15 



with that water around you. What is sacred to you and the ocean 

 is sacred. We hope that in this small, but I think significant way, 

 that water will be returned to the natives of this area. 



Mr. Ebisui, what type of fishery resources could be available as 

 being designated for this project? 



Mr. Ebisui. My personal opinion would be that the tuna would 

 probably be the most logical one, perhaps yellow fin, perhaps aku. 



Senator Inouye. Is there any suggestion from the Northern Mar- 

 ianas? 



Mr. Borja. Mr. Chairman, in addition to what Mr. Ebisui has 

 stated, I would perhaps include mahi-mahi in there. Tuna, I think, 

 is the greatest resource in our islands also. 



Senator Inouye. High Chief. 



Mr. Stevenson. I concur with Mr. Ebisui and the Lieutenant 

 Governor. I think perhaps the greatest fishery we should develop 

 for our own people, that's where the resources are at and if that 

 resource could be developed by our people, all Polynesians regard- 

 less where they come from, I think it's a beginning, Senator. 



Senator Inouye. Ms. Romero. 



Ms. Romero. I appreciate the complexity of the issues, especially 

 the avoiding of the constitutional problem we can have but the tra- 

 ditional fishing grounds in Hawaii have been decimated by stress 

 and pollution especially. We cannot look at those areas to say 

 where can we line up. Where the commercial fishing industry in 

 Hawaii today is, the money is in the longline fishing industry. 

 Even those have been significantly changed. The fish patterns have 

 been changed and altered. 



I agree with Mr. Ebisui that the tuna is the most prolific and the 

 area we're talking about is, for the inshore tuna industry, between 

 5 and 20 miles and for the longline fleet, 25 miles to infinity, and 

 the tuna stocks. This is an area where there's a lot of interest 

 internationally and nationally and this is where the competition is. 

 We can compete out there and those are the stocks that should be 

 available and looked at. 



Senator Inouye. We will have to work together with the council 

 to decide on the areas. 



Mr. Mawae. 



Mr. Mawae. I agree with him but most important is conserva- 

 tion. 



Senator Inouye. Senator Akaka. 



Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 



I very much agree with Mr. Ebisui that kumu is a fish that we 

 don't find anymore. It is rare. I'm trying to think of that blue, yel- 

 low-stripped fish that is not so populous. I would want to say that 

 nabeta and kumu are fish that need to be considered as well as 

 some of the others. 



Again, I thank the Chairman because this is so important and 

 I'm so grateful that we bring this up for your thoughts. I hope that 

 we can pass these amendments so that we hear the beneficiaries 

 of the kind offish they have lived on culturally in the past. 



There are other parts of this of training. It is true we need to 

 get people acquainted with the laws and help them to live with 

 those laws. 



