Hawaii cut funding for marine mammal protection due to cumbersome paperwork

For years, state officials who enforce Hawaii’s wildlife laws have increased their patrols and resources under a special partnership that allows their federal counterparts, who are sparsely distributed across the islands, to enforce their own laws regarding native species.

That joint enforcement agreement, or JEA, sent hundreds of thousands of federal dollars each year to the state’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement to help the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association better protect monk seals, spinner dolphins, sea turtles and other marine life.

However, DOCARE withdrew from the JEA last year because the monthly reporting requirements for those federal dollars became too burdensome.

In September, we decided to take a time-out from the program so that we could recalibrate our process to ensure we could meet the reporting requirements under the agreements, DOCARE Chief Enforcement Officer Jason Redulla said last week.

Now DOCARE wants to get back in. The agency plans to file an application to rejoin the JEA later this month, Redulla said.

If passed, it would likely resume sometime in August or September, he added.

Both Redulla and local agents from NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement described the JEA as a valuable tool to bolster the manpower and equipment needed to enforce the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Lacey Act and other federal laws aimed at protecting marine species.

“We become a force multiplier. We have the ability to be delegated as federal officers, and that in turn helps the federal government,” Redulla said last week.

But he and the federal agents also downplayed the fact that the deal would be stalled for at least a year.

There has been virtually no impact on DOCARE enforcement, despite the loss of federal funds for overtime, fuel, equipment and other costs, said Frank Giaretto, deputy special agent in charge of OLE’s Pacific Islands Division.

“Our relationship with DOCARE has never been better, regardless of whether they have a JEA,” Giaretto added.

Furthermore, both agencies stated that the lack of a JEA had not affected their ability to respond to monk seal incidents on the islands, including the death of a one-day-old monk seal pup in May on Oahu’s North Shore when a stray dog ​​attacked the seal, named PO7.

Two local residents, including an employee of the state’s Division of State Parks, were charged in the deaths and fined $20,000. Both State Parks and DOCARE are part of the larger Department of Land and Natural Resources.

A win-win collaboration

Former DLNR Director William Aila said he was surprised to hear the state had withdrawn from the JEA.

“In my experience, it was beneficial,” said Aila, who headed the department from 2010 to 2014.

By working together, state law enforcement officers would receive training from federal officials so they could tailor their reports to meet the needs of federal prosecutors. That would lead to better prosecutions of marine species violations, he said.

DOCARE also purchased a number of boats and other equipment with federal dollars while Aila was at the agency, he said.

“There have been positive things that have come out of it,” he said.

Redulla and the OLE agents said the biggest advantage of the JEA was the funding.

Martina Sagapolu, assistant director of NOAA OLE’s Pacific Islands Division, also said she understood why DOCARE withdrew last year.

“It’s a lot of paperwork, welcome to the federal government,” Sagapolu said.

NOAA is trying to simplify reporting requirements, but federal funding awards require a lot of justification, she said.

“They had too much on their minds,” Sagapolu added.

According to Redulla, DOCARE received more than $275,000 in the final year of the agreement to help NOAA’s overstretched law enforcement personnel enhance their patrols and investigations on the islands.

Funding that Congress appropriates for such JEA agreements has declined steadily in recent years, Sagapolu said. DOCARE’s share has shrunk by nearly half over a 10-year period. In 2014, the division received more than $574,000, according to reports.

Sagapolu’s enforcement division has fewer than 12 people to cover the entire U.S. Pacific region, which includes Hawaii, Guam and other U.S. territories, she said. It is the smallest of OLE’s five divisions but has the largest area to cover, which amounts to about 1.7 million square miles, Sagapolu said.

Redulla said his agency has revamped internal procedures and staff can now provide the federal government with the necessary reporting data.

“I don’t think we lost much,” he said. “I think it was more important that we make sure that if we accept federal funds, we can meet the federal requirements of the FEA program so that we are responsible with the funding that is given to us.”