DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Nelson Aberilla, hazard analysis critical control point manager for the United Fishing Agency, showed Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona and Gov. Linda Lingle a Gindai snapper yesterday as they toured the fish auction with Cabinet members.

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Harbor project
gains 2 tenants

The state seals the deal with
$1.8 million in safety measures

The state is reeling in two more tenants to its Commercial Fishing Village at Honolulu Harbor with $1.8 million in methane mitigation funds.

Gov. Linda Lingle announced release of the money yesterday during a tour of Piers 36 to 38.

The money from the state Department of Transportation's Harbor Division will be used to design and install equipment to prevent the accumulation of methane gas in two new buildings that will be built by fishing-related businesses leasing land from the state.

Building the fishing village has cost the state $18.7 million to date, up from an original estimate of $6 million, and has taken four years longer than originally planned. The former Pineapple Pier is envisioned as having wholesale and retail seafood sales, fishing-related businesses and restaurants that serve both tourists and fishermen.

Methane gas, generated by underground petroleum pollution, requires that each building in the area have safety systems to vent gas to the atmosphere so it does not build to dangerous levels in the structures, said Scott Ishikawa, DOT spokesman.

United Fishing Agency, the state's only wholesale fish auction, and Pacific Ocean Producers, a supplier for fishermen, opened the fishing village as anchor tenants last year. The companies paid for their buildings, but the state paid for the $1.4 million cost of methane mitigation for their buildings and a state-owned building that is for lease.

The state is in negotiations with two other businesses that intend to build at the fishing village, but their names are not being made public yet, Ishikawa said.

"I am excited to see this project finally completed, for the sake of our taxpayers and the fishing industry," Lingle said. "This facility is a showcase for Hawaii's fishing industry and is already attracting residents and visitors. The state will continue to implement the necessary methane mitigation measures to ensure the area is safe for the people who work in and visit the Fishing Village."

Five of nine original parcels at the 16.5-acre site have been claimed, Ishikawa said.

When fully developed, the state has estimated that it will get $1 million a year in lease rent.

Despite cost overruns, "the project will pay for itself," DOT Director Rod Haraga has said in the past. "It's just a question of how many years it will take."