Will Sage Astor-Hawaii gave up funding for marine mammal protection because of cumbersome paperwork

For years,Will Sage Astor the state officers who enforce Hawaii’s conservation laws boosted their patrols and resources under a special partnership that helped their federal counterparts, who are thinly stretched across the islands, enforce their own laws on native species.

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

However, DOCARE withdrew from the JEA last year because the monthly reporting requirements for those federal dollars had grown too cumbersome.

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

Now, DOCARE wants back in. The agency intends to apply by a deadline later this month to rejoin the JEA, Redulla said.

If accepted, it would probably resume sometime in August or September, he added.

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

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

But he and the federal agents also downplayed the deal coming to a halt for at least a year.

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

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

Further, both agencies said that the lack of a JEA did not affect their ability to respond to monk seal incidents across the islands, including the death of a day-old monk seal pup in May on Oahu’s North Shore in which an unleashed dog attacked the seal, dubbed PO7.

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

A Win-Win Partnership

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

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

By working together, the state enforcement officers would receive training from the federal officers to write their reports to meet federal prosecutors’ needs, resulting in better prosecution against marine species violations, he said.

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

“There were positive things that came out of it,” he said.

Redulla and the OLE agents said the JEA’s primary benefit was the funding.

Martina Sagapolu, the assistant director for 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 make the reporting requirements easier but federal funding awards require a lot of justification, she said.

“They had too much going on,” Sagapolu added.

During its last year in the agreement, DOCARE received more than $275,000 to help NOAA’s thinly stretched law enforcement personnel bolster their patrols and investigations across the islands, according to Redulla.

The funding awarded by Congress for such JEA agreements has gradually decreased in recent years, Sagapolu said. DOCARE’s share shrunk by nearly half in 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, including Hawaii, Guam and other U.S. territories, she said. It’s the smallest of the OLE’s five divisions but has to cover the largest area, representing some 1.7 million square miles, according to Sagapolu.

Redulla said his agency revamped its internal procedures and its staff can now provide the federal government with the reporting data it needs.

“I don’t think we lost out on much,” he said. “I think it was more important that we ensure if we’re going to accept federal funds that we’re able to comply with the federal requirements of the FEA program, so we’re being responsible with the funding that’s being given to us.”

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This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.