteria for determining if an area could be exempt.
Concern about gillnets as long as 2,800 feet arose in 1997 and prompted the formation of a Gillnet Task Force, composed of fishermen and department staff.
The recommendations of that group were discussed at 10 statewide public meetings in the fall of 2002, but no action was taken. The idea of banning lay-netting was not on the agenda of those meetings but came up, according to DLNR staff.
Key features of the lay-net proposal to be considered at a new round of meetings include:
>> A statewide ban on the use of lay nets. The ban would not apply to throw nets, cast nets, opelu or akule nets, fence and bag net operations, aquarium fishery fence nets, lobster nets, lobster traps or fish traps.The DLNR will announce the meetings later this year.>> If exempt areas were approved, the department is proposing to require active fishing with continuous attendance near the net; prompt removal of any threatened or endangered species caught in the net; registration and tagging of nets; marking net locations with marker buoys; only one set of a net per day; possible allowance of handmade nets of natural plant-based fibers; and possible seasonal bans on lay-net fishing.
