Petition for Hawaiian Fish

[Raul]

Seems like Hawaii is trying to pass a law to ban the collection of endemic fish for the aquarium trade. Some group called snorkel bob is the pushing for it...

Here is the link

http://www.petitiononline.com/Finatics/petition.html

Would be a shame if we loose Hawaiian fish in our tanks

Thanks
Raul

 

[jaa1456]

Seems like Hawaii is trying to pass a law to ban the collection of endemic fish for the aquarium trade. Some group called snorkel bob is the pushing for it...

Here is the link

http://www.petitiononline.com/Finatics/petition.html

Would be a shame if we loose Hawaiian fish in our tanks

Thanks
Raul

Snorkel Bob has been doing this for sometime now. They actualy had an article about it in the last issue of Coral magazine.

 

[reefs4life]

As much as I love this hobby, I'm all for it and anything along its lines...I think it's way better to conserve what there is left on our natural coral reefs than worry about who can get the next yellow tang

 

[masala007]

Hi

I couldn't agree with you more.

 

[jaa1456]

The main reason Snorkel Bob wants to keep the fish in Hawaii, is because he runs the largest Snorkel/dive operation in Hawaii. He doesn't want his buisness to die. He is only an advocate for hawaii and no where else. He is only worrying about himself for the most part on this. He can no longer dive the Gold coast because they put that section up for sale and someone bought it. And somehow got right to the water as well. The Gold coast is named after all the yellow tangs that live there. I'm all for protecting the wild life, but this snorkel bob has other motives besides the welfare of the wildlife there.

 

[jerl77]

leave them in the oceeeeeeeeeeean we kill the seas we are all died

 

[Imbarrie]

The fish belong more in the ocean than your tank. If his motive for saving the reefs is for business and the motive for you is to remove it from the reef and place it in your living room then you will get few people who agree with you.

If saving the planet was profitable we would never be in the state of decline we are in.

I'm all for saving the ocean and if that means I can't have a yellow fish in my tank and I have to put a blue one in, I'm perfectly OK with that.


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[jaa1456]

The fish belong more in the ocean than your tank. If his motive for saving the reefs is for business and the motive for you is to remove it from the reef and place it in your living room then you will get few people who agree with you.

If saving the planet was profitable we would never be in the state of decline we are in.

I'm all for saving the ocean and if that means I can't have a yellow fish in my tank and I have to put a blue one in, I'm perfectly OK with that.


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

I'm for saving the oceans and planet don't get me wrong. My arguement here is that snorkel bob is in it for his profits only. His #'s on the fish are so far apart it's crazy. He says between 2-10 million are takien each year. The 8 million difference is a very large number. So which is it 2 or 10???? Not only that the protected parts of Hawaii are full of yellow tangs in the hundred millions alone. Hawaii I think has the best protection policy out there. Your blue tang is the one that is probrably over collected and not protected at all. And my disagreement has nothing to do with wanting a yellow tang or having one. My disagreememnt is with Snorkel Bob and his motives. I have read that he is also connected to a collection and shipping company, although I don't know if that part is true, It sure makes me think about it a little more. Petition the collection of fish, then a little later after Hawaii loves you and you are a hero, You talk them into letting you ship a few fish out because the population is stable enough to do so. Hmmm, so know you are the sole collector of hawaii and you have a thriving snorkel/dive shop in Hawaii.

 

[Imbarrie]

Who cares what his motives are? Does it really matter?
He is advocating very publicly for the protection of a fragile local ecosystem. You are thousands of miles away very far removed.
I am far more suspicious of your motives.

If they ban hippo tangs then I get something else. I don't care about my fishtank more than I care about a reef system. I hope they do set guidelines for collection on this.
But I want that to include blue fin tuna, grouper and all the other fish stocks that are in decline.



Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[albano]

I'm all for saving the ocean and if that means I can't have a yellow fish in my tank and I have to put a blue one in, I'm perfectly OK with that.

It could mean that you won't have ANY fish in your tank!
Hawaii does not allow 'reef tanks', how long till that hits stateside?
If we want to protect 'our' reefs, what about the Florida Keys?
How long till we want to protect all of the earth's reefs?

then a little later after Hawaii loves you and you are a hero, You talk them into letting you ship a few fish out because the population is stable enough to do so. Hmmm, so now you are the sole collector of hawaii and you have a thriving snorkel/dive shop in Hawaii.

Jaa, if you don't trust/believe Snorkel Bob, I can buy that.. but...IMO, you're really stretching on that point!

