SB 3201

THE SENATE
S.B. NO.
3201
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026
S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII
A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO CORAL REEF RESILIENCE.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
���� SECTION 1.� The legislature finds that coral reefs are
critically valuable to the State and its residents.� Coral reefs provide coastal protection from
erosion caused by rising sea levels and larger ocean swells caused by warmer
oceans, and they produce sand that helps to replenish beaches.� Coral reefs also sustain fisheries, create
recreational opportunities, support tourism, and provide important spiritual
connections.
���� However,
the legislature believes that the State's reefs have experienced substantial
decline and face catastrophic failure in the years and decades to come unless
the State intervenes and makes significant changes to coral reef
management.� More specifically, this
decline has been driven by sedimentation and the run-off of excess nutrients
from sewage and fertilizers; increasing climate-driven ocean warming and
acidification that destabilizes reef ecosystems and causes more frequent and
severe coral bleaching; unaddressed overfishing and recreational overcrowding;
and the commercial extraction of marine species, among other factors.
���� The
legislature further finds that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration has defined twenty-five per cent live coral cover as the
absolute minimum necessary to maintain a healthy reef ecosystem and physical
structure.� Live coral cover on coral
reefs around the State currently range from less than one per cent to
sixty-nine percent.� Many reef species
are also at critically low levels of less than five or ten per cent of their
naturally occurring potential.� In
addition, entire species have already disappeared from some areas.
���� The legislature recognizes that the ecological
resilience of coral reefs, in terms of both resistance to and recovery from
various threats, depends critically on the diversity of species, with each
species playing a role that contributes to the ecosystem, and on the health of
herbivorous fish that eat seaweed and other benthic algae, which keeps reef
surfaces clean so corals can thrive.�
Among herbivorous fish species, data show that a minimum total fish
biomass of at least forty grams per square meter is necessary to sustain the
State's coral reef ecosystems.� However,
many reefs, especially those on the island of Oahu and parts of the islands of
Kauai and Maui, are already well below this minimum threshold.� Multiple analyses, studies, and decades of
real-world degradation demonstrate that, with its current trajectory, the State
will likely lose the majority of its remaining coral reef ecosystems in the
coming decades.
���� The legislature believes that significant
and immediate planning is needed to protect and restore the State's coral reef
ecosystems and the diversity and biomass of the marine species within those
ecosystems to levels far closer to their naturally occurring potential.� These plans will have goals of ensuring that
coral reefs are robustly prepared to absorb significant losses and survive catastrophic
events and impacts in the years and decades to come, thereby ensuring the
survival of this critical resource for the State's future generations.
���� Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to:
���� (1)� Require
the division of aquatic resources of the department of land and natural
resources to manage the aquatic life and aquatic resources of the State with
the highest priority being to protect, restore, and maintain ecosystem
integrity using the best scientific data available; and
���� (2)� Require
the division of aquatic resources to develop plans necessary to substantially
improve coral reef resilience around the island of Oahu, which is the island
with the most endangered reefs.
���� SECTION
2.� Chapter 187A, Hawaii Revised
Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part I to be appropriately
designated and to read as follows:
���� "�187A-   � Reef ecosystem resilience.� (a)� The division shall restore and maintain reef
ecosystems and each indigenous species within the reef ecosystem to a level
that is not less than       per cent of the ecosystem
or indigenous species' natural biomass potential within each respective moku,
as determined by the best available science.
���� (b)� The division shall expand and
maintain live coral cover at not less than twenty‑five per cent on reefs
that have historically supported naturally occurring live coral cover, as
determined by the best available science.
���� (c)� The division
shall:
���� (1)� Collaborate with institutions and
organizations having demonstrated expertise and experience with the State's
coral reef science to achieve the goals of this section;
���� (2)� Ensure qualitative measurement of
progress each year using the best available science; and
���� (3)� Incorporate the requirements of this
section into all of its plans and decisions.
���� (d)� The department may adopt rules pursuant to
chapter 91 necessary to achieve the goals of this section.
