Hawaii fish ban update

[areefer01]

i don't think people would be satisfied with anything less than a yellow Tang believed to be caught in Hawaii at this point. If you literally cloned them i highly doubt people would see them as equal.

Why is that? Would anyone be able to tell the difference between the two at maturity?

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Why is that? Would anyone be able to tell the difference between the two at maturity?

No, not one bit i don't suspect but people have formed their opinion that a Hawaii yellow Tang is the perfect yellow Tang in every way (even though every individual obviously still varies in some way or another slightly) and regardless of logic they'll persist in their opinion...
Solution to make people exceedingly happy: import from anywhere in the world and label them as Hawaiian. Like you said, nobody would actually be able to tell. Yes, that would be unethical. However, wouldn't it be a positive thing to make all these people so happy? Ignorance is bliss...sad but true...

 

[LiquidSpace]

I wished BIOTA would grow them and sell them at different sizes. Who has a big BIOTA now? I’d love to see what they look grown up/are bigger.

I may be wrong but I believe captive bred Yellow Tangs are relatively new, or it’s that the demand for them was not as high since wild caught was bountiful. Give it a few years and you’ll probably see that.

 

[AydenLincoln]

I may be wrong but I believe captive bred Yellow Tangs are relatively new, or it’s that the demand for them was not as high since wild caught was bountiful. Give it a few years and you’ll probably see that.

Correct. That’s why I was wondering what they look like when they are big. Because when they were first released BIOTA couldn’t keep up with demand.

 

[albano]

Not true. The wild fishing industry has been talking sense in court and had proven with science reviews that the fishing was sustainable. That conversation was distasteful to environmentalists who started a new legal challenge that is preventing the fishing of fish from Hawaii. The environmental groups seem to believe that every fish is sacred and must be allowed to swim unfished. The results are that the table fishing continues while the reef stores can not have any of the bounty of fish that are found on the reefs

This was posted a few years ago, showing the amount of fish dead at the exporters, which is more of a problem than the amount that actually go to reef keepers.

 

[bnord]

100' long x 6' tall fence nets weighted on the bottom with floats on the top set up in the shape of the letter J with a rubber band in the J pocket to make a tube. Once net was set, you would swim as far down the reef as made sense to start corralling the fish with 2 - 6' yellow fiberglass pokers to steer the fish towards the J shaped fish net into the pocket. Once in the pocket then hand net them out of the tube pocket into laundry baskets zip tied together one on top another with a spring trap acrylic top flap door. The basket would have a 6' clothes line weighted down with a 2 lb. lead weight. Each dive would net about 100 yellow tangs, 20 Naso's, 30 koles, and then an assortment of random fish. We would do 5 dives per day. most days would yield 600 fish and everything was well documented with the DNLR of Hawaii. The fishery was very well managed, one of the best it the world. You could go back to that same dive spot 1 week later and repeat the same process and fish amount. it is impossible to delete the oceans fish with a hand net and a dive team of two.
Silly politicians are clueless.

Thank you for this, and I guess I owe you a beer. Happy to pay it. You clearly have an understanding of what is safe for the fish and sustainable for the reef.
Hats off to you.
Out of curiosity what would your estimation be of the 600 fish in a day? What percentage made it into bags into boxes to be shipped?

 

[Eric Cohen]

i just want a black tang

Those you can get.

 

[Eric Cohen]

This was posted a few years ago, showing the amount of fish dead at the exporters, which is more of a problem than the amount that actually go to reef keepers.

That was a very odd circumstance when a pump failure on the boat happened. Wasn’t a good look for the industry but totally taken out of context. Same thing happened to me when the power went out and we lost about 100 black triggers and some other fish from my shop. Anti aquarium people went through my garbage can and exposed the dead fish and took photos. Then tossed all the dead fish back into the can and didnt even bother to bag them back up. jerks!

 

[c_healy]

I just want a flame wrasse again. :/

Doubt it will ever happen though.

 

[Eric Cohen]

Why not talk to the importers and other affiliated companies and have them simply import yellow tangs from other parts of the world? Wouldn't that be easier?

Not a very good volume of yellow tangs in other regions. Hawaii, mainly West Hawaii is the most abundant source for yellow tangs. They named it the “Gold Coast” because the yellows dance in the mellow shoreline and are seen in small waves that ripple in.

