Anyone have experience bringing macroalgae from Hawaii?

[staylor1490]

I'm currently in vacation in Oahu and I am interested in bringing nonendangered macroalgae samples back to my home state, as well as a mangrove seedling. Has anyone done this before and if so, what were your experiences like checking in your samples at the airport?

 

[KrisReef]

Live samples or pressed plant samples?
I have not tried to import anything from Oahu but I would worry more about transportation of living samples vs dead.
Hopefully some one will give you a better idea

 

[SPS2020]

I'm wondering if you will have a hard time bringing it through customs.

 

[Reefer Reboot]

I now this thread is a bit old but thought I'd share my experience from yesterday for anyone else who's interested.
Coming home from Kauai, I decided to try bringing two red mangrove propagules home. I called the USDA to see what the laws were in regards to this.
( https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/resources/traveler/Hawaii/hawaiian_products )
The person I talk to said that since it is considered an invasive species there was no way you would be allowed to bring it into Hawaii, but since I was taking it out, no problem.
I went through four agriculture check points at the airports and declared it at each one. The officer at the first one said "No", so I said "Okay, you can just trash it then". A few minutes later while waiting at security check point, he brought it back to me and said he checked with his superiors who declared it okay. (Big thanks to that officer who went out of his way to track me down and bring it back, Mahalo!) All the other check points didn't care about it at all.
The only other slight consideration anyone had was to where I was flying to, so check what your state's rules are.