Findings and purpose

The purpose of this part is to insure the continued orderly development of Hawaii's small commercial fishing vessel fleet by providing financial assistance for the maintenance and repair of small commercial fishing vessels in order to increase productivity in traditional state fishing grounds and to foster development of new fishing grounds by Hawaii's small commercial fishing vessels. The legislature finds that: (1) the several financial assistance programs available to Hawaii's commercial marine licensees are primarily for new vessel construction with national agency program emphasis on large fishing vessels; (2) that the large majority of Hawaii's commercial fishing vessels are small vessels (under 5 net tons, i.e., under 31 feet long) whose owners often do not have the financial resources of the larger vessels; (3) there is no financial program specializing in providing financial assistance for the maintenance and repair of smaller commercial fishing vessels; (4) that the nature of commercial fishing is noted for occasional poor years when reduced landings adversely affect the economic resources of commercial marine licensees, especially those with the smaller vessels; (5) that the recently released report "Hawaii and the Sea - 1974" calls for further development of measures to strengthen Hawaii's commercial fishing fleet, for example, by expanding the present Hawaii Fisheries New Vessel Construction Loan Program (Act 193, Session Laws of Hawaii 1965, as amended by Act 28, Session Laws of Hawaii 1968); (6) that the Hawaii Fisheries New Vessel Construction Loan Program does not include maintenance and repair of small commercial fishing vessels; (7) that the creation of a maintenance and repair loan program would help fulfill the intent of "Hawaii and the Sea - 1974"; (8) that some usually efficient commercial marine licensees, due to the above reasons, are unable to upgrade their vessels in order to take advantage of new fishing gear and technology; and (9) that the State of Hawaii should make every effort to strengthen its small commercial fishing vessel fleet.