MEDIA RELEASE
The Department of Land and Natural Resources has a new tool to enforce laws to protect Hawaii’s natural and cultural resources. The Civil Resource Violations System will be used to bring administrative actions to enforce existing natural and cultural resource laws and provide a fair, fast and cost effective process for minor civil violations.
DLNR will phase in the system for minor violation cases during the next two years. As the first step, the new system will focus on two categories of minor violations in an effort to increase compliance with these laws – monthly commercial marine fishing catch reports and boating law registration and mooring laws.
The CRVS is a valuable and long overdue tool for handling minor civil violation cases, such as the past due monthly commercial marine catch reports, said Laura Thielen, DLNR chairwoman.
Currently, about 30 percent of Hawaii’s 2,700 commercial fishers fail to consistently file monthly reports as required by law. The department needs timely and consistent fish catch data in order to effectively manage Hawaii’s fisheries.
“These are small cases, but collectively add up to big steps in protecting Hawaii’s environment,” Thielen said. “This enforcement action sends a message that the state will enforce our laws to protect Hawaii’s natural and cultural resources.”
DLNR also will decriminalize certain boating law violations by routing these cases through the CRVS instead of the state court system. These violations include expired vessel registrations, unauthorized vessel moorings, and boating facility use permit violations.
“This new procedure will allow an inadvertent violator to pay a small fine by mail to resolve a case with DLNR without the stress of having to appear in court or before the Land Board. It will benefit all parties – the violator, the state and the general public,” Thielen said.
In light of the relative low gravity of the CRVS cases, DLNR will keep the initial administrative fines low to encourage people to comply voluntarily.
“The fines will be set at levels that will deter people from violating our resource enforcement laws. For those people who continue to ignore the laws and continue with repeat offenses, the fines will increase,” Thielen said.
DLNR intends to phase into the system all of its divisions and minor violation cases over the next two years, such as unauthorized commercial activities on public land, state parks camping permit violations, Conservation District Use Permit violations, unlawful use of trails, illegal dumping and littering on state land and waters, and prohibited entry into wildlife sanctuaries.
For more information about the Civil Resource Violation System process and case status, contact the DLNR Administrative Proceedings Office at 587-1496.
Inquiries on requirements for filing fishing reports or status of filing individual reports should be directed to the Division of Aquatic Resources at 587-0109.
For boating regulations and compliance issues, contact the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation at 587-1966.
