WAILUKU — Amnesty bins, which are common to airports for anyone who wants to ditch contraband without consequence before boarding a plane or after arriving in the islands, could soon be found at all Hawaii harbor passenger terminals, The Maui News reported.

In the grand scale that the Hawaii Superferry controversy has become, it would probably be a small accomplishment. But the Temporary Interisland Ferry Oversight Task Force created by the state Legislature last fall, fulfilled part of its mission on Wednesday with the amnesty bin recommendation.

The 12-member task force met at the Cameron Center and listened for several hours to the ideas of residents, most of whom were well-known Superferry opponents. That included the amnesty bins to help stop the spread of invasive species.

The Legislature created the task force to address any issues that come up while the state and public await a court-ordered environmental assessment. The group has met three times in order to evaluate Hawaii Superferry's intermittent operations.

"It's a Band-Aid to stop the crisis," said Pua Brown, who attended the meeting as the representative of Big Island Mayor Harry Kim.

The panel is made up of eight members of the public appointed by the Legislature and four ex-officio members from Gov. Linda Lingle's administration. The Maui representatives are Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Colette Machado and Randy Awo, who is Maui branch chief for the Department of Land and Natural Resources' Conservation and Resources Enforcement Division.

Awo said that the state Transportation Department's $345 million plans to improve Kahului Harbor by 2013 — and its subsequent environmental impact statement — should dovetail onto the Superferry environmental assessment since one is intended in part to accommodate the other.

Awo also took issue with the harbor environmental impact statement's reference to surfing, fishing and paddling as recreation instead of traditional Hawaiian cultural practices. He didn't want that mistake repeated in the Superferry environmental assessment, and the task force forwarded his recommendation.

On Wednesday, Hawaii Department of Transportation Harbors Division Director Mike Formby also passed along task force member requests for administration reports on the estimated amount of illegal drugs passing between islands on the ferry; how much the Superferry is costing taxpayers to assist its operations, such as tugboat service as well as the ferry's positive and negative economic impacts.

Machado asked that Hawaii Superferry, which was represented Wednesday by company president and Chief Executive Officer John Garibaldi, mark on its geographic positioning system maps when and where they spot endangered humpback whales, and then try to avoid those areas.

Garibaldi agreed to look into the idea.

"It sure sounds like we're being an EIS," one task force member commented.

State Board of Land and Natural Resources Chairwoman Laura Thielen said she'd like to see the task force examine cargo ships and barges, which transport 90 percent of the island's goods, and not focus exclusively on the Hawaii Superferry.

However, Awo noted that the task force was set up with the Superferry in mind, and perhaps members should branch out to other forms of interisland transportation once they've done a thorough job in addressing Superferry concerns.

The task force's next meeting is scheduled for March 10 on Oahu. Members said they plan to return to Maui for another meeting in April.

The Superferry is in dry dock in Honolulu and is not expected to return to its Oahu-Maui run until March 3.

For more Maui news, visit The Maui News.