SB3201

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, Hawaii'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, which 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 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 the health of herbivorous fish that eat seaweeds and other benthic algae, which keeps reef surfaces clean so corals can thrive. Among herbivorous fish species, data shows that a minimum total fish biomass of at least forty grams per square meter is necessary to sustain Hawaii'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, Hawaii will likely lose the majority of its remaining coral reef ecosystems in the coming decades.

The legislature believes that significant and immediate action is needed to protect and restore Hawaii'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 actions will help ensure that coral reefs are robustly prepared to absorb significant losses and survive the worst events and impacts that they will face in the years and decades to come, thereby ensuring the survival of this critical resource for Hawaii'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 and take actions 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 eighty 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.

(1) Collaborate with institutions and organizations having demonstrated expertise and experience with Hawaii 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 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 and take all appropriate actions 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, increase the amount of live coral cover to no less than twenty-five per cent on reefs that have historically supported naturally occurring live coral cover;

(2) By July 1, 2027, increase the density of herbivorous fish inhabiting reefs to at least:

(A) Forty grams per square meter; or

(B) Eighty per cent of the potential biomass of the respective moku, as determined by the best available science; and

(3) By July 1, 2028, increase the density of all other indigenous species not otherwise specified in this section to at least eighty 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 upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	3201
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026
STATE OF HAWAII