Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Area (CBSFA)

CBSFAs are areas where the community and state government work together to protect and support traditional and customary native Hawaiian fishing practices that feed the families who rely on coastal resources. Within the Maui Nui Makai Network, Kīpahulu 'Ohana secured their CBSFA designation in March 2024 and Hui Mālama O Mo'omomi was the first CBSFA pilot from 1994-1996 and have sought a continuation of the CBSFA designation. See Hui Mālama O Mo'omomi's CBSFA Proposal and Management Plan and Kīpahulu 'Ohana's CBSFA outreach handout. 

What is a CBSFA?
CBSFAs are legally designated areas where the community and state government work together to protect and support traditional and customary native Hawaiian fishing practices that feed the families who rely on coastal resources. Hawaiʻi’s CBSFA designation formally recognizes local communities as valued partners in protecting natural resources, and reaffirms and protects traditional and customary practices for subsistence and culture.

The idea to designate an area as a CBSFA comes from communities that have identified unsustainable practices or want to protect healthy resources for future generations. Each community goes through the same designation process, developing their own set of rules and management proposals pertaining to their specific place.

History and Background
In 1994, the reliance of Moloka'i residents' on subsistence practices for their livelihood became one of the driving factors that pushed the Hawaiʻi State Legislature to create a process for designating Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Areas (CBSFA) (Act 271) to reaffirm and protect traditional fishing practices for Native Hawaiians. It also established a two-year subsistence fishing CBSFA pilot project on the northwest coastline of Moloka'i.
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Only one community has been designated as a CBSFA (Hāʻena on Kaua'i in 2015) and several other communities are pursuing designations across the State - including Moʻomomi where the 1994 CBSFA pilot project was first run.

Why CBSFAs
CBSFAs have the potential to enhance individual, family, and community well-being by:

1. Supporting self-determination and self-governance of marine resources guided by Native Hawaiian tradition with a history of sustaining the health of those resources;
2. Strengthening social connections enabled by traditional subsistence practices and the transmission of those practices and their associated values to younger generations; and...
3. Improving community food security and assuring the availability of a high-quality source of food over time.

​See the CBSFA Designation Procedures Guide created by the Division of Aquatic Resources for more details on the designation process.

Other Types of Designations
Wailuku CMMA is working in a Fisheries Management Area (FMA) in Kahului Harbor, and Polanui Hiu and Maunalei Ahupua'a CMMA are seeking other state management options.

One of the goals of the Maui Nui Makai Network is to grow community makai (seaward) management to every moku (district) in Maui Nui. Here we offer some tools and values that have helped our community groups organize and move into action towards makai management, and invite you to read and share this information with your communities. Please contact the Network Coordinator with any questions.

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Photo credit: Kīpahulu 'Ohana (header); Hui Mālama O Mo'omomi (lawa'i camp photo); Kīpahulu 'Ohana (Kīpahulu coastline); TNC (butterflyfish)