Dear fish friends,

Since the lawsuit was filed in behalf of divers, the non profit For the Fishes and Native Hawaiian Plaintiffs by Earth Justice, I have personally experienced reef fish in Kona return. After only a few years respite from ruthless aquarium fish hunters, the convict tangs (Manini) and Lemon Tangs ( Lau'ipala) are fluttering over the coral and foraging on algae.

In addition to the health of the reef, these fish are important for tourism, like at the Kahalu'u Beach Park in Kailua Kona, for food for native Hawaiians and for reef sharks to flourish.

A November meeting to decide the fate of Hawaii reef fish has been postponed and the Aquarium Collection agenda item has been moved to this Friday, December 8.
The Board will make its decision and needs to hear from you!

 Please submit testimony now urging the Board to approve the petition and direct DAR to begin rulemaking (testimony instructions below – deadline is today Weds. December. 7).

• South west O‘ahu’s collapse of yellow tang populations 35 years ago and the continued island-wide depletion of upwards of 90% of those and other species targeted by the trade;
• West Hawai‘i reefs open to the trade experiencing an 80% decline in yellow tangs as recently as 2016, the last full year of AQ collection before the court temporarily ended it;
• AQ collector’s intentional breaking of coral – sometimes with crowbars – in the capture of Potter’s angelfish and other species which hide within the reef;
• Widespread illegal poaching that the AQ trade admits continues to this day, and at least 7 AQ collectors who were charged with poaching more than 1,000 fish;
• The trade inherently conflicts with local culture and native Hawaiian values, including pono fishing practices to only take what is needed;
• Published cost/benefit analysis shows residents receive ZERO benefits from the AQ trade, but suffer ALL the costs;
• The AQ trade’s persistent disregard for important facts as well as for public comments opposing their conclusions in their deeply flawed and skewed Environmental Impact Statements;

Your testimony is urgently needed to help ensure our reefs and their creatures remain protected today and for future generations!

PRIORITY ACTION 1 – WRITTEN TESTIMONY submitted by deadline today: 

Email: BLNR.TESTIMONY@HAWAII.GOV    

Email Subject: Agenda Item F.3 Testimony

Email Body: Easy& powerful testimony:  give your name, town and island, and a few heartfelt sentences on why you support a rule ending commercial aquarium collection.

ACTION 2 – SPREAD THE WORD:  Please forward this email to your friends and family and share on social media.

The Formal Petition and DARs response (in reverse order) is posted HERE, and the full meeting agenda is HERE.

The meeting begins at 9:15, and though not in our hands, we will request that the issue be moved up on the agenda. Monitor meeting progress via YouTube livestream here.

Thanks to Hawai’i Friends of the Fishes and Native Hawaiian leaders for leading this initiative.