MEDIA RELEASE

HONOLULU — Licensed commercial fishers can now submit their monthly commercial fishing reports on-line using a new system implemented by the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR). There is no charge to the fishers to use this new on-line system.

“DLNR is providing fishers this new on-line system as a quick and convenient alternative method of submitting monthly commercial fishing reports, which are required by law,” said Laura H. Thielen, DLNR chairperson.

“On-line filing is a tool that facilitates the collection of fishing reports, which provide invaluable data for both State and federal government agencies that manage fisheries in Hawaiian waters,” Thielen said. The on-line system is part of the Lingle-Aiona Administration’s continuing efforts to make more state government services available on-line to increase convenience to the public and improve government efficiency.”

The web-site address is https://dlnr.ehawaii.gov/cmls-fr. Only fishers with a valid commercial marine license issued by DLNR will be able to submit on-line reports, and must enter identifying information to log in to the secured system via their license record.

Some of the features of the on-line fishing report system include:
Ability to view report submission status;
Easy to submit “Did Not Fish” report for months in which a fisher had no activity;
Drop down windows for area fish code, gear, landing port and species to facilitate report completion;
An option to save data entries for each individual fishing trip until a fisher is ready to submit their report at end of the month;
Ability to print a copy of the monthly report for the fisher’s business records;
Option to download an extract of the fishing report record for import into the fisher’s favorite software so they can analyze their own fishery performance;
A link to the DAR on-line commercial marine licensing system that allows renewal of a commercial marine license on-line.

During the initial phase of this on-line project, only the fishing report form can be submitted on-line. Other report forms, including the commercial aquarium catch, deep-sea hand line trip, tuna hand line trip, net/trap/dive activity reports, will be available for on-line reporting in the near future.

DLNR is hoping to have a high adoption rate among the 2,500 licensed commercial fishers, who can now convert from paper reporting to on-line reporting. In addition, on-line reporting is expected to reduce expenses for both fishers and DLNR through lower costs for postage and printing of report booklets.

By submitting complete and accurate fishing reports every month before the reporting deadline (the 10th day of the following month), commercial fishers will avoid license renewal refusal, or fines administered by the department’s Civil Resources Violation System.

Commercial fishers who need assistance in using the new on-line system may contact the Division of Aquatic Resources statistical unit in Honolulu at (808) 587-0108, or 587-0595, or 587-0084, or 587-0594 from Monday through Friday, 7:45 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., except holidays and “furlough Fridays.” Questions may be e-mailed to the Fishing Report hotline at fishrpt@hawaii.gov.