Bill Text: HI SCR126 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Urging The Governor, The Department Of Agriculture, The University Of Hawaii College Of Tropical Agriculture And Human Resources, And Other Related Entities To Take Action To Help Expand The Aquaculture Industry In The State.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2019-04-05 - Referred to AGR/EDB, FIN, referral sheet 50 [SCR126 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2019-SCR126-Introduced.html

---

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	126
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

urging the Governor, The department of agriculture, The University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, and other related entities to take action to help expand the aquaculture industrY in the State.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, one of the Governor's key issue platforms is to double local food production by 2020; and

 

     WHEREAS, nearly ninety percent of Hawaii's current food stock is imported, including more than sixty percent of seafood consumed in the State; and

 

     WHEREAS, importing food in such high quantities leads to higher food prices, increased carbon emissions, and increased threats from invasive species; and

 

     WHEREAS, several studies have shown that anywhere from twenty to thirty-three percent of seafood imported to the United States is fraudulently labeled, posing serious health risks and sustainability concerns; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii's per capita fish consumption is almost three times larger than the per capita fish consumption of the United States mainland; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 2017, Hawaii's aquaculture industry farm gate value was $76,400,000, the third highest contribution to the economy in diversified agriculture; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii's favorable climate and geography allow for inherent advantages benefitting aquaculture production; and

 

     WHEREAS, the former Aquaculture Development Program within the Department of Agriculture, once a critical program that helped propel Hawaii to the forefront of aquaculture research and development, has recently been downsized, overhauled to include livestock issues, and is now known as the Aquaculture and Livestock Support Services Branch; and

 

     WHEREAS, Senate Bill No. 753, currently before the Legislature, acknowledges the importance of the Aquaculture Development Program and proposes to revitalize the Department of Agriculture's Animal Industry Division; and

 

     WHEREAS, a revitalized aquaculture industry could help revitalize rural communities that have been increasingly left behind by other economic drivers; and

 

     WHEREAS, the potential for aquaculture is enormous, and doubling current aquaculture production in the United States would create fifty thousand jobs and generate one billion dollars in market value; and

 

     WHEREAS, more investment and research into the aquaculture industry is needed, including investment and research into different types of aquaculture, aquaculture system optimization, economic implications of various methods of aquaculture production, and sustainable scaling methods; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2019, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Governor, the Department of Agriculture, the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, and other related entities are urged to take action to help expand the aquaculture industry within the State in an effort to meet the Governor's goal of doubling local food production; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources is urged to transfer parcels identified as Tax Map Keys 5-8-001-013, 5‑8‑001-055, 5-8-001-007, and 5-8-001-006 to the Agribusiness Development Corporation for the purposes of establishing aquaculture production in those lands; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture, Administrator of the Department of Agriculture Animal Industry Division, Program Manager of Aquaculture and Livestock Support Services, Dean of the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, and Executive Director of the Agribusiness Development Corporation.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Aquaculture Support and Expansion