OHA speaks out against renewed push to open Papahānaumokuākea to commercial fishing

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Native Hawaiian Cultural Working Group are speaking out in opposition to the renewed push to open the Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary to commercial fishing, following a presidential executive order (EO14276) and the Western Pacific Regional Fishing Management Council reaffirming its position to allow commercial fishing in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. 

“The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is steadfast in its commitment to Papahānaumokuākea”, said OHA Board Chair Kaialiʻi Kahele. “This is a pu‘uhonua that allows our people to revitalize practices like navigation that depend on healthy ecosystems and helps fish populations recover which benefits all Hawai‘i nei. Our marine monuments are fulfilling their purpose-there is no need to alter what is already working.”

The body of scientific research, along with ‘ike Hawaiʻi and historic traditions, continues to support the protection of Papahānaumokuākea as a Marine National Monument and Sanctuary, recognizing the sacredness of the region and ensuring the continued vitality of marine species and cultural practices

“Native Hawaiian relationships with the world around us are familial and based on reciprocity,” explained NHCWG member Pelika Andrade. “Fishing outside of the ahupuaʻa and the localized areas we call home is not Hawaiian. Commercial extraction and locust-like behavior creating unbalance in the world is not Hawaiian. These protected/no-take areas are a contemporary Native Hawaiian solution to restoring balance from commercial extraction. The protections of Papahānaumokuākea are only necessary because of how industries, like commercial fishing, have depleted our oceans. Our ultimate goal, as native Hawaiians, is ʻāina momona, and what the council is proposing does not align with that.”

Prior to the designation of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in 2006, commercial fishing operations had already led to declines in several key species. The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Lobster Fishery was closed indefinitely in 2000 following a court case indicating that the fishery was impacting monk seal recovery, and scientific data revealed that spiny lobster and slipper lobster populations had plummeted.

Non-targeted species like shark were also severely impacted by commercial fishing operations, with up to 10,000 sharks discarded annually as bycatch. Since designation, the spillover effects of protection have increased catch of ahi and other prized fish outside the monument boundaries, while allowing healthy feeder populations to thrive within the protected area.

Papahānaumokuākea is home to more than 7,000 marine species, a quarter of which are endemic to Hawaiʻi. More than 31 species are threatened or endangered, and some like the honu (green sea turtle) and ‘ilioholoikauaua (monk seal) depend on the area for critical breeding activities. Opening Papahānaumokuākea to commercial fishing would set a dangerous precedent, undermine globally recognized conservation commitments and threaten the integrity of one of Earth’s last relatively undisturbed marine ecosystems. 

Papahānaumokuākea is recognized as a sacred region in Native Hawaiian cosmology, intimately connected with the Kumulipo and many cultural and historic traditions.  It symbolizes ancestral pathways, spiritual renewal, and the boundary between darkness (pō) and light (ao).  

“Hawaiian traditions and practice very clearly emphasized a commitment to recognizing what is sacred and what will sustain fisheries for future generations – centered on subsistence, not commerce,” according to a news release from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.  “Once opportunities for cost-recovery arise, they create incentives to accumulate capital, shifting reliance on the resource itself to the money it generates.  Furthermore, it is no mistake that our ʻōlelo reflects this sentiment in the very word for fisher – lawaiʻa – or to lawa (to be satisfied) iʻa (fish), meaning to catch only what is needed and necessary.”

The late Uncle Buzzy Agard, a former commercial fisherman in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, was adamant about the negative impact he and others had on the region, demanding the place be a puʻuhonua, a sanctuary.  “Conservation in this context does not mean excluding local cultural practices—in fact cultural practitioners continue to access the area for permitted non-commercial subsistence fishing and ceremonial activities,” the release noted.

Importantly, Papahānaumokuākea was designated not only to limit commercial fishing but also to protect irreplaceable ecological and cultural heritage resources, OHA reports.

In the newly released movie Ocean, ʻAulani Wilhem, NHCWG member and former NOAA Superintendent for Papahānaumokuākea reflects, “People would ask, ‘What are you protecting it from?’ and our answer was ‘That’s the wrong question. It’s about who and what are we protecting it for?” 

Native Hawaiian-led research and advocacy have repeatedly emphasized that cultural access and ecological protection go hand-in-hand, and that commercial fishing is inconsistent with traditional Native Hawaiian stewardship ethics such as kuleana, mālama, and pono.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, as a Co-Trustee of the Monument and cooperative partner in Sanctuary management, reviews and participates in all oversight activities with the advice of the NHCWG.