Musings: Niihau No-Fishing Zone Meets Resistance

Westside Kauai Rep. Dee Morikawa and other members of the state House will be meeting with the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) this week to discuss concerns about a proposed no-fishing zone around Niihau.

“I certainly don't support this,” Dee wrote in an email to me. “There needs to be a fact-finding study to see if the Niihau complaints are warranted.”

The Robinson family, which owns the island, claims fishermen from Kauai have been over-harvesting fish and opihi on Niihau. The Robinsons have gotten support from Oahu Sen. Clayton Hee and other Hawaiian legislators to introduce a bill banning fishing around the island.

“When you make a state law doing something like that, you set precedent,” a Kauai resident who occasionally fishes neat Niihau told me. “It's beginning to open like a can of worms. What's next? Larry Ellison on Lanai? Hawaiian Homes in Anahola?”

William Aila, director of the DLNR, reportedly is considering a similar approach to resolve resource “conflicts” at Molokai and Lanai, according to comments made at a November meeting with Kauai fishermen.

The Robinsons already have negotiated a memorandum of agreement with the state and federal governments to possibly include the waters around Niihau in the Hawaiian Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. Final state approval is still needed.

Though all beaches in Hawaii are public to the highest seasonal wash of the waves, Niihau has long been considered essentially off-limits for shore landings — an unofficial ban the Robinsons enforced. Boating activity has increased in recent years, along with disputes between island residents and Kauai fishermen.

“There was small kine altercations,” the fisherman told me. But an incident earlier this year, in which Niihau residents reportedly confiscated fishing gear from Keala Lanning and his nephews, who were picking opihi, “seemed to start Bruce [Robinson] on the campaign to shut Niihau off.” Lanning unsuccessfully sought a return of his property through DLNR.

The fisherman acknowledged that "some people do take advantage," including setting net in front of the one village where all Niihau residents live. “That, to me, is not showing respect for the people. But it's not right to close the whole island, because the state owns out to three miles and up to the high water line.”

Fishermen at the November meeting with Aila expressed concerns about restricting access to publicly-owned resources. They also said Niihau, Kauai and Kaula are connected, so the Niihau marine ecosystem can't be managed independently.

Aila and the Robinsons have justified the closure by saying Niihau residents depend on the ocean for food because they have no refrigeration. Others say Niihau is a “special case” because it is one of the few places where Hawaiians can still engage in traditional subsistence lifestyles. 

The Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs is also weighing in with a proposed resolution contending that “in the recent months, outsiders have become even more bold and have raided the island of opihi and fish to the extent that oftentimes the people go hungry.” 

The resolution also maintains “the urgency of the plight of the Niihau people came to light through the Aha Moku Advisory Council on Oct. 18, 2013, when the latest report of ten commercial fishing boats were seen within the near-shore waters of Niihau taking as much opihi as they could gather.”

But others dispute those claims, saying fishermen haven't taken too much. Solar panels and generators do power refrigerators on Niihau, they say, and the Robinsons operate a barge that regularly brings in food from family members on Kauai. "The people there aren't starving," the fisherman said.

Though the Robinsons say Niihau has about 150 permanent residents, others say only about 30 to 50 people live there full-time. Many former Niihau residents have settled in Kekaha and Waimea.

Niihau residents also have access to wild game that is so plentiful, fishermen say, that some hunters pay Robinson for the chance to engage in eradication hunts, though they are not allowed to take the meat. The Robinsons also host expensive safaris for tourists who want to hunt the exotic game introduced there.

Some fishermen contend Bruce Robinson is seeking the ban in part to protect the resources for his own gain, because he reportedly has been selling opihi from the island for decades. Others claim that Sen. Hee and his friends were given “free reign” to hunt and fish on Niihau in exchange for supporting a no-fishing law.

There is also the issue of enforcement, with many asking how the state, which has a tiny staff of conservation officers, could enforce a no-fishing ban.

“I would support beefing up the DOCARE enforcement staff to police the island better,” Dee said.

“I think the politically right thing to do is have some sort of conservation in a way to satisfy both sides,” the fisherman said. “Maybe a closed zone in front of the village” where residents do regularly fish. But they can't easily access the rest of the island, he said, so it should not be closed to fisherman from Kauai.

Though Dee's district includes Niihau, she was not consulted about the fishing ban by the state, her fellow lawmakers or the Robinsons. Dee said she asked DLNR and the governor's office for an explanation of the proposal two weeks ago, but heard nothing back.

Dee said further public discussion on the issue “will occur when and if the bills are heard during the session. In the meantime, I have been listening to people and asking questions of those whom I feel may have suggestions. I'm also very accessible through my legislative e-mail [repmorikawa@capitol.hawaii.gov] and encourage anyone to submit concerns to me.”