Sunday, March 07, 2010

Hawaii - Urgent!


From Stefanie, unabridged.
You know what this is about - right?

Hi,

Great news.
The shark finning bill has moved one step further.
It survived the Senate vote and crossed over to the House. Hearing date for the first committee is Tuesday 3/9/2010. This is great, because that means it is moving quickly, which is important, because it has to make it through 3 committees by March 19.
It also means there is hardly any time to send in testimony since it should be submitted 24 hrs before the hearing. That means Monday morning.

Testimony from previous hearings in the Senate are no longer attached to the bill, so we have to start over.
That means you can send in the same testimony you wrote before.

McKelvey said the more variety and different angles we cover the better, so feel free to write your own personal reasons why this bill is important.
You do not have to stick with the global conservation issues only. If you live in Hawaii and have personal experiences, go ahead and state those. Maybe you want to save the ocean for your kids, or maybe you are a diver and want to prevent a loss of bio diversity. If you like fishing you can say that you want to protect sharks because they will keep the fish populations healthy.
You can also state moral reasons why finning should be stopped.

Also, if you keep it shorter, and make one or two points instead of covering all the reasons you can think of, it will be more likely that your statement will actually be read.

Send the statement to: ebmtestimony@capitol.hawaii.gov

VERY IMPORTANT - INCLUDE THIS INFO AT THE BEGINNING OF LETTER!

-(your name with position/title and organization) TO: Committee on Economic Revitalization, Business & Military Affairs Chairman Angus L.K. McKelvey Hearing on Tuesday, March 9, 2010, 8am MEASURE SB2169, SD2 IN SUPPORT

I know this is short notice, especially since it is the weekend, but if you can get it there before Monday 8am Hawaii time, it will be part of the hearing record. Even if it gets there later, I am sure they will try to include it, it just won't be guaranteed.


Thank you for your time. Just remember that this bill is a HUGELY important step for shark conservation. It will be the strictest protection sharks have seen in any US State so far. It will also help pass legislation in other US States.


Stefanie

No comments: