HI HR117

Requests the Department of Land and Natural Resources to amend administrative rules to prohibit the use of lay gill nets for catching oio (bonefish) in Hawaii's state waters.

Notes that oio is a premiere sport fish generating significant economic value through tourism, with Florida examples showing a single fish can generate approximately $3,500 in revenue for the state.

Identifies that Hawaii's commercial oio catch using nets in 2010 was 1,500 fish, which would have a potential sport fishing value of approximately $5,250,000 if Florida revenue estimates were applied.

States that lay gill nets are destructive and indiscriminate, catching unintended marine life, abandoning debris that kills marine life, and damaging coral formations.

Notes that the Department of Land and Natural Resources has already prohibited lay gill nets in certain areas including all of Maui, portions of the island of Hawaii's west coast, and portions of Oahu's southeast shores.