Judge invalidates all permits for fishing by aquarium trade

An Oahu Circuit Court order essentially called a halt Friday to the $2 million commercial aquarium trade in Hawaii until environmental reviews are performed.

After seven weeks Circuit Judge Jeff Crabtree finally ruled in line with the Hawaii Supreme Court’s Sept. 6 opinion that existing state-issued commercial collectors’ permits are now illegal and invalid, and ordered the Department of Land and Natural Resources not to issue any new permits until collectors perform environmental reviews.

The department has been allowing 231 active commercial collectors for the aquarium trade to use large, fine-mesh nets to capture an unlimited amount of fish, shrimp, crabs, eels and other aquatic life, excluding organisms specifically protected by law, such as coral, or which have a size limit, said Rene Umberger, one of the plaintiffs in the case against DLNR.

However, the Circuit Court stopped short of ordering a moratorium on commercial collection under existing permits pending completion of the environmental review process, which is what the Supreme Court had ordered the Circuit Court to do.

“We wished the court would have issued an injunction halting collection,” said Summer Kupau-Odo, an Earthjustice attorney representing the plaintiffs. “We’re happy that the court at least made clear that commercial collection is illegal until the permittees and DLNR undergo the environmental impact.”

Kupau-Odo said she is “baffled” by DLNR’s unwillingness “to take any kind of action on this particular industry,” adding, “It has a clear duty to conserve our reef resources. We’re still hoping the state will be out there enforcing against these illegal commercial collectors.”

DLNR issued a written statement saying: “The department continues to believe that existing aquarium fishing practices are sustainable and environmentally sound. And the department appreciates that dozens of local businesses and families depend on the industry for their livelihoods.

“But the department respects Judge Crabtree’s ruling and will fully comply so long as it remains in effect,” it said.

Umberger said, “We were thrilled with the Supreme Court ruling and very happy that the injunction was issued (against issuing any new permits). … We were disappointed that they did not issue an injunction stopping collection.”

The vast majority of the sea creatures are being shipped to the mainland for hobbyists, who generally prefer small fish in their aquariums.

Yellow tang are by far the preferred aquarium fish being caught in Hawaii.

“We really are the only source for the yellow tang,” Umberger said.

“Most fishermen don’t catch the babies,” yet the state allows the aquarium fishermen to take yellow tangs from 2 to 4 inches, she said. “Those are babies. They don’t reproduce until 5 inches.”

“Every year, Hawaii ships out several hundred thousand yellow tang,” which are reported, Umberger said, but she added that “there’s a lot of poaching going on.”

Many of the juvenile fish die from stress, she said, which explains why, with fewer than 2 million mainland hobbyists, the demand remains constant.

Commercial aquarium fishermen are allowed to use fine-mesh nets, which are otherwise illegal for catching fish for consumption, said Umberger, who heads For the Fishes, a nonprofit organization whose sole purpose is to protect reefs and marine life from the impacts of the aquarium trade.

The fishermen scuba-dive at an average depth of 40 to 60 feet and collect the small fry.

Umberger described the method used: Typically one or two people will have a number of nets put together in the form of a W or a Z. The fish are then herded into the nets. They “hit the coral to chase the fish to come out of the coral and … herd them into the pocket of the net,” she said.

The permits are issued to individuals, Umberger said. Most collectors go for volume, not high-dollar fish.

But a few divers seek out rare fish like the masked angelfish, which can go for $10,000 or more.

The number of collectors off Oahu has dwindled since Hurricanes Iniki and Iwa destroyed the reefs, and most of the collectors are focusing on hermit crabs and different kinds of invertebrates, Umberger said. “The Big Island is the hub of the trade.”

She estimates full-time collectors range from 30 to 35 on Hawaii island to 14 on Oahu.

Other plaintiffs are Mike Nakachi, Kaimi Kaupiko, Willie Kaupiko, the Conservation Council for Hawaii and the Humane Society of the United States.

Order After Remand Regarding Commercial Aquarium Collection Permits by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd