The collaborative marine conservation education and policy effort begun in 1998 continued to work on several marine policy goals in Hawai`i and the Central and Western Pacific. Progress in 2002 was as follows:

Establish a network of marine reserves in state waters.

Our 21 page four-color illustrated booklet The Importance of Refuges for Reef Fish Replenishment in Hawai`i was distributed widely. Contributions for the second printing were received from the Hawaii State Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR), U.S. Park Service, National Ocean Service, and the Pacific Whale Foundation. Fishery Management Area (FMA) hearings on rules for state waters in the Northwest Hawaiian islands (NWHI) were held in January. Coalition members gave testimony on O`ahu and Maui. The proposed FMA is a result of a petition the Coalition sent to Hawai`i State Department of Land and Natural Resources in 1999. As a result of testimony draft rules giving more protection to those waters came before the Board of Land and Natural Resources in September. Members of the Coalition gave expert testimony, pointing out that the draft rules still left open the possibility of fishing in state waters in the NWHI between the new federal reserve and the refuge, and there was still no bond-posting requirement to cover the costs of removal and cleanup costs if fishing vessels became grounded. The Board ordered the Division to include a bonding requirement before it went out for a new round of public hearings. The Northwest Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Reserve Council met in January, May, August, and November and is working towards establishing a National Marine Sanctuary in the area. William Aila is a member, Linda Paul is an alternate.

The Coalition also arranged for educational briefings for the Hawai`i State Legislature by a panel of experts on the status of Hawai`i's near shore living marine resources. Rep. Schatz introduced the Coral Reef Protection Act in the House, which would have mandated that a minimum of 20% of state waters around the main Hawaiian Islands and all of the state waters in the NWHI be set aside as pu`uhonua (no-take refuges). The bill passed the House, but was held in the Senate despite efforts by Coalition members to get it dislodged. In August a Marine Protected Area workshop on the main Hawaiian Islands was convened to get additional feedback and support for legislation. A bill mandating a marine reserve network encompassing a minimum of 20% of state waters in the main Hawaiian Islands will be introduced in the 2003 legislative session and we are now working on a major public education campaign to help get it passed, which includes a new four-color Marine Reserve Network poster, public presentations, etc.

Initiate a pilot program of inspections of aquarium exports and alien aquatic species imports to obtain data on what and how much is being traded.

Saltwater aquarium fish and invertebrates are shipped into and out of Hawai`i to collectors on the U.S. mainland and in Europe. In1999 the reported annual harvest was 422,823, but biologists in the field estimate that this is only 20% of what is actually being harvested and exported. Kim Moffie, our newest Coalition hire and a young lawyer is writing, at DAR request, the draft inspection rules, which will set up the monitoring program at the Kailua-Kona and Honolulu airports. She also drafted a white paper on the problem, which was included in the briefing book of Coalition white papers sent to both gubernatorial candidates, and can be found, along with our other white papers, on the Pacific Fisheries Coalition website (www.westpacfisheries.net). To sensitize aquarium enthusiasts regarding the damage their hobby is doing to marine ecosystems in Hawai`i, we are working on a consumer awareness campaign. To provide a factual background, Alison Rieser's group (Marine Law Institute) completed a report on the extent and effects of the aquarium trade and a two page information sheet that was distributed to delegates at CITES COP12 (CITES: a convention on trade and endangered species, COP12: Conference of Parties #12) to support the listing in Appendix II of aquarium trade species (seahorses & humphead wrasse). We also distributed species-specific information sheets on the marine species proposed for listing, including the basking shark and whale shark, which are still being threatened by the fin trade. Linda Paul, who is a member of the Species Survival Network Fish Working Group, attended COP12. Information from the Rieser report will also be used in presentations and public service announcements and will be published in `Elepaio. Ellyn Tong is working on an aquarium trade awareness poster. In addition, there is still a flow of baled shark fins coming into Hawai`i from Africa for preliminary processing. We are currently collecting more information on this business and will be advocating for additional legislation to stop the practice.

