State seeks fines in Kona marine reserve opihi case
State is asking for fines over 4,068 ōpihi taken from Kaūpūlehu Marine Reserve, where coral and fish declines have made every illegal harvest sting harder.
A haul of 4,068 ōpihi taken from the Kaūpūlehu Marine Reserve has put West Hawaii’s no-take rules back under the spotlight, where shoreline ecosystems, customary gathering and public trust in marine enforcement all meet. The state is now seeking administrative fines and penalties against three Big Island men accused in the case, a move that could test how seriously Hawaii Island treats poaching in a reserve created to rebuild a stressed reef.
The Division of Land and Natural Resources asked the Board of Land and Natural Resources to act on Brandon K. Carvalho, Kaipo J. Botehlo-Matthey and Keaupililani J. Solomon-Lewis for the alleged take of ōpihi from the reserve on Sept. 18, 2025. The cited violation was Hawaii Administrative Rules § 13-60.4-5(d)(1). According to the enforcement record, a community member saw a yellow-hulled vessel idling inside the reserve off the Kona Coast while the three men carried large bags of what appeared to be ōpihi along the shoreline. Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement officers later tracked the men to Kawaihae Small Boat Harbor, where they seized the 4,068 shells.
The setting matters as much as the numbers. Kaūpūlehu Marine Reserve took effect July 29, 2016, under state rule as a 10-year no-take rest period, and its boundaries include the former Kaūpūlehu Fish Replenishment Area. State managers designed the reserve to give economically and culturally important species time to recover so sustainable fishing could resume from a place of abundance.
That recovery effort has a long scientific backstory. The Nature Conservancy in Hawaii says research beginning in the early 1990s found coral cover at Kaūpūlehu had fallen by more than 50%, while the abundance of highly prized food fish declined by up to 75% over two decades. More recently, a DLNR fisheries-management process described Hui Kahuwai as the most recent community organization stewarding marine resources at Kaūpūlehu and Kūkio.
The June 12 Board of Land and Natural Resources agenda drew support from community voices as well. Kuaāina Ulu Auamo strongly backed the request for fines and penalties, and Malia Kipapa wrote that her ohana supported the action. For many in West Hawaii, the question is whether those penalties will be meaningful enough to deter future take from a reserve built to protect an already weakened reef.
The case also lands amid tighter ōpihi enforcement statewide. In March 2025, DLNR said officers cited two people and arrested another in a Kailua-Kona enforcement action involving illegal ōpihi harvesting. In June 2025, Environmental Court barred Armando Posadas from entering the Pūpūkea Marine Life Conservation District for six months after a separate ōpihi case, a sanction DLNR described as a possible first geographic restriction of its kind. Hawaii rules already prohibit taking, possessing, selling or offering for sale undersized ōpihi, and commercial harvesters need fishing licenses.
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