Land Board Sends Back Commercial Aquarium Collection Rules
On August 28, after over five hours of public testimony, the Land Board “sent back” proposed Division of Aquatic Resources rules that would have reopened west Hawaiʻi island’s waters to commercial aquarium collection, and established the process to do the same for the rest of the islands.
This came just a week and a half after the Honolulu City Council, with the support of voluminous testifiers, joined every other county in Hawaiʻi to call for the permanent end of the aquarium collection industry in Hawaiʻi, via its adoption of Resolution 26-159 and Resolution 26-160.
This was seen as at least a temporary victory for those who have fought to shut down the aquarium collection industry permanently, including but not limited to all county councils; the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; the ʻAha Moku Advisory Committee; the Kāneʻohe Bay Regional Council; the Waimānalo, Kailua, Kāne‘ohe, Kahalu‘u, Makakilo, and Hawai‘i Kai neighborhood boards; Kua‘āina Ulu Auamo; Surfrider Foundation; The Nature Conservancy; Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi; the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs; Earthjustice; Friends of Hanauma Bay; Kai Kuleana Network; Center for Biological Diversity; Conservation Council for Hawai‘i; Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana; Hawaiian Humane Society; Moana ‘Ohana; Ko‘olau Foundation, Ko‘olaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club; and He‘eia NERR, among others.
While it stopped the adoption of the proposed rules, the Land Board declined to order a rule that would permanently prohibit aquarium collection, as had been called for by dozens of testifiers.
Per the Board decision, Division of Aquatic Resources staff will now need to amend the rules to address public trust and cultural concerns, along with unspecified legal and other issues, before bringing them back for future consideration.
Please stay tuned, as the community may need to continue engaging with Department of Land and Natural Resources staff and the Land Board to stop future attempts to bring the aquarium industry back to Hawaiʻi. Be sure to sign up for action alerts on issues impacting our ocean here if you have not already, and ask your friends to do the same!
In the meantime, mahalo nui to the countless organizations and individuals - from elected officials, to fishery scientists, to Native Hawaiian cultural and subsistence practitioners, to elementary school students - who stood up to stop the gratuitous and wasteful exploitation of our native and endemic aquatic wildlife today, and in the decades that led up to this latest Land Board win!