Hawaii harvesting of tropical fish for aquariums approved

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Fish Think Pink

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The saltwater aquarium industry has won a small victory in the battle to reopen Hawaiian fish exports. The Board of Land and Natural Resources – the agency that protects Hawaii’s natural resources – approved an Environmental Impact Statement on October 8 allowing the harvesting of saltwater fish for aquariums, despite ongoing legal proceedings which seek to prevent it.

According to a report in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, the Environmental Impact Statement was approved by default after the Land Board failed to make a decision within the legally allowed 30-day period. The right to take wild fish from Hawaiian waters is being contested by the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council on one side, and Earth Justice, an environmental law organization acting on behalf of a coalition of conservation groups, Native Hawaiian fishermen, and cultural practitioners, on the other. Earth Justice subsequently filed a lawsuit challenging the acceptance of the EIS, which was previously deadlocked at 3-3 last year.

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Hawaii harvesting of tropical fish for aquariums approved | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

The saltwater aquarium industry has won a small victory in the battle to reopen Hawaiian fish exports. The Board of Land and Natural Resources – the agency that protects Hawaii’s natural resources…
reefbuilders.com
 
duke said:
When do you expect we'll start seeing wild yellow tangs in the LFS.
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Not anytime soon. The court cases will have to be heard. This has become an emotional issue for the people of Hawaii and the scientists are being pretty much ignored. This crusade was started more than 10 years ago by a guy named Snorkel Bob. Honestly, even if the fishery is reopened for collection the numbers of fish allowed to be collected will be so small that I doubt that it will have much effect on retail prices. Right now captive bred Yellow Tangs are going for $239 at Algae Barn. I got mine from them almost 4 years ago and he's done very well.
 
mwilk19 said:
Not anytime soon. The court cases will have to be heard. This has become an emotional issue for the people of Hawaii and the scientists are being pretty much ignored. This crusade was started more than 10 years ago by a guy named Snorkel Bob. Honestly, even if the fishery is reopened for collection the numbers of fish allowed to be collected will be so small that I doubt that it will have much effect on retail prices. Right now captive bred Yellow Tangs are going for $239 at Algae Barn. I got mine from them almost 4 years ago and he's done very well.
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I was going to hold out on purchasing a Biota, but if it's going to be a few years for wild caught guess I really have no choice. Thanks-
 
Yesterday Biota emailed this update:

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Hello Customers, vendors, and friends,
These past few weeks we’ve received an overwhelming number of questions regarding the possibility of the Hawaiian ornamental wild collection reopening. Biota has been working closely with the Oceanic Institute of Hawaii for years prior to the closure and plan to continue the outstanding work with the institute to bring Hawaiian ornamentals to the aquarium industry. Due to recent articles and approval of the Environmental Impact Statement we’ve reached out to proper authorities close to the situation to clarify information found in those articles.

In short, the Hawaiian wild collection of Marine Ornamentals is not opening. Although the Impact statement was approved there is still an injunction in place that prevents the re-issue of collection permits. To lift the injunction, it would require additional legal proceedings which the authorities suggested could take months if not years. The approval for this Environmental Impact statement actually happened 1-1/2 years ago with no changes to collection.

We are going to continue to do what we do best and provide sustainable, healthy, hardy, aquacultured marine life to the aquarium trade around the world. We’ll keep you updated with any major changes surrounding any of the laws involving the trade or any of our other facilities. Until then, please be aware that any wild collection of endemic Hawaiian species entering the trade is still illegal and detracts from the Aquarium hobby as a whole.

If you have any and all questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at support@thebiotagroup.com

Sincerely,
Jake Phillips
General Manager of Biota Florida
 
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