Hawaii is trying to destroy our hobby again!

[ebushrow]

Well a new bill is going to be voted on to eliminate fish collection for aquaria. This is bill 1240. It is plagued with such inaccurate information it is astounding! Please read about it informed! It will affect us all, once they start taking the ornamental fish collection away from one place, it will make it easier to do in other places!

 

[Oscar47f]

That is a good thing... We need to reduce are impact on the environment and most places agree which is why Yellow tangs and many other fishes have been successfully bred in captivity... Once they do this with all the fish in our hobby then the worlds oceans will be way better off, the fish we receive will be better adapted to aquarium life and we will see fewer mortality... The information may be wrong but the idea of less fish collecting isn't bad IMO but i also feel like the hobby is such a minimal impact on the environment in comparison to commercial fishing which is horrible... just my 2 cents

 

[wkscott]

This is a terrible thing. While captive breeding is eventually the way to go, it may take decades before we are able to do this with the thousands of the species found worldwide. Many will prove impossible to breed in captivity. If there is a ban on collection, how will we even get the specimens necessary to start the breeding program? Special licenses and lots of red tape? For years we would all have the same few species of fish in our tanks, and fishkeeping would become quite boring. This could lead to less and less intetest in the hobby, and extremely high prices on black market fishes. Ban fishes now and next all of the inverts.

Responsible, sustainable wild collection is possible and should be the goal for now.

 

[ebushrow]

That is a good thing... We need to reduce are impact on the environment and most places agree which is why Yellow tangs and many other fishes have been successfully bred in captivity... Once they do this with all the fish in our hobby then the worlds oceans will be way better off, the fish we receive will be better adapted to aquarium life and we will see fewer mortality... The information may be wrong but the idea of less fish collecting isn't bad IMO but i also feel like the hobby is such a minimal impact on the environmentt in comparison to commercial fishing which is horrible... just my 2 cents

The fact that fish populations of things like tangs are increaseing despite collecting them for ornamental fish disproves your point completely.....look at the hard data....populations of most fish have increase in Hawaii despite collection....how do you explain that? Diving practices and collection practices have been completely revamped as well......let me know how your 900.00 captive bred yellow tang is doing....

 

[sundog101]

I bet Snorkel Bob is happy

 

[ludnix]

I wouldn't be too worried with this kind of provision:

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on December 24, 2088.

https://legiscan.com/HI/text/SB1240/2017

 

[wkscott]

I am shocked that any reef keepers are falling for this type of propaganda. Of course if 100% of the creatures in their tanks have been captive bred, maybe I could understand...No I still don't understand their reasoning.

 

[ebushrow]

According to:

Dr. Rossitor Waikiki Aquarium in testimony: “even if the number of fish collectors greatly increase they will still be sustainable” "aquarium fishermen should be commended for doing the new rules with the state".


Dr. Bill Walsh October 2014:

In my capacity as the West Hawai’i Aquatic Biologist for the Division of Aquatic Resources I have been involved in the management and biological monitoring of the West Hawai’i aquarium fishery for over 15 years.
I would like to share with you some of the results of our latest monitoring efforts as they relate to the issue at hand. Two species, the Yellow Tang and Kole make up over 93% of all aquarium fish caught in West Hawai’i. Since the no-aquarium collecting Fish Replenishment Areas (FRAs) were established in 1999 (protecting 35% of the coastline), the numbers of Yellow Tang have increased in the FRAs by almost 65% while not significantly decreasing in the remaining Open Areas. In the 30’-60’ depth range alone, the numbers of Yellow Tang in West Hawai’i have increased by 1.3 million fish. Similarly Kole populations have increased not only in the FRAs (by 24%) but also in the Open Areas as well (by 28%). Kole populations in the same depth range have increased by over 2 million fish! Clearly resource management efforts are working in West Hawai’i.
Scientific studies which have indeed found high levels of mortality among aquarium fishes have typically been conducted in remote areas with poor handling capabilities. That is clearly not the case in Hawai’i.


~ Dr. William Walsh
Division of Aquatic Resources
State of Hawaii DLNR



So, in the grand scheme of things, the aquarium take on Maui is literally a drop in the bucket, representing less than 2% of the total mortality of reef animals that year. This serves to point out that undue focus and hyperbole about aquarium collecting and its impact on the reefs is dangerously shortsighted and counterproductive. We need to think and act holistically.

