The West Hawaii Regional Fisheries Management Area proposed rules package has been slowly making its way through the state’s administrative rule-making process. After more than a decade of meetings, compromises and the final public hearing in December 2012, the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) voted on the amendment package, passing it on June 28. Island representatives who make up the BLNR voted that they want to see more protections for the reef systems of West Hawaii.

By now, we hope the rules package has been forwarded to Gov. Neil Abercrombie — and we urge him to expeditiously sign his approval so that these important amendments can go into effect.

After all, the governor claims to be a strong supporter of "community based management," and that is exactly how these rules evolved. The West Hawaii Fisheries Council, created from Act 306 to serve as a community-based resource for local citizens, put together these rules. It didn’t happen overnight. This was a decade-long process that included committees and subcommittees of stakeholders and user groups, pro and con. Data was collected. Experts were brought in to give presentations on countless aspects of each component of these amendments.

Meetings were always announced, and the public attended. I attended the monthly meetings for nine years. After years of honing the amendments, they were forwarded to the Division of Aquatic Resources, which eventually recommended to the BLNR that the package be passed "in its entirety" with no changes. Finally, on June 28, the board voted 4-2 in favor.

The governor should be proud that community-based management led to such an excellent package of environmental improvements for West Hawaii. He should be praising the excellence of this process, how diverse groups were able to work together and craft meaningful and workable compromises that will help ensure that West Hawaii’s reefs and critters will endure, including full protection for inshore sharks and rays.

The "white list," a part of the rules package, lists the 40 species of fish that aquarium collectors may take from "open areas." This is an ingenious way of protecting hundreds of other aquarium-targeted species along the West Hawaii coastline. The list includes about 98 percent of aquarium collectors’ income, an important reason why this package has successfully passed through the Small Business Review Board twice.

The proposed package also creates a new small fish replenishment area (FRA) in South Kona that would be protected from aquarium collection. Ka‘ohe Bay is one of the only easily accessible beaches and reefs along the South Kona shoreline, and public testimony over the last decade has confirmed that residents, including the vast majority of aquarium fishermen, agree the bay should be protected.

Dismissing this package would be reckless and put the entire state administrative rule-making process at risk. It will also result in many people losing faith in our state government leaders and all-important community-based management.

This long-awaited package has been thoroughly vetted, requiring fine-tooth-comb checks by the attorney general’s office and approval by BLNR.

Let Abercrombie demonstrate — not only to the people of the Big Island but to all Hawaii residents — that he is a man of his word. It is one thing to run on an environmental platform; it is another to actually support the changes and progress that are part and parcel of that platform.

The people of West Hawaii have shown to be overwhelmingly in favor (90-97 percent) of these positive changes to the current rule (Chapter 13-60.3). Now, only the final few steps — the governor’s signature and a filing by the lieutenant governor that are normally considered formalities — are left to conclude. We ask the governor to support the proposed amendments.