Stewardship of ocean resources takes money, and raising those funds, while never as simple as it may sound, is worth the effort.

Hawaii officials, and many of those who are invested in marine upkeep, have voiced their support of assessing a fee for that purpose. That’s why the “ocean stewardship user fee,” established in law by the 2021 Legislature — along with a special fund to finance the care of the resources — was a policy move deserving of the support it got.

The ultimate success will depend on how efficiently the program operates, which is the aim of state administrative rules needed for the launch date of Jan. 1.

Those rules are due to be reviewed Friday by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources, and, with some prompting from small-business commercial operators over the summer, there’s room for some improvement to make things less taxing on these vendors.

The fee itself is reasonable and straightforward: The ocean-activity businesses would collect a $1 fee per customer using their services, and then remit the collected money to the state’s special fund.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources has projected that the take from the fee could amount to $14 million to $30 million over 15 years, depending on how well tourism continues recovering — revenue the state needs to manage the impact on ocean resources.

The problem is the timing: Under the draft rules, each commercial operator would have to file a report and hand over the collected fees each month.

At public hearings held last July statewide, those testifying, including surfing concessionaires, charter fishing businesses and services involving watercraft, generally were open to the idea of supporting stewardship — some even said $1 wasn’t enough of a fee. Their complaint centered largely on that bookkeeping chore.

They also expressed vexation that, under the new rules, they would face penalties for violations. Under the general state law for such penalties, those could range from $1,000 to $3,000. Even more onerous, some said, was the threat of the state revoking their commercial use permit.

One more key frustration: They objected that the fee management would be added to their plate, while unpermitted operators who duck out of paying the required taxes carry on their businesses, with little enforcement to stop them.

There is nothing in the proposed rules to preclude the funds from being spent on islands other than where they were collected, a fact that also drew criticism. However, officials have rightly said that it’s usually necessary to commingle the funds and spend them where needed, because some locations that are especially popular have to subsidize the care of those that host fewer activities.

It’s important, though, that the commercial operators are encouraged as much as possible to comply. So some of the revenue should be used to improve enforcement.

Further, there should be options allowing operators to turn in their reports and stewardship funds on a more convenient schedule — perhaps not so frequently as monthly, but one that aligns with their other remittances to the state, perhaps quarterly or semiannually.

The user fee was one of a package of laws enacted during the administration of former Gov. David Ige, who signed them on June 8, 2021, World Oceans Day.

There’s more work to be done. Critics of the new program also said it would be better if this turned out to be the “green fee,” as proposed last session, that tourists themselves pay directly to the state. That could become the primary funding source, one less burdensome on business.

But given the compelling environmental need to raise these revenues, the user fee would be a rational way to start, and is basically sound as a means of doing so.