HOST ADVISORY BOARD MEETING

INTRODUCTIONS

Robin asked everyone to introduce themselves.

AGENDA ITEM #1 Call to Order

Robin called the meeting to order. A quorum was present.

AGENDA ITEM #2 Approval of the Minutes of last meeting.

Robin Bond asked if there were any proposed changes to the Minutes. Robin announced that he added the list of attendees. Also Susan Harper asked that the Minutes be changed to reflect that the report on Safety At Sea was made by Kent Richards instead of Rick Shema. After a brief discussion the Minutes were approved by consensus.

AGENDA ITEM #3 Treasurer’s Report

Chris Woolaway reported that we have a total of $1,638.90. The Propeller Club donated $250.

AGENDA ITEM #4 Critique of the February 17^th membership meeting.

Robin asked if anyone had any comments regarding the last General Membership Meeting. Bob Heidrich and Kim Beasley commented that it seemed to work well in opening up dialogue. Jeff Conners expressed regret that we don’t seem to get participation from State Harbors personnel of a sufficiently high enough level to actually contribute. Discussion followed that this is a continuing problem that won’t easily be solved. Robin said that he personally went and spoke with Rod Haraga who assured us that he would encourage greater participation from Harbors. Robin is going to call Barry Fukunaga and encourage greater participation.

AGENDA ITEM #5 Meeting with Senator Inouye (Transportation Subcommittee)

Robin asked for general comments in critique of the HOST presentation to the Senate Transportation Subcommittee on HOST’s role in fostering discussion on topics of safety. This was intended to be a reprise of our panel presentation at the last General Membership meeting.

Jeff Conners also expressed regret that some of the presentations at yesterday’s Committee Meeting were “a little out of school”. He felt that some presenters got into talking points beyond that which were discussed at the last General Membership Meeting. Others tended to agree. In the end it was felt that HOST came off looking OK but that two lessons were learned, have more scripting and fewer presenters. Also make certain that the presenters are representing HOST rather than companies that are participating in HOST.

AGENDA ITEM #6 Next Membership Meeting Topics ( February 17, 2005 )

• Oil Drift Card Tracking Program - Kim

• Recap of 2004 Marine Casualties - LCDR Rick Raksnis

• Oil Pollution Planning Requirements for Non-Oil Tank Vessels

This is a regulatory initiative with a very short time line. This might be a valuable presentation to inform players.

• Announcement of Canoe Season. Apparently our efforts to get them to go for a ride on Paradise Cruise vessel for a community outreach effort may be worth revisiting.

• Mike Nelson may be willing to make a presentation on the upcoming Boat Show.

• A discussion of the follow-up letter to be generated by HOST to the head of DOT Harbors and DLNR Harbors with a CC to Lorraine Inouye. The essence of this message is that we would like to see further discussion on “vessel traffic communication”, possible improvements to Statewide scheduling, and possible better Harbor control for commercial harbor entrance traffic and Kailua Kona general pier traffic as well. Kim volunteered to draft a letter for consideration from the subcommittee.

• We had discussed having a presentation on Tsunami safety and impact awareness. Perhaps this should be postponed until we can combine several different groups and knowledge base persons that can speak to this topic from different angles.

• Chris Woolaway would like to announce that the International Coastal Clean Up Conference to be held in Honolulu . This is the 20^th year of this effort.

Robin and Brad will miss the next membership meeting since they will be on the mainland at the annual Harbor Safety Conference in Long Beach . Chris will host the meeting.

AGENDA ITEM #7 Pending HOST Safety Issues

• Safety At Sea Subcommittee. - Susan Harper reported that the boat show sponsors are very excited about HOST's proposal to put together a “Safety at Sea” tent area in which vendors that have safety products and programs to be housed together under the “safety” umbrella.

They are also looking at the subject matter of mandatory boating safety courses and what role HOST might want to play in this effort. This is the pre-decision making stage and discussion is just beginning.

• SOP 7-98 Multiple Cruise Vessels Visiting Offshore Port Anchorages - Kim. We had already discussed the essence of this in our critique of the Senate panel presentation.

Jeff Conners reported that the NCL position is they don’t need a tug for every port entrance. Obviously other entities like the pilots and tug companies have a different perspective. Currently there is a meeting scheduled between Northwest Cruise Association and the Pilots Association. Hopefully this will generate an agreement that will be able to be an update of our SOP on Tug use.

• Ed Araki’s Replacement - Ed Araki has retired and will no longer be a member of the HOST Advisory Board. Robin announced that he will be sending him a letter of appreciation for his contributions. As we have two other members from this area we have no replacement for him at this time.

• 2005 Hawaii Boat Show and Ocean Expo is to be held on May 21 and 22^nd, at the Ko’olina Resort. We will be looking for volunteers to help with the booth so please help us out. We will also be needing some handouts.

Captain Skuby will be leaving to go to Washington D.C. on May 19^th. His replacement will be coming from Washington D.C. . His name is Captain Manson Brown.

Also the Security Regulations are not yet finalized because Legal is looking over some issues.

• Chris Woolaway announced on the Day Mooring’s effort. Malama Kai’s, Terry O’Halloran, has reported that they applied for and received permits for 15 moorings. Part of the requirements are the need to produce an Installation and Operations Manual. They are also trying to put together a State wide data base of the locations of previously installed moorings. The shift in focus has moved away from a County by County effort to a State wide approach. These new moorings include 5 installations on Kaua’i, Mau’i and Hawai’i . If this is successful this will be real boost to this program.

• Chris also reported that she has found some EPA monies in the form of low cost loans for recreational and commercial pump-out facility construction. She has passed this information along to DLNR-DOBOR and DOT Harbors . The funds are now available at DOH.

• Mike Kitamura a Representative from Dan Akaka’s office thanked HOST for looking for possible ways to restore the Laupahoehoe boat ramp which has been damaged by winter storms. Robin received pictures of the ramp from the Hawaii Park ’s Director. He will continue to look for possible short-term fixes for the ramp.

• A Fisheries Forum will be held on March 15 looking at Fisheries management plans for the Northwest Hawaiian Islands .

Robin asked if there were any further comments. Hearing none he adjourned the meeting.