Can someone explain the current state of the Hawaiian fish ban?

[Seansea]

My family went to the big island in Hawaii for vacation this past July. Every beach we snorkeled at, all we see are Yellow Tangs, to the point that my 7 years old asked me whether Hawaii has Yellow Tangs problem like Florida is having with lion fish where they are overtaking the area.

That's good to hear. Maybe our next trip will be big island. Oahu was definatly devoid.

 

[Hawaii hobbyist]

The problem with the Legislation is invariably a local population with real problems, and a tourism industry with incredibly deep pockets.

Neither one wants to address the real problems affecting Hawaiians. Like bad traffic, an extreme amount of cesspools and beach pollution with human excrement, low water table, etc.

Whole I think it is sad that we have gotten caught up in this, with the local powers that be dragging their feet, the reality is we should be happy to get anything out of Hawaii given historically the island has been abused over and over whether it was the pineapple industry, military base installations, observatories, beachfront properties and seasonal traffic so bad that you might as well take a bike.....

Rambling aside, that's sort of the state of things. When it does reopen, it will be limited to a handful of collectors (read: lobbyists to sell fish at heavily inflated prices where a heavy tax goes to the pocket of some shell industry that takes more money off the island instead of of keeping it local to begin with.)

Blaming the industry pushes the focal point of blame to someone else (us) rather than the logical choice (those bringing more people to the island in the first place).

Just politics, and politics as usual is if you aren't actively dumping money into a politician, you won't get your way any time soon and they could blame global warming on Costco hotdogs and it would go to legislation with enough money behind it.

Thanks for this but may I respectfully offer you a different perspective?This is my home(Hawaiian)and my view will obviously be different from an outsider. First, this isn’t legislation. It stems from two different branches of government because of litigation from a group of internationally funded environmental activists. Second, all those issues you say we face may be true in select areas on certain islands, but it isn’t across the board and isnt a universal problem we all are worried about. It’s not that some of those issues aren’t a problem to some, but for local families, I can think of other issues that are much more concerning to me and my ohana. Each island is unique and has its own challenges and benefits.

As far as when we start fishing/shipping again, most of the money stays right here in Hawaii. 2/3 of the overall value of the fish itself cycles right here in our local economy and provides much needed quality jobs that aren’t tourism based. Much of the final cost is packaging and water weight shipping charges, and not really the value of the fish.Non tourism related industry using renewable and sustainable resources managed by science is akamai, and this allows alternatives to the only game in town(tourism) we are an island with healthy fisheries and we can harvest and use our marine resources to sustain ourselves. This isn’t controversial

The permits granted for the fishing activity are only one aspect of the fishery, there’s all the support jobs as well which is much more. Some people dont understand there never really was a giant fishery to begin with. It’s always broke down in 3 parts. High liners, fishers that catch more than 10k fish per year and are considered full time fishers. Part timers, these guys are weekend warriors and fish occasionally but have other jobs. License holders. People that report nothing yet hold a license for possible future circumstances. Here on the west coast of the Big Island, the seven are the remaining “high liners” that have always been catching and reporting. Full disclosure: a few did get knocked out but this was by their own doing when they had resource violations during moratorium. It’s unfortunate but beyond our control.The process was open to all and any local that had a stake was allowed to participate. There are many other fishers working through this administrative process on other islands.

I don’t understand or am un aware of what you mean by some shell industry or tax. The corruption of the political system, especially here in Hawaii is a problem and we can all agree on that. Take care and aloha

 

[Northern Flicker]

You are telling me that 2/3rds of the revenue from a Hawaiian caught fish stays in Hawaii? That’s pretty incredible. On a $100 tang, the distributor and retailer would be splitting $33.

 

[Hawaii hobbyist]

You are telling me that 2/3rds of the revenue from a Hawaiian caught fish stays in Hawaii? That’s pretty incredible. On a $100 tang, the distributor and retailer would be splitting $33.

The fishery hasn’t been open when the prices sailed. Keep in mind the fish used to be much cheaper while the fishery was active and yes, the bulk of the actual value is captured right here in Hawaii. The profits made by wholesale and retail were quite small and much of the added cost is from air cargo freight, packaging, handling