Last March, Gov. David Ige submitted to\nthe National Marine Fisheries Service\na list of nominees for upcoming at-large\nvacancies on the Western Pacific Fishery\nManagement Council (Wespac).\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll the nominees have knowledge of or experience in the conservation and management of marine resources, commercial or recreational harvest of fishery resources, or habitat and ecosystem approaches to resource management,\u201d Ige wrote in his letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s assistant administrator for fisheries. He added: \u201cMy list reflects qualified women and minority candidates.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nominees were, in order of priority: Shaelene Kamaka\u2018ala; Sol Kaho\u2018ohalahala; Matthew Ramsey; and Kawika Winter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
None was appointed.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet all are seemingly qualified. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the federal law that established the eight regional fishery management councils \u2013 of which Wespac is one \u2013 gubernatorial nominees must be individuals who, \u201cby reason of their occupational or other experience, scientific expertise, or training, are knowledgeable regarding the conservation and management, or the commercial or recreational harvest, of the fishery resources of the geographical area concerned.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kamaka\u2018ala comes from a family of subsistence fishers. In his nomination package, Ige notes that she has \u201clifelong recreational and subsistence fishing experience\u201d and has also \u201cparticipated in Hawai\u2018i\u2019s commercial fishery for six years.\u201d Prior to her current position \u2013 a law clerk at the Hawai\u2018i State Judiciary, Kamakaala was the community- based fisheries planner at the Department of Land and Natural Resources\u2019 Division of Aquatic Resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kaho\u2018ohalahala \u201cis a lifelong traditional subsistence fisher and gatherer,\u201d Ige wrote, mentioning also his service on the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument\u2019s advisory council, the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary advisory council, and as community group member of the Pacific Remote Island Marine National Monument. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramsey \u201cis a lifelong recreational fisherman\u201d who also serves as director for the Hawai\u2018i program of Conservation International, Ige noted. \u201cPrior to his current appointment, he served as the Hawai\u2018i fisheries extension agent for NOAA NMFS,\u201d the governor wrote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Winter, manager of the He\u2018eia National Estuarine Research Reserve on O\u2018ahu, was identified by Ige as a subsistence fisher. Instead, those chosen to fill the two at-large vacancies on the council were Howard Dunham of American Samoa, said by Wespac to represent commercial fishing interests, and Monique Genereux of Guam, a restaurateur. However, Dunham\u2019s financial disclosure form \u2013 available on the council\u2019s website \u2013 shows no involvement in fishing, either commercial or recreational, or in any other activity (lobbying, consulting, processing, and the like) that bears on a fishery under the council\u2019s jurisdiction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ditto for Genereux\u2019s financial disclosure.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sector Representation\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wespac is one of eight regional fishery management councils established under the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), which provides the broad outlines of management of the nation\u2019s federal fisheries. Voting members of councils are representatives of the state officials responsible for fishery management \u2013 for Hawai\u2018i, this is the chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources or their designee \u2013 as well as the regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service. In addition, in the case of Wespac, there are eight voting members who are appointed by the Secretary of Commerce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Those appointed members are supposed to represent a \u201cfair and balanced apportionment, on a rotating or other basis, of the active participants … in the commercial and recreational fisheries\u201d under the council\u2019s jurisdiction. But also, members are to include individuals \u201cwho, by reason of their occupational or other experience, scientific expertise, or training, are knowledgeable regarding the conservation and management, or the commercial and recreational harvest, of the fishery resources.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In annual reports to Congress, the National Marine Fisheries Service identifies the individual appointed members as belonging to one of three categories: commercial, recreational, or \u201cother.\u201d That last category is a catch-all that includes people who may have scientific expertise, experience in natural resources management, or conservation interests. In the most recent (2018) such report, Wespac is shown to have three appointed members representing the commercial sector: Michael Duenas (of Guam\u2019s fisherman\u2019s coop), Mike Goto (of the Honolulu fish auction) and Christinna Lutu-Sanchez (a longline vessel owner in American Samoa); three from the recreational sector: Ed Watamura of the Waialua Boat Club, O\u2018ahu, Dean Sensui , producer of the show \u201cLet\u2019s Go Fishing,\u201d of O\u2018ahu, and McGrew Rice, a charter-boat captain in Kona; and two \u201cother\u201d members: John Gourley, a consultant from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Archie Soliai, an executive with the Starkist tuna processing plant in American Samoa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2019, council membership changed,\nwith the departures of Hawai\u2018i\u2019s Sensui and\nLutu-Sanchez. Soliai was reappointed to\nanother three-year term.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Current Members\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So who is on the council now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are the appointed members. Terms expire on August 10 of the year in which the appointment ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Michael Duenas of Guam (2021);<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Archie Soliai of American Samoa (2022); <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 John Gourley of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (2020); <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Ed Watamura of O\u2018ahu (2021);<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Mike Goto of O\u2018ahu (2020);<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 McGrew Rice of Kona (2020); <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Howard Durham of American Samoa (2022);<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Monique Genereux of Guam (2022). For at least the last two decades, there has been just one representative from a conservation group appointed to the council: Julie Leialoha, an officer of the Conservation Council for Hawai\u2018i. Although council members may serve up to three consecutive three-year terms, Leialoha served two (2010-2016). <\/p>\n\n\n\n At-Large vs. Obligatory\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Magnuson-Stevens Act provides that Wespac is to have eight appointed members, in addition to the five ex-officio members. Of those eight, four are so-called \u201cobligatory\u201d appointments. The governor of each member state or territory on the council provides the secretary of Commerce with a list of nominees for these obligatory seats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The other four appointed members are\nat-large members, who may be nominated\nby any governor of a territory or state in\nthe region.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n The number of at-large members from Hawai\u2018i or any territory included in Wespac\u2019s jurisdiction can therefore vary. Until August 10, when new council appointments took effect, three of the four at-large members were from Hawai\u2018i (Sensui, Goto, and McGrew Rice, a Kona charter-boat captain). Now, with the two new at-large appointments from Guam and American Samoa, Hawai\u2018i has just two at-large members: Goto and Rice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 Patricia Tummons\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last March, Gov. David Ige submitted to the National Marine Fisheries Service a list of nominees for upcoming at-large vacancies on the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Wespac). “All the nominees have knowledge of or experience in the conservation and … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,460],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-11923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fisheries","category-november-2019","tag-patricia-tummons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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