Ban on fish collecting in Hawaii???

[revhtree]

You guys heard about this?

Quote:

Hawaii state legistlature convened, a new law greatly restricting all ornamental fish collection was introduced to the house for consideration as a bill and has the backing of several conservation groups and a few local tourism businesses. This new bill would essentially kill the Hawaiian tropical fish industry as we know it. All yellow tangs sold anywhere in the world come from Hawaii. Nowhere else. If this bill passes, divers would only be allowed to collect 5 yellow tangs per day--- at current a small group of individual divers each collect between 200-400 yellow tangs per day, on a coastline that is already now 40% closed to ornamental fish harvesting, to supply the entire world market. If this bill passes.... yellow tang prices would rocket to the same price as black tangs!

Also only 20 fish total per day would be allowed to be collected by collectors...

Report Title:
Fishing; Ornamental Fish; Bag Limits; No Take Category; Appropriation
Description:
Imposes bag limits on certain ornamental fish; prohibits catching of certain ornamental fish; appropriation
THE SENATE
S.B. NO.3225
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII
A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FISHING.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1.* Chapter 188, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§188-* **Ornamental fish; bag limit; prohibition; yellow tang stock assessment.* (a)* There shall be a combined bag limit of twenty fish per person per day of ornamental fish, including but not limited to, yellow tang, flame angels, and butterfly; provided that the combined bag limit may include a maximum of only five yellow tang.* No person shall catch, net, or trap more than the bag limit.* The department of land and natural resources shall formulate an annual stock assessment of the yellow tang, beginning September 1, 2008, based upon data existing as of that date to provide an estimated inventory for preservation purposes; provided that the assessment shall be made publicly available.

* (b)* No person shall catch, net, or trap certain ornamental fish in a no-take category, including but not limited to, all puffer fish, all box fish, potter's angel, cleaner wrasse, all coralvores, and all eels.

(c)* For purposes of this section, the term "ornamental fish" means salt water fish, usually found in or around reefs, that are commonly kept in aquariums.

(d)* The department of land and natural resources shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 for purposes of this section, including adding other types of ornamental fish."

SECTION 2. *There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $100,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009 for the yellow tang fish stock assessment as provided in section 1 of this Act.

**** The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of land and natural resources for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3.* New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4.* This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that section 2 shall take effect on July 1, 2008.

 

[Chelsey]

Buy your yellow tangs while you still can...the price is going to skyrocket!

So if I understand this correctly, according to section 4 the ban hasn't been passed yet?

 

[Chelsey]

I agree, but it will make the price go up. I personally am not a big fan of yellow tangs and I am hoping that with this ban it'll push for more captive breeding of these animals.

 

[jandlms]

Has anyone successfully bred a yellow tang in captivity? I know some of the "larvae" have been raised to adulthood but have any actually been bred??? I thought that most tangs had eggs and larvae that floated with the currents like plankton and thus were very difficult to breed and raise....

 

[JGoslee]

I think that's a positive step forward IMO. It will suck that the prices go up, but I'm all for not pillaging these fish from the ocean.

I agree...Good thing I already have my Hawaiian pinktail trigger!

 

[Carolina Frags]

From what I have read about their breeding it would take a monster tank for them to put on their show.

I got the same letter with a number to call to protest.But for me to protest this I would have to see the numbers.If they are being collected at to fast of a rate for the breeding to keep up I think something needs to be done.JMO.
If they get to be rare in the wild the price is going to go up anyway and also you will not see them often when diving.

 

[Azurel]

Nothing wrong with putting limits on capture.....That probably should have been done along time ago. The only problem with that is the outright ban on some fish now you will see a black market that isn't being controlled or watched......We shall see how many Hawaiian dragon eels show up on the market after the ban.....That has been one of the issues that MAC and alot of the industry big wigs have tried to get the Government to understand, even if they cap on some species is 20 a year on some that they want complete banning on, the fact that there is somebody watching over it like the DNR although possible but more likely to get caught if some tries to sell or ship in the shadows on the black market..... But I think it probably has been along time coming......

 

[LorenK]

Long overdue. We had someone come speak at the Atlanta Reef Club meeting a few months ago on the subject of over-collecting. They showed a picture of a trashbin with a pile of yellow tangs in it that had been collected poorly and the guy dumped them in a public bin.

Not to mention that many unethical collectors still use cyanide.

However, there must be a way to harvest these without damaging the population. Same with corals. We have much better methods for forestry, why can't the same be done for fish?