 

[jaa1456]

Who cares what his motives are? Does it really matter?
He is advocating very publicly for the protection of a fragile local ecosystem. You are thousands of miles away very far removed.
I am far more suspicious of your motives.

If they ban hippo tangs then I get something else. I don't care about my fishtank more than I care about a reef system. I hope they do set guidelines for collection on this.
But I want that to include blue fin tuna, grouper and all the other fish stocks that are in decline.



Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

I have no motives, If they said hey no more fish tanks it's a law now then so be it. Then we would only captive bred fish. And do some homework there are bans and regulations on Blue Fin Tuna. The only problem is the US is the only country trying to save them. The Yellow tangs are not in decline that far and they are being protected. I have never seen BOB talk about really any other species to much. He lost his dive/snorkel location to some billionare, and yes Hawaii sold the rights to the water to the billionare. And now Bob can't go there and make his money off of the spot. I think you should really read up on this before you comment anymore. As this has been going on for quite sometime now. And why did BOB leave his fight to sae the whales?? That is where he became most noticable on the STEVE IRWAN(not sure I spelt it correctly) trying to save the whales. But when his pockets started hurting due to the lost of the Gold Coast(BOB called it this hmm Maybe gold coast = money in his pocket) he left the IRWAN to fight in Hawaii.

 

[kroman]

Here's the thing guys, I'm not a scientist nor a conversationalist, but I do have more experience on the worlds reefs than most. I have been diving professionally for the last 22 years. My company does allot of underwater videography all over the world and we have provided footage for many underwater documentaries including shark week, Deep Blue and I hate to say this, Monster Quest. This has given me the unique opportunity to personally see the decline of the worlds reef systems first hand. And I am not exadurating when I say we are in serious trouble. From the bleaching events due to run off nutrients from farms and the consistent high water temperatures year after year to the massive damage snorkelers and divers do to the many popular dive sites, I would say I have seen a decline of about 80% in coral and fish life.
What Bob is doing is simply protecting his pocket, I met the guy he only has interest in what makes him $$, and to be honest his operation does more damage to the eco system than collecting a few fish.
The real problem is the reefs and their eco systems are simply dyeing, and like it or not we as hobbyists are also quite responsible because we do create the demand. Think about it how many fish have you killed in your tank how many corals? Perhaps it was your fault or perhaps not, could be a tank crash or equipment failure doesn’t matter the animal is dead and you buy another one.
Have you ever seen what coral collecting is like? Some places still use explosives to get the coral out, then it begins the long journey to your tanks, there is a 90% loss from the ocean to your tank. Yes there are many "eco" friendly collectors out there and it is getting much better but still at best all they can do is have a 50% survival rate and these are few and far in between.
The reality is many countries are already implementing legislation to limit or ban coral and fish collection. I think eventually there won’t be anymore importing what so ever the US has already done this many years ago with the Florida reefs. So the prices for us will skyrocket and availability with drop grow those frags guys it may soon be all we have.

 

[Raul]

If anyone thinks that the collection of fish for the home aquarium is what is killing our reefs then they are sadly mistaken. Im not talking about the collection of corals... Im saying FISH. Even collecting them in less than ethical ways does little to our reefs.

The best way to help our reefs is to take care of the planet as a whole. There are hundreds of reasons why reefs suffer and fish collection racks at the bottom of that list.

Dont let anyone pull the wool over our eyes... The reasons why they are doing this arent for the well being of the reefs.. Its for the well being of there pockets

 

[Imbarrie]

I dont care about his motives. He is benefiting financially by healthy reef systems and his interests are to protect the reefs. If business as a whole could profit from a sustainable planet then we would not have global warming, coal ash, agricultural runoff and all the other problems we are facing.

My perspective is as working for a dive operator for years. We took divers and snorkelers on reefs all over the Caribbean and Bahamas. I have yet to see a snorkeler remove a fish from a reef. Use poison to terminally injure a fish. Rip out chunks of living rock or coral. But we all support a market that does.

 

[Raul]

But im sure that the trash that millions of tourist bring to Caribbean hurt the reef more than the collection of FISH for the home aquarium. How about the gases from the boat engines? How about the run off from all the resorts and hotels? Ect ect ect

Look at the bigger picture. Catching fish for the aquarium trade does little to the reefs. Again im not talking about ripping the structure of the reef to get corals or the commercial fishing that takes place around the reefs... Just the collection for our tanks...