Establish a state-sponsored task force to make recommendations on preventing intentional introductions of non-native aquatic species in Hawai`i.

Presentations on the Aquarium Trade and the Alien Species Problem were given at the 2001 Fisheries Symposium, the Second State Aquatics Conference, and at our Expert's Briefings at the Legislature. Rep. Kanoho introduced an Alien Aquatic Species Bill in the House, which would have set up a task force to make recommendations to curb the intentional introduction of alien aquatic species. It passed the Water & Land Use Committee but was held by Finance, because it called for the creation of a new position in DAR, which required new money. However, language was added to another Alien Species bill that did pass the Legislature to establish a Hawai`i Invasive Species Council to coordinate the State's effort to control and eradicate all alien invasive species, including aquatic ones. Unfortunately the Governor failed to sign the bill. A renewed legislative effort will begin in 2003. A report on the problem was published in the October issue of the `Elepaio and Ellyn Tong is working on an alien species identification card. Also, the Alien Aquatic Organism Task Force on Unintentional Introductions has been reconvened by DAR to develop the state's prevention program and Linda Paul was invited to participate. This Task Force is an outgrowth of the legislation the Coalition worked to get passed during the first year of this project in Spring of 1999.

Push for implementation of conservation measures under the Western & Central Pacific Fisheries Convention.

Linda Paul, who, along with William Aila, are on the U.S. delegation to the Western & Central Pacific Fisheries Convention, attended the Second Preparatory Committee meeting in Papua New Guinea in February and the Third Preparatory Committee meeting in November in Manila. The draft rules submitted by the interim Secretariat in January took a step backward and again cut NGOs almost completely out of the management process.

We managed to get it tabled until the November meeting and the new rules, which were passed, allow for participation of NGOs in the work of the Commission and its subsidiary bodies. Still to come are overcapacity, IUU (illegal, unrecognized and unreported) fishing and bycatch issues. In April Linda Paul gave talk on the progress of the Preparatory Committee meetings at the "Bringing New Law to Ocean Waters Conference" and "Ocean Governance Study Group Conference" at Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley.

Achieve a ban on the use of set/lay gillnets in Hawai`i.

After three years of Coalition education and advocacy efforts, including facilitating the creation of a Gillnet Task Force, DAR drafted a preliminary set of lay gillnet rules, based on the recommendations of the Task Force. The first round of meetings with the public were held in the fall to get feedback. The Coalition suggested both orally and in writing that lay gillnet fishing be completely banned and we are continuing our educational efforts to accomplish this goal, including a presentation on the destructiveness of gillnets to reef fish populations as well as turtles at our Experts Briefings to the 2002 Legislature, an update of our white paper, which we are distributing broadly, articles in fishing publications, posters and public presentations.

Other Activities That Continue to Advance the Goals of the Pacific Fisheries Coalition.

Coalition members continue to monitor the Western Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Council and its committees and attended the 15th Meeting of the Standing Committee on Tuna & Billfish held in Honolulu in July 2002. Linda Paul, a member of the Marine Fish Conservation Network (MFCN) Advisory Board, helped with a national effort to prevent the Sustainable Fisheries Act from being gutted from the Magnuson Act as part of the reauthorization process. Ellyn Tong attended the MFCN annual meeting in Washington, D.C. in June. The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy met in Honolulu in May and Linda Paul testified and was quoted in a Honolulu Star Bulletin article. Linda is also a member of the Seafood WATCH Hawai`i Working Group. Kim Moffie gave oral input and distributed and displayed educational materials on the status of Hawai`i's coral reefs at the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force in Puerto Rico in October. Our `OLELO (local public-access television) sustainable fisheries television program finally got off the ground in September with the taping of Buzzy Agard, a Hawaiian elder and former fisherman, interviewed by William Aila, on traditional Hawaiian fisheries management practices. Ellyn Tong continues to do fish conservation outreach at fishing club meetings. Our website is being updated by our new webmaster, Stephen Bibbs.