As Hawaiʻi’s landmark green fee program ramps up, the local marine conservation projects that benefit from those new dollars might soon be managed by a relatively obscure regional fisheries agency based outside of the islands.
On Friday, the Board of Land and Natural Resources will consider whether to enlist the Portland, Oregon-based Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, a group of fishing officials and leaders from Alaska, Hawaiʻi and the West Coast, to help oversee Hawaiʻi’s future green fee projects.
Specifically, that interstate group would help aquatic officials in Hawaiʻi draft work proposals, seek out and evaluate candidates, award contracts, and monitor the projects’ progress and costs, among other duties, according to a briefing posted to the board’s website.
The proposed five-year, $5.4 million agreement includes nearly $470,000 to cover the Pacific States commission’s administrative costs, according to the briefing. The rest of the money, it says, would go toward the green fee projects.
The outsourcing move to help state officials get more than $100 million in annual green fee revenues out the door comes as the fee enters its second year and second funding round.
Tapping the Pacific States commission could help the Hawai‘i Aquatic Resources Division handle the workload, but it raises questions about how an outside agency might influence the green-fee program.
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The briefing says that Aquatic Resources retains final approval of the process, and that the commission’s role would just be administrative.
Brian Neilson, the division’s director, is one of three Hawaiʻi members listed on the Pacific States Fisheries Commission website. One of his deputies at the division, program manager David Sakoda, is listed as the Hawaiʻi coordinator for the commission.
Officials with the division did not respond to requests for comment this week.
(Trying To) Follow The Money
A tourist tax passed by the Legislature in April 2025, Hawaiʻi’s green fee is the first of its kind in the nation designed to fight climate change, protect the environment and guard against natural disasters. However, it’s still unclear just how much of the nearly $130 million the Legislature approved for projects last year has been awarded.
An “Ideas” page on the state’s official green fee website lists some projects with funds appropriated, but it doesn’t give dollar amounts. Representatives of Gov. Josh Green’s Green Fee Advisory Council, the volunteer panel of experts that recommends which projects get funding, have not responded to Civil Beat requests for more details.
The Advisory Council last year considered more than 600 proposals totaling more than $2 billion before settling on a far smaller list of recommended initiatives that fit within the green fee’s $125 million budget.
The Legislature then issued its own, final list of approved projects that replaced about 40% of the council’s recommendations.
Ultimately, it falls to state agencies to award the green fee dollars. That means that to get the dollars out the door, they have to translate as best they can the wishes of the advisory council and the Legislature into bureaucratic requests for proposals that follow the state’s procurement process.
The board’s meeting starts at 9 a.m. Friday at the Kalanimoku Building and can also be streamed online on its YouTube channel.