I dont care about his motives. He is benefiting financially by healthy reef systems and his interests are to protect the reefs. If business as a whole could profit from a sustainable planet then we would not have global warming, coal ash, agricultural runoff and all the other problems we are facing.

My perspective is as working for a dive operator for years. We took divers and snorkelers on reefs all over the Caribbean and Bahamas. I have yet to see a snorkeler remove a fish from a reef. Use poison to terminally injure a fish. Rip out chunks of living rock or coral. But we all support a market that does.

 

[jaa1456]

I dont care about his motives. He is benefiting financially by healthy reef systems and his interests are to protect the reefs. If business as a whole could profit from a sustainable planet then we would not have global warming, coal ash, agricultural runoff and all the other problems we are facing.

My perspective is as working for a dive operator for years. We took divers and snorkelers on reefs all over the Caribbean and Bahamas. I have yet to see a snorkeler remove a fish from a reef. Use poison to terminally injure a fish. Rip out chunks of living rock or coral. But we all support a market that does.

I have seen first hand how tourist affect the reefs. People step on the corals, boats that run into them or their props digging into them. People going and touching them, Anchors ripping to the corals. Sunscreen that washes off your body. What you are not getting is that he could care less about the reefs if he didn't have so much money tied up in it. I'm sure if he owned a pizzaria he would be aginst all the other pizzarias around. Saying they are doing something. Snorkel Bob never had a complaint about the reefs and collecting until that Billionare bought that section of beach. And somehow the water in front of it. Once BOB lost his hotspot he became an activist???? More like he was losing money now and he is trying to recreate his own Gold Coast. His thought is the original spot will become overcrowded and the fish will move to his new spot, just outside the old spot. Imbarrie, no one is disputing the need for caring about the reefs and planet, But we are disputing Snorkel bobs reasonings, that are masked behind his true motive. Imbarrie if you are so proactive then why do you own a fish tank? And keep saying if this fish is not collected anymore I will just get a different one? That is ignorant to say, You should think more of WOW maybe I shouldn't buy any more fish because the population keeps going down on every species. Now I'm contributing to that. And for years and still in some places fish were collected with cyanide. In most cases 80% of the fish hit with it died, including the surrounding corals.

 

[Imbarrie]

Calling me ignorant is insulting and its something I am not.

Back to my original point. We are all supporting an industry that is doing harm to reefs. I am all for someone who is bringing attention to the plight of reefs.

 

[jaa1456]

Calling me ignorant is insulting and its something I am not.

Back to my original point. We are all supporting an industry that is doing harm to reefs. I am all for someone who is bringing attention to the plight of reefs.

I'm not calling you an Ignorant person, just saying you are ignorant to BOBs real cause. And to what I and the other members on here are pointing at exactly.

 

[aquascaper82]

ok so all the activists lets take everything in your reef tank, put it together and throw it back in the ocean!!!! =D

 

[Imbarrie]

Or we could all just acknowledge that we are doing harm to global reefs by our fascination with our hobby.

Granted, there are ways to minimize the impact we have on reefs. After reading this is from a quick search there is little to argue in favor of the aquarium industry.


With no limits on the catch, no limits on the number of catchers and no constraints on rare, endemic or vanishing species, aquarium extraction has left many Hawaii reefs empty. State regulation of aquarium extraction has been stonewalled from the Lingle administration (R), ending soon, in which the governor's Chief Policy Advisor was a wholesale distributor for the aquarium trade. Outside the law in Hawaii as well is unbridled extraction of invertebrates and eels, both of which require no permitting, licensing, monitoring or accountability. Hermit crabs are a lynchpin species vital to reef survival. Extraction by the hundreds of thousands annually has compromised many reefs, including Kane'ohe Bay on Oahu, where aquarium hunters took 300,000 hermit crabs for wholesale export at 11? each. The state had no response.
The growing popularity of home tanks in China emphasizes opulence, including leaded crystal and wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling tanks for displaying big (brood) wildlife. Capturing an adult moray eel takes a length of 3-4" diameter PVC plastic pipe, closed and baited at one end. The eel goes in and is captured for export with no permitting or accountability.
The Maui County permit law will close these gaps on wildlife trafficking as it occurs on land within county jurisdiction. The new law is also seen as a defense against the Superferry that would facilitate Oahu and Big Island aquarium hunters in their unlimited extraction of Maui County reefs. Though failed and under investigation, the Superferry is touted for revival by all three gubernatorial candidates.