{"id":525680,"date":"2026-03-15T21:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T21:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/525680\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T21:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T21:36:11","slug":"house-advances-state-bill-banning-commercial-aquarium-fishing-in-hawai%ca%bbi-county-waters-big-island-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/525680\/","title":{"rendered":"House advances state bill banning commercial aquarium fishing in Hawai\u02bbi County waters : Big Island Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\"\"<\/a>Coral reefscape in waters off Kona on the Big Island. (Photo credit: Bryce Groark)<\/p>\n

The state House of Representatives passed an amended bill on Wednesday banning the harvest in Hawai\u02bbi County of aquatic life for commercial aquarium purposes, with the measure to be considered next week by the Senate. <\/p>\n

House Bill 2101<\/a> originally called for the ban to cover the entire state, but it was amended to counties with populations between 200,000 and 300,000, which only applies to Hawai\u02bbi County.<\/p>\n

The bill and its amendment do not impact captive-breeding and aquaculture activities or capturing aquatic life for scientific, educational, management or propagation purposes.<\/p>\n

The bill would prohibit the capture and sale of aquatic fish from Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s native wildlife in the amended area for profit, gain or as a means of livelihood for the aquarium trade, where they are kept in captivity as pets or for ornamental purposes.<\/p>\n

According to the bill, capturing fish for non-subsistence purposes is contrary to Hawaiian values.<\/p>\n

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ADARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD<\/p>\n

In January, the Hawai\u02bbi County Council listened to public testimony and passed a resolution<\/a> urging state lawmakers to prohibit the harvest of aquatic life from state marine waters for commercial aquarium purposes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just totally violates all the things that we were brought up in, in terms of how to manage our resources,\u201d said subsistence fisherman Charles Young in his testimony to the Hawai\u02bbi County Council. \u201cIt is contrary to the responsible use of a public trust resource.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former aquarium fish harvester Kekoa Alip said he abandoned the practice after witnessing its damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI strongly believe that there is a need to conduct proper consultation with our local community on the potential ecological effects,\u201d Alip said during testimony to the County Council. \u201cHabitat destruction, species depletion, coral stress, reduced biodiversity, disruption of breeding cycles, chemical pollution, increased susceptibility to invasive species, and long-term recovery challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond cultural motives, the bill also hinges on conserving Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s natural resources, arguing that herbivorous reef species, such as lau\u02bbipala (yellow tang) and kole (goldring surgeonfish), can enhance reef resilience to climate change.<\/p>\n

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD<\/p>\n

However, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources testified that measures addressing sustainability concerns have been underway since the Hawai\u02bbi Supreme Court ruled in 2017 that aquarium fish permits are subject to environmental review.<\/p>\n

Since that ruling, aquarium collectors from O\u02bbahu and West Hawai\u02bbi must prepare environmental assessments and impact statements to analyze the effects of aquarium collecting.<\/p>\n

The Department of Land and Natural Resources indicated that compliance with the Hawai\u02bbi Environmental Policy Act has significantly reduced the number of eligible aquarium collectors.<\/p>\n

In testimony to the State Legislature, the department mentioned developing rules to regulate the commercial aquarium fishery.<\/p>\n

These rules would mandate a commercial aquarium fishing permit, a limited whitelist of species eligible for harvest, total annual catch limits for each species, area restrictions and reporting requirements.<\/p>\n

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD<\/p>\n

Supporters of the ban doubt the agency has the ability to effectively enforce the proposed rules.<\/p>\n

A hearing representative noted that allowing aquarium fishing would add to marine officers\u2019 regulatory burden but did not specify enforcement strategies.<\/p>\n

Eric Koch, a commercial fisher from Hawai\u02bbi Island, expressed confusion and frustration with the proposal, stating that the Hawai\u02bbi Environmental Policy Act already imposes regulatory requirements on fishers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs this how the system is supposed to work? Seems unethical and inhumane. This fishery provides great livelihoods for many local families throughout Hawai\u02bbi,\u201d Koch said. \u201cThe science is clear. The management is solid. Don\u2019t ban us after we\u2019ve been put through hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick Rich, a self-proclaimed reef aquarium guy in Hilo, stated that he was angry when the state closed reef fishing for aquariums, but has since accepted and adapted to the change. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m okay with not having an abundance of cheap fish in my aquarium,\u201d Rich said. \u201cI\u2019d much rather have an empty tank and see (Sailfin tangs) the size of a manhole cover in the wild. We have successfully bred Mandarin gobies in captivity, so why isn\u02bbt the industry 100 percent captive breed by now? There is no excuse.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coral reefscape in waters off Kona on the Big Island. (Photo credit: Bryce Groark) The state House of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[90940,9072,192,1861,11639,5649,9746,46477,35165,79,720,13109],"class_list":["post-525680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-aquarium","tag-bill","tag-environment","tag-fishing","tag-hawaii","tag-house-of-representatives","tag-law","tag-lawmakers","tag-legislature","tag-science","tag-senate","tag-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}