Hawai'i Fisheries Initiative - The Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs

In its eighth year, 2,164 volunteer
recreational fishers in DAR’s Ulua Tagging
Project have tagged a total of 27,427 ulua
and papio (juvenile ulua), a species highly
targeted by recreational fishers. More than
3,600 recoveries have been made (a 13.3
percent recovery rate), generating important
stock assessment data for the species. 195
An opakapaka tag-and-release program is
also ongoing. 196
and the Oceanic Institute. 192 In addition,
DAR provides support and infrastructure
assistance to the University of Hawai‘i’s
Sea Grant Extension Program, the Center
for Tropical and Subtropical Aquaculture,
Waikiki Aquarium, the Hawai‘i Aquaculture
Association, and the Hawai‘i Cooperative
Fishery Unit, an adjunct of the University
of Hawai‘i Department of Zoology that is
active in graduate training and research in
sport fisheries. 193
DAR works with communities to strengthen
local involvement in the health of their
marine resources through revitalizing local
traditions and natural resource knowledge.
Community-based management of
subsistence fishing areas has been
encouraged by the state since 1994. 194
Consensus building between the different
factions (international, federal, state, local
community, and native peoples) has become
a call-to-action in marine management
circles, not just in Hawai‘i, but throughout
the Pacific and in international forums.
Community-based management signifies
not only incorporating the involvement
of aboriginals, but also including current
residents of coastal communities. Yet,
working examples remain relatively rare
in Hawai‘i. “A few remote areas under
community control have standing stocks
of fishes equivalent to those found in
no-take Marine Life Conservation Districts.
However, despite the fact that no-take marine
refuges and areas under community-based
management have proven to be successful
fisheries management strategies, less than
1 percent of the coastal areas in Hawai‘i
are managed in these ways.” 197 Limitations
on implementation include state funding,
personnel, and enforcement issues;
organized community-based management
groups able to go the long haul in
terms of volunteer support and funding;
and navigation by these groups of a
time-consuming regulatory system.
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