The Hawaiian nearshore non-commercial fishery is a critical source of food for a large proportion of state residents. The IPCC (2019) estimates a 20-25% decline in fisheries catch within the foreseeable future due to a myriad of environmental factors. Furthermore, the growing number of fishers and advanced fishing technology puts additional stressors on the fishery. These social changes combined with environmental threats like climate change and Hawai’i’s nearshore fisheries are in trouble. Despite widespread concern over resource depletion, there is little agreement on how to properly govern these critical resources. Centralized approaches, including monitoring and top-down strategies, are met with harsh criticism from the resource users and local communities, who have fought for their right to have an active role in managing their resources. The resistance to state-led management creates potential for community-based, bottom-up approaches. One potential strategy is the implementation of Community-based Subsistence Fishing Areas (CBSFAs). CBSFAs represent a state recognized avenue for local community groups to mobilize and govern their nearshore resources for current and future generations by crafting their own set of rules and regulations while emphasizing traditional ways of life. Despite the potential for communities to be involved in local nearshore fisheries and the apparent benefits of these designations, the initiation and adoption of CBSFAs is relatively slow. More than two decades later, only a handful of communities in Hawai’i have expressed interest in CBSFA designation and even fewer have made actual progress towards designation.

Using a combination of semi-structured interviews and survey data, I explore the following questions:

1. How does the United States regulatory and legal context affect the implementation of community-based approaches to natural resource management?

2. Is there a significant relationship between certain resource user characteristics and support for CBSFA?

3. Is there a significant relationship between how resource users perceive the policy and support for CBSFA?