HI HR84

Urges the President of the United States to deny any request to expand the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument beyond its current boundaries.

Opposes expansion of the monument from fifty miles to two hundred miles offshore, citing potential annual losses of $10,000,000 in ex-vessel value for Hawaii's long-line fishery and $30,000,000 to retail seafood markets.

States that existing monument restrictions eliminated Hawaii's bottomfish fishery of seventeen permits, including those serving indigenous native Hawaiian fishing communities.

Notes that 23% of waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands are already no-take marine protected areas, exceeding the 20% global standard, and expansion would increase no-take areas to 67% of U.S. exclusive economic zone waters around Hawaii.

Asserts that current county, state, and federal management regimes provide comprehensive marine protections and that scientific justification for expansion is lacking.