Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 5, 1 May 1997 — New WESPAC chair urges fishermen to air views [ARTICLE]

New WESPAC chair urges fishermen to air views

Anative Hawaian, small-scale fisherman from Maui has been appointed chairman of the new advisory panel to the Westem Pacific Fisheries Management Council. Isaac Harp of Lahaina will chair the Native and Indigenous Rights panel as it reviews all of the current management plans imder WESPAC's jurisdiction, and addresses native rights as they relate to eaeh management plan. WESPAC is responsible for the management of an exclusive eeonomie zone under federal jurisdiction from three to 200 miles out surronding Hawai'i, Guam, American Samoa, and ^ ^

the Commonwealth of the Northem Mariana Islands. The Native and Indigenous Rights advisory panel consists of representatives from Hawai'i, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. Its first formal meeting took plaee April 21 as part of a weeklong WESPAC meeting in Honolulu. The panel numbers 17,

with about a dozen members from the different Hawaiian islands, and the rest from American Samoa, Guam and Marianas. The panel will seek proposals to create fishery management demonstration projects where native people are partners in fisheries development. A separate panel, including members

of the Native and Indigenous Rights panel, will review apphcations. Grants of up to $500,000 over the next five years will be awarded by the Secretary of Commerce for plans to establish businesses that ean heeome self-supporting and able to expand to employ native people. With the "teeth" provided in the newly revised fisheries management Magnusson-Stevens Act, Harp hopes to secure "limited entry" rights for

Hawaiians to ensure that large-scale fisheries must employ a certain percentage of native Hawaiian fishermen. He notes that money earned from fisheries in Hawai'i often leaves the state economy because the majority of long-line ship crew are foreign nationals. Prior to establishment of the federal Exclusive Eeonomie Zone (EEZ), coastal people could assert rights to high seas resources under two legal theories: effective exercise of sovereign control; and long and continued usage. If assured sovereign control and a pattern of long and continued usage of a fishery were shown, traditional

fishermen could assert exclusive rights to the resources. If eonhnu- ! ous usage only was established, they could still assert preferential rights to the resources. WESPAC and Office of Hawaiian Affairs in 1990 funded a study of native fishing rights and limited entry in Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American

Samoa and Hawai'i. Fishermen in Guam, the Commonweahh of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa generally considered fish in their waters as their own and preferred no, or limited, entry for "outside" fishing interests, whether commercial or recreational.

Interviews for the two-phase report on native Hawaiian fishermen, however, were undertaken from a totally different, legalistic approach. A

small number of in-depth interviews were conducted to obtain comprehensive detail about the fishermen's fishing histories to produce evidence of past and recent fishing activity and access to fishing grounds that would withstand legal scrutiny. Interviews focused on where, when, how they fished and what species were eaptured in order to build docuentation to provide the necessary historical and legal grounds required for preferential treatment or privileged status of native Hawaiian fishermen in the Hawaiian archipelago. Harp said that native Hawaiian fishermen were not asked for their opinion on native rights, as they may relate to a limited entry program of fishery management, as was done in the other reports. He says, "There is no doubt the opinions of native Hawaiian fishermen would reflect that of the other native fishermen interviewed. A deep anger and resentment has developed within the Hawaiian community, by over a eentury of denial of their inherent rights." Harp believes native Hawaiian fishing rights could be applied to such things as permit restrictions, or rights to a certain percentage of fisheries, such as those enjoyed by native Americans. Harp urges fishermen and others concerned about sustaining Hawai'i's natural resources — from the reef to the deep sea bottomfish and also pelagic (migratory) stocks — to get involved and make their views known. To reach Harp, eall (808) 6614527.

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The panel will seek proposals to create fishery management demonstration projects where native people are partners in fisheries development.