We Ned Your Help Please!!! Everyone Lets Pull Together

[wetpetshawaii]

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Subj: Link to the Aquarium Bill



Link to the bill is:



http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessio...ls/SB3225_.htm

Aloha all, The Hawaii Legislature is considering to pass a bill that will limit aquarium fish collection in Hawaii to 20 fish per collector per person with a maximum of 5 yellow tangs per day. The bill also will put a no take cap on angels, butterflies, boxfish, puffers,eels and many other species. The passage of this bill will essentially shut down the tropical fish industry in Hawaii which will include the transhipped items from Christmas Island and Marshall Islands. Please forward this to everyone in the industry because if we don't stop this bill, next year, yellow tangs may wholesale at $100 each.


Let's try this :

Regarding Senate Bill 3225 SB3225



Everyone including all businesses, employees, divers, parents, kids, brothers and sisters, friends, and everyone involved in this industry -



JAN. 28-29th FROM EARLY IN THE MORNING TO LATE AFTERNOON, CALL SEN. CLAYTON HEE'S OFFICE AT 808-586-7330 AND WHEN ASKED BY HIS OFFICE STAFF - LEAVE YOUR FULL NAME - ( FIRST AND LAST NAME ), AND PHONE NUMBER, AND VOICE YOUR OPPOSITION TO SB3225. IF WE CAN GET 500+ PHONE CALLS INTO HIS OFFICE, WE CAN SHOW THERE IS VERY STRONG OPPOSITION TO THIS BILL . IT'S POSSIBLE THAT HE MIGHT SHELVE THIS BILL. WE NEED TO TIE UP HIS PHONE WITH OUR CALLS. THEN TOMORROW NIGHT, FAX SENATOR HEE YOUR OPPOSITION TO THIS BILL ALSO. ( FAX NUMBER 808-586-7334 ) THIS WAY, WHEN HIS STAFF COMES IN ON TUESDAY MORNING, THERE WILL BE FAXES ALL OVER HIS OFFICE FLOOR.



WE NEED TO OVERWHELM HIM WITH CALLS AND FAXES VOICING OPPOSITION TO THIS BILL.

Potters Angels, All Hawaiian Eels,cleaner wrasses,and all Hawaiian Pufferfishes will no longer be available period. ANY FISH THAT IS ALLOWED TO BE COLLECTED, WHOLESALE AND RETAIL PRICES WILL SKYROCKET!!!

DONT GET MY MESSAGE WRONG PLEASE!!!

IM not totally against (THE IDEA) of this bill...I agree that there should be limits to what is collected to preserve our reef fishes for the next generations to come. I DO NOT agree on the extreme limit that this bill is proposing. It will be bad for our economy! There will be a lot of people out of work and A LOT OF businesses IN THE ORNAMENTAL FISH TRADE will fold due to the limit amount....There should be a limit!!! but not that low!!! It will be devistating to the Ornamental fish industry and our Hawaii Economy, THIS BILL NEEDS TO BE BAGGED!!!

[TheOldSalt]

What do we do if we agree with parts of this bill?

[trashion]

i dunno, i agree with this.

[guppyart]

I actually agree with it.
and in alot of ways it might help people move forward and find better jobs that don't rely on a dying resource that we can't just recreate with technology

[Ice]

I agree with the limit part but a ban on ALL ornamental fish is another matter. I believe certain species that are best left in the wild to help their survivability chances much better than in home aquaria (ie: Potter's angels) IMO.

[Scuba Kid]

There isnt a ban on all ornamental fish...Its putting limits on what is taken from the habitat. I personally am for this bill being passed for a few reasons, mainly because it will promote more people to venture into breeding more saltwater fish and obviously will help the natural populations. Having to spend a little more on a yellow tang doesn't persuade me enough against it.

[Fishboy93]

I honestly support this, but scientific names need to be used to clear this up...does this include some the Pacific? I got confused in this part... Should help out the aquaculture industry as well...

[oliesminis]

i have to agree with the rest, if this has been thought of then there must be a problem so therefore they are doing something to reolve it

[TheOldSalt]

This message has been posted on a few other fishboards today as well, and it gets the same response in each place.

Fishboy, the ban is only for those specimens in Hawaiian waters. The only irksome part is the restrictions on transshipping through that state, which could be a problem requiring expensive and annoying re-routing.