 

[bnord]

Correct. That’s why I was wondering what they look like when they are big. Because when they were first released BIOTA couldn’t keep up with demand.

I have a 2 1/2 year old had arrived the size of a silver dollar. Will look for a picture, but it’s perfectly happy and healthy.
as a volunteer work at the Atlanta Macna last year the biota folks gifted me a reasonably same size, yellow tang, gently introduced it to the display tank with the older one, (isolation box etc) and although there was never any overt aggression that I could see ( or signs of trauma when I wasn’t there) it began to suffer from stress, and passed away before I could catch it up and rehome it.

 

[Eric Cohen]

I just want a flame wrasse again. :/

Doubt it will ever happen though.

Not likely. Not on the list of approved fish and mainly come from Oahu.

 

[albano]

Anti aquarium people went through my garbage can and exposed the dead fish and took photos. Then tossed all the dead fish back into the can and didnt even bother to bag them back up. jerks!

This is why I burn all my garbage and throw the ashes in a lake!

 

[Eric Cohen]

My catch, one dive in Hawaii on the big island back in 1995.
Divers price per yellow tang was $2.25

The good ol days. I was paying as low as $1.50 even. Not sure who you are by the handle name but I’m sure we’ve crossed paths. I saw your post about 600 yellows in a day…..south point trip? Most of my guys brought in 300 per day around Kona side. You must have had a nice boat!

 

[LiquidSpace]

That was a very odd circumstance when a pump failure on the boat happened. Wasn’t a good look for the industry but totally taken out of context. Same thing happened to me when the power went out and we lost about 100 black triggers and some other fish from my shop. Anti aquarium people went through my garbage can and exposed the dead fish and took photos. Then tossed all the dead fish back into the can and didnt even bother to bag them back up. jerks!

It sounds like the anti-aquarium people had a role in the power going out, hahaha. Honestly I wouldn’t put it past them.

 

[fish farmer]

That was a very odd circumstance when a pump failure on the boat happened. Wasn’t a good look for the industry but totally taken out of context. Same thing happened to me when the power went out and we lost about 100 black triggers and some other fish from my shop. Anti aquarium people went through my garbage can and exposed the dead fish and took photos. Then tossed all the dead fish back into the can and didnt even bother to bag them back up. jerks!

Next time bring them into the woods and bury them in the dead of night.... that's what I do.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

T

Not a very good volume of yellow tangs in other regions. Hawaii, mainly West Hawaii is the most abundant source for yellow tangs. They named it the “Gold Coast” because the yellows dance in the mellow shoreline and are seen in small waves that ripple in.

The most abundant source in concentration of individuals or in sheer number of individuals?...it seems unlikely that the entire Indo pacific doesn't have enough yellow tangs for the hobby. Even if they don't have as many, wouldnt it still be of great value to import at least a few of them? Judging by the comments I've read in similar posts people are in desperation at this point...out of the innumerable species of fish in the ocean, the yellow Tang is by far the most desired it appears.
I strongly believe this is because people want what they can't have. If shops stocked yellow tangs galore tomorrow and they were very common again, i would expect many of the people who are so vocal to actually not buy one immediately.

 

[AcroNem]

It just makes little sense to me, how ornamental fishing is shown to have no noticeable impact on population is banned, yet Tangs we would collect in small quantities and buy for hundreds of dollars are sold for $6 per pound as food.

Last I looked, ornamental fishing pulls something like a million shipped pounds per year total. Food fishing removes over a hundred million tons. The aquarium trade is not the problem here.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

It just makes little sense to me, how ornamental fishing is shown to have no noticeable impact on population is banned, yet Tangs we would collect in small quantities and buy for hundreds of dollars are sold for $6 per pound as food.

Last I looked, ornamental fishing pulls something like a million shipped pounds per year total. Food fishing removes over a hundred million tons. The aquarium trade is not the problem here.

I don't think they're removing hundreds of millions of tons of yellow tangs for food but i have no idea tbh. It just seems highly unlikely.

 

[Hawaii hobbyist]

You can get one today. Biota sells captive bred / raised.

Also the article is a bit misleading when it says "When are Yellow tangs coming back?" or "just as we thought we might be getting our beloved Yellow Tangs"

Neither side can have a discussion which is why nothing is getting solved.

Wrong. It is getting solved. These things take time, the wheels of justice move slow

we are really close. Soon