Commercial Spearfishing Meeting

Last night (Thursday, May 6 2004) was an “unscheduled” meeting between the Commercial Spearfisherman and the WHFC “Sub Committee.” “Unscheduled,” meaning it was not part of the WHFC or Sub Committee’s regular meeting times or days. The approach was valid and a step in a positive direction, from the WHFC perspective, to afford time for “public” and/or “user group” input. After all, the WHFC is supposed to represent the community.

I had asked to be allowed in and listen to what was going on due to the fact that historically much of the information shared by both sides was misconstrued, misinformed, misunderstood, misinterpreted and/or any other means of expressing “screwed up!” I just wanted to hear it first hand because part of my job is to keep the community informed about the issues in and around the WHFC as well as fishing and diving rules and regulations in general.

My opinion of the meeting is that it was more intended to establish communication between the “Commercial Spearfishing User Group (CSUG)” and the WHFC through the representing WHFC board member Glennon Gingo who also heads the Sub Committee, rather than a sharing of ideas or recommendations. Again historically, the CSUG has been denied “fair representation” as stated by many of the CSUG. Glennon eloquently shared revised thoughts and suggestions made by the WHFC which expressed a “clean slate” attitude toward banning or regulating spearfishing saying “All of the recommendations by the WHFC toward this subject are as if they never happened. This meeting is as if it is the first meeting of its kind.” Glennon also expressed openly the WHFC admission to “making mistakes” by recommending the Ban of Spearfishing to the DAR (Department of Aquatic Resources) sighting “…these decisions were based on misinformation or the lack of information.”

The CSUG expressed their appreciation to Glennon and the WHFC for opening up to allow the CSUG to be heard saying, “This is the first time in years someone has been willing to listen rather than just shoot us down.”

As the hours passed, about 9:00 pm the ideas and suggestions started to flow. The air surrounding the meeting became lighter and friendlier. Laughter reverberated from wall to wall with suggestions all in the room knew would send members of the WHFC sprinting for sedatives. It was all in good humor as we realized time would not stand still. We all had lives to get back to and thoughts to ponder. Reaching the parking lot I turned and said to all that followed, I wish all the meetings went this smooth. But one things for certain; this group that met tonight are all part of a group known as the Commercial Spearfisherman and when you are mixed in the same room with other user groups…be ready and have some questions and answers.

Fish Lips

My title “Fish Lips” pertains to all the talking that has been done in connection with “regulating” the local reef and fish population. The loudest voice in the state of Hawaii has come from a “volunteer” group called the West Hawaii Fisheries Council, which is comprised of a controversial group of approx. 26 men and women that, ideally, represent the “voice of the community.” The Council and its members came under fire after they “recommended,” with a majority vote, to BAN SPEARFISHING!

To many on the “Mainland” the idea of hunting-and-gathering is primitive and uncouth, even offensive. People are so use to going to the Supermarket to purchase “food” they rarely stop to think where the food came from or how it found its way to a nicely packaged and stamped, temperature-regulated store shelf. Or perhaps in these busy times people don’t have the time to think or even care where their dinner came from.

Media has portrayed and therefore stereotyped the hunter as a bottom-of-the-barrel human being with lesser intelligence and sophistication than its greater counterpart, the “business person.” What most people don’t realize is there is a very sophisticated, scientific, precise and efficient hunter known as the Spearfisherman. This hunter and/or food gatherer has evolved to capture its food from the ocean since the beginning of man. It is also one of the most difficult, and therefore selective, means of collecting food on earth today. Due to the physical limitations of spearfishing the hunter must not only be able to see but nearly touch his potential game to acquire it’s flesh to feed his family. For this reason and many more a Spearfisherman puts his life at risk every time he enters the water.

The West Hawaii Fisheries Council (WHFC) has used the hunter stereotype as well as its “mainland mentality” of “purchasing your food at the grocery store doesn’t adversely affect the environment” to push its opinion, rather than the communities voice, about the rules and regulations desired by the community through to the highest official governing body in Hawaii, the Department of Aquatic Resources (DAR). Through petitions etc. we have successfully halted the WHFC recommendation to Ban Spearfishing and sent the idea of reef and fish management back to a “Sub-Committee” level within the WHFC. The concept of the Sub-Committee is to go (back) out into the community to find out what they “really want.” This is where it stands today.

Tomorrow (Thursday, May 6 2004) we will be meeting with a group of people who represent one aspect of spearfishing considered the “commercial spearfisherman.” These are people who actually spear fish to sell to the market(s) and not for personal consumption; a small group with a large impact.

This has been a very general and basic overview. I’ll keep you up to date as best I can.