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Public hearings will be held next week. Comments will be accepted through August 8th.

Lay gill nets are monofilament meshing that can be strung together for hundreds, even thousands of feet and indiscriminately kill huge numbers of fish and other marine life with no regard to species, age, or season.

Lay gill nets destroy habitat. They damage coral and sea grass beds, destroy critical nursery, foraging, spawning, and refuge areas for fish and shellfish. At times, massive nets drift away with the current or are forgotten, entangling endangered monk seals, sea turtles, and a range of other marine life. Common practice is to leave nets unattended in nearshore waters for long hours and often overnight.

Lay gill nets have severely damaged our coral reef ecosystems and depleted fish stocks. It is time to take action!! DLNR needs to hear from you. Please take a moment to help protect our precious and irreplaceable marine life!

The State Department of Land and Natural Resources proposed new rules would significantly restrict the use of lay gill nets. The rules would:

--Eliminate the all lay gill nets on Maui and three very depleted areas on O`ahu; --Prohibit the use of lay gill nets at night, limits their length and mesh size; --Require nets to be registered; --Require that nets be constantly attended, except for brief intervals.

KAHEA and many other organizations supports an immediate and total ban on the use of all lay gill nets throughout Hawai?i for the following reasons: --Lay nets capture more fish than a person needs in a given day, --They are indiscriminate and they compromise replenishment. --They destroy habitat, even with best practices. --They are dangerous to endangered and threatened marine mammals and marine resources are already stressed. --There is not enough enforcement to adequately patrol limits to this controversial practice.

DLNR's proposed rules are a critical first step and it is very important that you weigh in with your support. If you also support a ban, you can indicate that in your comments.

If you can, please testify at a public hearing in the next week. If you cannot, please take action on the proposed rules and help to limit and eventually eliminate a very destructive and indiscriminate fishing method.

Public hearings: Tuesday, July 18, 2006, 6:00 pm: --Hawai'i Island (Hilo): Hilo High School , --Maui: Lihikai School --O'ahu: Parker Elementary, Kalani High School and Leihoku Elementary

Wednesday, July 19, 2006, 6:00 pm: --Molokai : Kulana Oiwi

Thursday, July 20, 2006, 6:00 pm: --Hawai'i Island (Kona): Big Game Fishing Club --Kaua'i: Wilcox Elementary School ( --Lana'i: Lana'i Public School Library

For more information on destructive lay gillnets and for a link to DLNR's proposed rule, please visit: http://www.kahea.org

If you would like to view details on this alert, please visit here.