Hope I didn’t overwhelm you with numbers. (as of 2014 no aquarium fish collectors were taking fish on Maui and the number of collectors state wide have decreased and so has catch.)

~ Dr. DAN A. POLHEMUS
Division of Aquatic Resources
State of Hawaii DLNR

There are a few “outsiders,” by which I mean people who don’t live here, who have decided that West Hawaii doesn’t know what it’s doing. This group, headed by Maui resident Robert Wintner, and Wintner’s frontman Rene Umberger, decided it was going to be the ones to get aquarium collecting banned, to make themselves the “rescuers of the reef.”

Fishery Sustainable Dr. Bill Walsh, Richard Pyle and NOAA Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50L6JcMOVLQ&t=219s

 

[ebushrow]

I am shocked thst any reef keepers are fslling for this type of propaganda. Of course if 100% of the creatures in their tanks have been captive bred, maybe I could understand...No I still don't understand their reasoning.

Don't forget many of the "captive bred" fish are also eggs collected from the ocean and reared in a lab.....clown trigger, blue tangs, yellow tangs, etc.....

 

[Rick.45cal]

Hawaii has one of the most strict fisheries in the world.

There are several organizations there that masquerade as reef rights organizations that care nothing about the truth, only about a means to an end. They've been active in Hawaii for decades, and now thanks to social media like facebook. It's easy to spread complete lies and mistruths to further their agenda. They will go to unscrupulous means to get what they want. Protecting the reef is the last thing on their list. It's a political organization that derives false public support via misinformation under the guise of "Reef protection". Social media has made it much worse now, some people believe anything these days, without doing the research.

I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a bill like this introduced every session of their legislature.

 

[BlueCursor]

The biggest threat to reef fish populations is commercial fishing screwing up the balance. They should prohibit commercial fishing if they have reef issues.

The second problem is coral health. Healthy coral, healthy fish. HI should also vote for global warming to help their cold reef environment warm up (they are on the northern most border of coral reef growth). Warmer waters there will help their cause.

 

[carlson]

That is a good thing... We need to reduce are impact on the environment and most places agree which is why Yellow tangs and many other fishes have been successfully bred in captivity... Once they do this with all the fish in our hobby then the worlds oceans will be way better off, the fish we receive will be better adapted to aquarium life and we will see fewer mortality... The information may be wrong but the idea of less fish collecting isn't bad IMO but i also feel like the hobby is such a minimal impact on the environment in comparison to commercial fishing which is horrible... just my 2 cents

I agree with this. We need to get to a point where we no longer need to harvest fish and corals. By keeping reed tanks, we should be able to help the environment and the ocean reefs instead of reducing it.

 

[Humblefish]

The Hawaii State Legislature tries to do this every year. Although that's not to say they won't eventually succeed.

Something tells me commercial fishing is a bigger threat than we are...

 

[Oscar47f]

Don't forget many of the "captive bred" fish are also eggs collected from the ocean and reared in a lab.....clown trigger, blue tangs, yellow tangs, etc.....

i do agree with some of your points, but no, the first captive bred blue hippo and yellow tang batches came from fish spawning in a closed system not from outside eggs.

The fact that fish populations of things like tangs are increaseing despite collecting them for ornamental fish disproves your point completely.....look at the hard data....populations of most fish have increase in Hawaii despite collection....how do you explain that? Diving practices and collection practices have been completely revamped as well......let me know how your 900.00 captive bred yellow tang is doing....

That 900$ tang can steeply go down in price as soon as the supply of captive bred and the demand reach a certain level that outcompetes wild caught sales, and that can only happen if we support the move to captive breeding. For longterm sustainability the best thing is to captive breed and thats a fact in most of everything you look at where man takes from nature.

I agree with this. We need to get to a point where we no longer need to harvest fish and corals. By keeping reed tanks, we should be able to help the environment and the ocean reefs instead of reducing it.

The Hawaii State Legislature tries to do this every year. Although that's not to say they won't eventually succeed.

Something tells me commercial fishing is a bigger threat than we are...

I do agree the commercial fish industry is far worse than the reefing hobby but making our impact on the environment minimal goes a long way to help! +1 to carlson and humblefish