RELATING TO SPEARFISHING SAFETY.
HB1765 would require spearguns and pole spears sold, leased, rented, or otherwise commercially distributed in Hawaii to carry a durable, conspicuous safety warning about the risks of breath-hold diving. The warning must alert users that spearfishing can cause hypoxia, loss of consciousness, or death, and it must advise divers never to dive alone. The requirement would begin on July 1, 2027, and the Department of Health would be tasked with adopting rules to implement the law, including standards for warning size, format, placement, educational materials for distributors, and any additional languages needed based on demographic and visitor-use data.
The bill would add a new section to chapter 321, Hawaii Revised Statutes, creating a public-health-based labeling requirement for commercially distributed spearfishing equipment. It would not prohibit spearfishing or regulate the act of fishing itself, but it would impose compliance obligations on retailers, lessors, rental operators, and other commercial distributors, with violations enforceable by the Department of Health. The bill expressly exempts traditional, handcrafted, homemade, and private non-commercial transfers of equipment, limiting its reach to commercial transactions.
The bill appears generally safety-oriented and noncontroversial in concept, as reflected by its framing around preventing hypoxia and drowning while preserving lawful, traditional, cultural, subsistence, and recreational spearfishing. There is no recorded committee testimony or vote history in the provided materials, so there is no direct evidence of opposition or support from legislators or stakeholders. The measure was referred to HHS and CPN, indicating it was being considered through public health and consumer protection lenses.
The main policy tension is between public-health warning requirements and avoiding burdens on lawful fishing practices. The bill tries to address that by excluding traditional, homemade, and private transfers, but commercial sellers and rental operators would still need to comply with labeling and possible rule-based requirements. Another potential point of contention is the Department of Health’s authority to determine additional languages and implementation details, which could affect businesses serving tourists and multilingual communities.