By TOM CALLIS
By TOM CALLIS
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Legislation aimed at regulating the harvest of opihi has been revived after dying in committee last month.
The Senate committees of Water, Land and Housing, and Hawaiian Affairs both passed a resolution Thursday requesting new rules for gathering the local delicacy, believed to be in small numbers in certain parts of the state.
Senate Resolution 96 is the replacement to Senate Bill 2923, which failed to make it out of the House committees of Water, land, and Ocean Resources, Judiciary, and Finance.
Unlike bills, resolutions can only request action, not require it.
But they are not subject to the same filing deadlines, allowing them to be a substitute for failed legislation.
The resolution will next be sent to the Senate floor for a vote.
The measure requests that the state Department of Land and Natural Resources establish seasons for harvesting opihi, set a five-year harvesting moratorium on Oahu, and prohibit the taking of the shellfish from below the waterline.
Native Hawaiians exercising their gathering rights and traditional practices would be exempt.
The resolution’s intent is to allow the opihi population to recover and reduce deaths caused by harvesting the shellfish, which tend to reside in areas with dangerous surf.
Fifteen people have died between April 1999 and September 2011 harvesting opihi, according to the resolution.
The measure has support from marine scientists and the Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i who say it will help to sustain the fishery, seen as culturally important to native Hawaiians, for future generations.
“We are in danger of losing not only a marine animal that is unique in the world, but also losing an important direct connection to Hawaiian history and culture,” the Nature Conservancy wrote in its testimony on the resolution.
But regulation can be easier said than done, said Alton Miyasaka, a Land and Natural Resources biologist.
Miyasaka said it would be difficult to determine who is harvesting for commercial or traditional proposes.
Additionally, he said, the state doesn’t have any figures on opihi numbers which would make it difficult to set base lines for harvesting.
“It’s kind of a domino effect,” Miyasaka said. “You have to know A to know B to know C.”
Still, he said, the state agency would take action if the resolution passes, though it may start with reaching out to the public for comment.
The only current population estimates are from levels of commercial harvests, which have been fairly steady over the last 15 years, Miyasaka said.
A report from the Division of Aquatic Resources indicates that 25,241 pounds of opihi was harvested in 2010, the second largest harvest since 1967.
Still, their populations on Oahu have long been considered depleted.
The largest concentrations of opihi are on the Big Island, where the shellfish remains in good supply, said Kyle Sumner, Suisan wholesale manager.
“At this time, we don’t see any amount being reduced in any matter,” he said.
Still, the company doesn’t object to the proposed regulations.
“We feel that whatever the state is going to come up with is going to be proper,” Sumner said.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.