HawaII’S “Trop” Trade SnapSHo T
Statewide: 240 species
collected (190 fish species;
50 different invertebrates)
Total State Catch (both
fish and invertebrates):
699, 119 animals. Value to
collectors: $2,276,535
Total Fish Catch:
492,390 specimens; value
$2,203,878 (97% of total
value)
Top 10 Fish Species Catch:
449,047 specimens; value
$1,948,210 ( 91% of catch,
88% of total value)
Big Island Fish: 79% of
total fish catch (72% of
total fish value)
Big Island Total Catch:
Value is 72% of total state
catch value.
Source: dr. William Walsh,
Hawaii division
of Aquatic resources
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nents some of the first science-based evidence that the marine aquarium trade
might be having a negative impact. Seventy percent of the fishes targeted by
marine aquarium fishers were, according to the study, “significantly reduced by
collecting”; at least one targeted species (the Fourspot Butterflyfish, Chaetodon
quadrimaculatus) showed up to a 75% reduction in abundance at collection sites.
This study, along with mounting anecdotal evidence produced by stakeholders
and citizens, resulted in the passage of Act 306 in 1998. This Act established a West
Hawaii Regional Fisheries Management Area and a mandate to create Fish Replenishment Areas (FRAs), where aquarium collecting would be banned, along over 30%
of the Kona coastline. (Spear and hook-and-line fishing are allowed in these FRAs.)
Implementation, delegated to a group of stakeholders and government officials
called the West Hawaii Fisheries Council, was carried out over the next several years. Within a few years of the establishment of the FRAs, positive impacts
were reported in two noteworthy marine aquarium species—the Potter’s Angelfish
(Centropyge potteri) and the Yellow Tang—with increases as high as 80% in the
FRAs. This proved, according to some parties, that marine protected areas (MPAs)
are a viable strategy for managing a fishery.
Unfortunately, Act 306 and the establishment of the FRAs did not set up a decade of peace and harmony amongst stakeholders and citizens on the Big Island,
as some hoped it might. When I arrived this past fall, in the wake of Wintner’s editorial and subsequent book tour aimed at ending the marine aquarium industry
in Hawaii, and a new piece of legislation aimed at banning the marine aquarium
trade effective January 2011, the tension was palpable. I had the opportunity to
meet with Big Island fishers, anti-trade activists, and DAR biologists, and while
they all alluded to moving toward consensus, decades of mistrust and animosity
lurk in every corner.
