Ka‘ūpūlehu Marine Life Advisory Committee (KMLAC)
KMLAC Members include:
Native Hawaiian descendants of families from the ahupua‘a
Kamehameha Schools
Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA)
Natural resource managers
Fee owners and lessees of Ka‘ūpūlehu ahupua‘a
State agency officials
Educators
Scientists
History of Try Wait
The kamaʻāina of Kaʻūpūlehu and Kūkiʻo observed dramatic declines in their ocean food resources for decades in the ahupuaʻa Kaʻūpūlehu and Kūkiʻo.
KMLAC developed an integrated resources management plan in 1998, with a deep knowledge of the hoʻokuʻikahi between mauka-makai and the people with the environment. The KMLAC integrates the ahupuaʻa approach into their outreach and education programs, as well as into the thoughtful approach to their kuleana to mālama their ahupuaʻa’s.
In 2009, following ten years of public failure to comply with voluntary fisheries management guidelines and continued decline in fish abundance, the KMLAC actively began an initiative to develop a rule amendment to the existing Kaʻūpūlehu Fish Replenishment Area (KFRA). The amendment was designed to improve the health of the fishery so that it can sustain traditional fishing and subsistence practices in perpetuity.
In July 2016 with overwhelming community support, the State of Hawaiʻi approved the rule amendment for the KFRA, creating the Kaʻūpūlehu Marine Reserve (KMR).
This change established a 10-year rest period (affectionately known as “Try Wait”) on nearshore fishing along 3.6 miles of coastline from Kīkaua Point to Kalaemanō, from the shore to 20 fathoms .
Kaʻūpūlehu Conservation Action Plan
The KMLAC completed a Conservation Action Plan (CAP) in 2015.
The CAP reconfirmed our members’ shared kuleana (responsibility, privilege) and detailed the KMLAC vision, goals, objectives, and actions for the subsequent 10 years.