���� (e)� No later than twenty days prior to the
convening of each regular session, the division shall submit a report to the
legislature on the division's progress in meeting the requirements of
subsections (a) and (b), including any measures of progress collected pursuant
to subsection (c)(2)."
���� SECTION 3.�
Section 187A-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding two new
definitions to be appropriately inserted and to read as follows:
���� ""Division" means the
division of aquatic resources of the department.
���� "Moku" refers to a traditional
type of land district that is larger than an ahupuaa."
���� SECTION
4.� Section 187A-2,
Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
���� "�187A-2� Powers and duties of department.� The department shall:
���� (1)� Manage and administer the aquatic life and
aquatic resources of the State[[;]], with the highest priority being to
protect, restore, and maintain ecosystem integrity, including restoring and
maintaining reef ecosystem resiliency pursuant to section 187A-   ;
���� (2)� Establish and maintain aquatic life
propagating station or stations;
���� (3)� Establish, manage, and regulate public fishing
areas, artificial reefs, fish aggregating devices, marine life conservation
districts, shoreline fishery management areas, refuges, and other areas
pursuant to title 12;
���� (4)� Subject to this title, import aquatic life for
the purpose of propagating and disseminating the same in the State and the
waters subject to its jurisdiction;
���� (5)� Distribute, free of charge, as the department
deems to be in the public interest, aquatic life, for the purpose of increasing
the food supply of the State; provided that when, in the discretion of the
department, the public interest shall not be materially interfered with by so
doing, the department may propagate and furnish aquatic life to private
parties, upon such reasonable terms, conditions, and prices determined by the
department;
���� (6)� [[Gather]] Using the best available
science, gather and compile information and statistics concerning the
habitat and character of, and increase and decrease in, aquatic resources in
the State, including the care and propagation of aquatic resources for
protective, productive, and aesthetic purposes, and other useful information[[,
which]] that the department deems proper;
���� (7)� Enforce all laws relating to the protecting,
taking, killing, propagating, or increasing of aquatic life within the State
and the waters subject to its jurisdiction; and
���� (8)� Formulate and from time to time recommend to
the governor and legislature [[such]] additional legislation necessary or
desirable to implement the objectives of title 12."
���� SECTION
5.� The division of aquatic resources of
the department of land and natural resources shall develop plans necessary to
significantly increase coral reef resilience around the island of Oahu pursuant
to section 187A-   , Hawaii Revised Statutes, including
attaining the following goals:
���� (1)� By July 1, 2027, a plan to increase the
amount of live coral cover to not less than twenty-five per cent on reefs that
have historically supported naturally occurring live coral cover;
���� (2)� By July 1, 2027, a plan to increase the
density of herbivorous fish inhabiting reefs to at least:
��������� (A)� Forty grams per square meter; or
��������� (B)�       per cent
of the potential biomass of the respective moku, as determined by the best
available science; and
���� (3)� By July 1, 2028, a plan to increase the
density of all other indigenous species not otherwise specified in this section
to at least       per cent of the potential biomass of
the respective moku, as determined by the best available science.
���� SECTION
6.� If any provision of this Act, or the
application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the
invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the Act that can
be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end
the provisions of this Act are severable.
���� SECTION
7.� Statutory material to be repealed is
bracketed and stricken.� New statutory
material is underscored.
���� SECTION
8.� This Act shall take effect on July 1,
2050.
Report Title:
DLNR;
DAR; Aquatic Resources; Coral Reef Resilience; Ecosystem Resilience; Reports
Description:
Requires
the Division of Aquatic Resources of the Department of Land and Natural
Resources to:� (1) manage and administer
aquatic life and resources, with the highest priority being to protect,
restore, and maintain ecosystem integrity, using the best scientific data
available; (2) make plans by certain dates for the restoration of reef
ecosystems and indigenous species to a level that is not less than an
unspecified per cent of their natural biomass potential; and (3) make a plan by
7/1/2027 for the expansion of live coral cover at not less than twenty-five per
cent on reefs that have historically supported naturally occurring live coral
cover.� Requires annual reports to the
Legislature.� Effective 7/1/2050. �(SD1)
The summary description
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not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.