Fish collecting
Fish collecting
Hawaii’s governor, Legislature should
ban aquarium trade
Hawaii Island and Kauai County councils along with Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa, state community leaders and nongovernmental organizations with members in the tens of thousands, and more than 1,300 individuals now call on Hawaii’s governor and Legislature to ban the aquarium trade. Hawaii biologists not aligned with the trade describe our reefs as too narrow for this type of commercial extraction, which is inherently unsustainable.
Instead of a ban, Department of Land and Natural Resources may impose a 40-species limit on aquarium take. DLNR Director William Aila held the state’s fourth oldest aquarium collecting permit and still maintains close ties to the trade. This rule would benefit the trade and cause more reef harm. The 40 species “limit” allows collection of species in decline from severe over-collection and others listed in Hawaii’s Species of Greatest Conservation Need. Anyone can get a permit. Any number of permits can be issued. An ineffective bag limit proposal applies to only two species. Even more pressure will be put on the 40 species, since all others are excluded. But no enforcement will ensure hobbyist access to every animal they desire.
Once taken from the reef, the clock starts ticking because captive wildlife has a “shelf life.” Collectors, wholesalers and retailers must sell these animals quickly before they perish, passing the risk to the next buyer. Some species known to die quickly have been removed from the list, but others remain.
According to breeders, more than 115 aquarium species can be captive bred in quantities to meet total global demand for saltwater fish. Aquarium hobbyists worldwide should only keep fish bred in captivity, but they prefer cheaper wild-caught. Who pays for the difference? We do, and so do our reefs.
Shame on those sacrificing Hawaii’s native wildlife for profit and personal esteem. Shame on those elected to govern who then sit back and do nothing.
Rene Umberger
For the Fishes
Kihei
Mahalo
Hotel management deserves thanks
Whether you are in retail, a salesperson, carpenter, coffee grower, real estate salesman or a business owner on the Big Island, we all owe a big mahalo to the unsung heroes from our hotel management and event/race directors.
These folks have worked unbelievable hours to ensure a constant flow of tourists to our shores when the mainland public was not spending, without which we would be out of business, with little hope of a future.
They sit at trade show after trade show, stay in hotel after hotel (not like ours), airport after airport, put up with junk food, lousy luas, missed flight, lines, lines, to sell sell sell the aloha of our great island and its people. We want to thank them and scream mahalo.
They miss plenty of family time, which takes its toll, and vacation time is short, if at all. So, let’s have a big mahalo party and parade for these fantastic hotel PR folks, mangers and directors who have kept many of us working in a time when work is hard to come by and many families rely on one family member to bring home the rent payment.
David O. Baldwin
Keauhou