Tribune-Herald
Voters will decide in November whether to create a Game Management Advisory Commission to advise on county fishing and hunting issues.
By a 9-0 vote, the County Council approved placing on the ballot a charter amendment that would create a nine-member commission as a local counterweight to the Department of Land and Natural Resources on game management issues.
Numerous hunters testified in favor of the commission, as they have in past meetings.
Tuesday’s vote was the final one required by the County Council to put the amendment on the ballot.
“We can work together for all to benefit, not just certain people,” said hunter Pat Pacheco.
As with other commissions, the nine members would be appointed from around the island by the mayor and confirmed by the County Council.
“This bill came from the hunters. And we provided the opportunity and the avenue to do so,” said Council Chairman Dominic Yagong.
Hunters in the audience pushed the idea of “home rule” as opposed to game management decisions made from DLNR headquarters in Honolulu.
“I’m very, very, very frustrated with the DLNR,” Ford said. In an allusion to an aerial hunting ban the council passed (and which is still awaiting action by the mayor) she accused the state agency of “treating our island as their own hunting preserve.”
“The thought of wasting all that meat when some people are starving is unacceptable,” Ford said.
If approved, the commission would advise county, state and federal agencies on matters relating to “the taking and conservation of aquatic life and wildlife, including proposed rules.”
Commissioners would also be charged with issuing recommendations to conserve and protect Hawaii’s natural and cultural resources and to help the island attain self-sufficiency.