I will agree with wetpets that this is a bit extreme and goes a bit too far, maybe, but I don't think it's going to be the end of the industry. Some parts are absolutely sensible, though. Cleaner Wrasse collection should have been banned years ago, for example.

[wetpetshawaii]

I do agree that overfishing should not be done.....but a catch limit is not the way to go.....a size limit is the way to let the breeders stay in the ocean to repopulate...also Hawaii already has one of the largest marine sanctuaries in the world. another way to approach this is to propose a tax on all exports to better fund a conservation project.....problem is most fish cannot be bred in captivity....only in the wild....and experienced divers should know that is why you leave the large fish in the ocean and only target small to med fish


here is one argument....commercial fisherman catch way more fish out of the ocean than commercial divers for the aquarium trade...and yet they are not being regulated....there is no regulation on commercial fisherman catch limits....none....why....they bring in more dollars to tax...in the billions. while marine fish collecting is in the millions...(big difference) no catch limits and yet seafood production is less than it was before as a result higher price on tuna fish.....plain and simple how this bill originated was not because of scientist with facts.....guess who initiated this bill.....give up?......its our local tour snorkel companies who want their clients to see more fish when they take them out....yup tour companies not scientist.....food for though

[TheOldSalt]

No real surprise on that one.

The food fishing vs ornamental fishing debate has raged for years, and the food side always wins, and always will. Unless someone can figure out a way to tow a giant seine that catches only food fish and doesn't bother ornamentals or the reefs, there won't be any relief on that front. ( You should see what shrimp trawls dredge up.. it's truly appalling. )

As for the dive operators being the ones behind this, that's also not unexpected. They're the same morons, after all, who dumped hundreds of Lionfish into the Atlantic without even considering the possibility that they'd breed, or more accurately, not considering that that would be a BAD thing. They just wanted their clients to have some extra-cool fish to view. Now the Atlantic is full of Lionfish and we can't do much about it. Idiots.

[wetpetshawaii]

here is a link to a notorius letter that many claim to have sparked this legislation bill.....

http://www.seashepherd.org/editoria..._070814_1p.html



here is the bill being proposed a similar bill was proposed a few years ago but was squashed by congress.

Report Title:

Fishing; Ornamental Fish; Bag Limits; No Take Category; Appropriation



Description:

Imposes bag limits on certain ornamental fish; prohibits catching of certain ornamental fish; appropriation



THE SENATE


S.B. NO.


3225

TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008




STATE OF HAWAII













A BILL FOR AN ACT





RELATING TO FISHING.





BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:



SECTION 1. Chapter 188, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§188- Ornamental fish; bag limit; prohibition; yellow tang stock assessment. (a) There shall be a combined bag limit of twenty fish per person per day of ornamental fish, including but not limited to, yellow tang, flame angels, and butterfly; provided that the combined bag limit may include a maximum of only five yellow tang. No person shall catch, net, or trap more than the bag limit. The department of land and natural resources shall formulate an annual stock assessment of the yellow tang, beginning September 1, 2008, based upon data existing as of that date to provide an estimated inventory for preservation purposes; provided that the assessment shall be made publicly available.

(b) No person shall catch, net, or trap certain ornamental fish in a no-take category, including but not limited to, all puffer fish, all box fish, potter's angel, cleaner wrasse, all coralvores, and all eels.

(c) For purposes of this section, the term "ornamental fish" means salt water fish, usually found in or around reefs, that are commonly kept in aquariums.

(d) The department of land and natural resources shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 for purposes of this section, including adding other types of ornamental fish."

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $100,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009 for the yellow tang fish stock assessment as provided in section 1 of this Act.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of land and natural resources for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that section 2 shall take effect on July 1, 2008.

http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessio...ls/SB3225_.htm



__________________

[Ice]

Seems like a fair bill to me considering it states no more than 5 yellow tangs out of the 20 fish catch limit per day.

[TheOldSalt]

Well, it seems fair to you because you're not trying to make a living at it in a state where the cost of living is horrendous.
This will put a lot of people out of business, and actually have the opposite effect it intends in the final wash as more and more people try to catch fish when the price rises. However, that's the way it goes sometimes. Only citizens of Hawaii can have any real say in this, so even if we all joined in to help, it would have little effect if any.
On the plus side, this will keep the noobs from putting Yellow Tangs in 55 gallon tanks, so its not all bad.

[Fishboy93]

Isnt it a 20 specimen bag limit in Florida too isnt it? There are several sources who collect wild specimens profitablly..