First, the courts invalidated the state’s commercial aquarium fishing permit, which led to a virtual shutdown of the industry in Hawaii.

Now the permit that allows recreational users to collect reef fish with a fine-mesh net has been voided as well.

Thursday’s decision by First Circuit Judge Jeffrey Crabtree means no such fishing is legally permitted in the islands until the appropriate level of environmental review is developed and approved.

The ruling is the latest legal victory for plaintiffs Rene Umberger, Mike Nakachi, Ka‘imi Kaupiko, Willie Kaupiko, the Conservation Council for Hawai‘i, the Humane Society of the United States and the Center for Biological Diversity.

Represented by the Earthjustice environmental law firm, the group sued the state Department of Land and Natural Resources in 2012 for failing to comply with Hawaii’s Environmental Policy Act, which requires the government to consider environmental impacts in its actions.

Thursday’s ruling invalidates about 131 permits, each of which authorizes the capture of five fish a day.

While that might not sound like a lot, it does authorize the capture of more than 1,800 fish, or nearly 240,000 fish a year, Earthjustice attorney Summer Kupau-Odo said.

Under its current permit policy, the DLNR neither asks nor knows what fish are being collected, she said. For all DLNR knows, she said, the fish could be the same rare species plucked from the same distressed coral reefs already beleaguered by ocean warming and pollution.

“DLNR’s duty is to manage and conserve, not be cavalier about Hawaii’s public-trust resources,” Kupau-Odo said.

In an unanimous decision in September, the state Supreme Court ruled that a formal environmental review is necessary before DLNR can issue commercial aquarium collection permits that allow unlimited capture of fish and other coral reef species.

A month later the Circuit Court followed suit and declared all existing commercial permits void and ordered an injunction prohibiting the issuance of any new commercial permits. The court left open the question of whether recreational permits might qualify for an exemption, but that was put to rest Thursday.

“This victory is an important step toward protecting Hawaii’s beleaguered reef fish from the aquarium industry,” Miyoko Sakashita, ocean program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a news release. “State officials can’t continue giving aquarium collectors free rein to disrupt and destroy some of the world’s most beautiful coastal ecosystems.”

Meanwhile the aquarium fish industry has developed environmental documents that have been submitted by the DLNR to the Office of Environmental Quality Control for dissemination and public comment as required.

The plaintiffs last week criticized the industry’s documents as “nonsensical” and “legally inadequate.” In a news release they urged DLNR to require the industry to prepare more comprehensive environmental impact statements and to extend the moratorium that until fuller analysis is complete.

Bruce Anderson, administrator of DLNR’s Division of Aquatic Resources, said it is the industry’s responsibility to respond to comments and to prepare any further documents. And if significant impacts are identified, he said, a more comprehensive environmental review may be required.