State Seeks Public Input on Reopening West Hawaii Aquarium Fish Collection

Proposed new aquarium fishing rules for West Hawaiʻi would permit seven licensed collectors to remove more than 200,000 reef fish annually, more than triple the roughly 56,000-fish ceiling that existed before a 2017 state Supreme Court ruling ended commercial collection. The state's Division of Aquatic Resources held a virtual public hearing Tuesday evening and will take in-person testimony Wednesday at Kealakehe High School Cafeteria in Kailua-Kona.

The hearings center on proposed Hawaii Administrative Rules chapter 13-77.1, a framework that could re-establish a permitting process for commercial aquarium collection after nearly a decade of prohibition. A 2023 court ruling found that an environmental impact statement commissioned by the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council was legally sufficient for DLNR's Division of Aquatic Resources to move forward on rulemaking, clearing the regulatory path that led to this week's sessions.

Before collection was halted, the trade generated an average of $1.35 million per year in West Hawaiʻi waters, according to federal fisheries data, making it the region's most valuable inshore commercial fishery and roughly 25 percent of all commercial fishing revenue from the area. Industry advocates and PIJAC argue that a regulated framework would restore those livelihoods while protecting reef health through science-based limits. Opponents, including environmental group For the Fishes and Wendy Laros, president and CEO of the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce, counter that the Kona coast's reefs are worth far more intact. A statewide poll found 84 percent of O'ahu and Hawaiʻi Island residents favor permanently ending reef fish collection for commercial aquariums, and more than 800 pages of written testimony submitted to state lawmakers overwhelmingly sided with a ban.

The policy is also moving on a parallel legislative track. House Bill 2101 began as a statewide aquarium fishing ban but has cycled through multiple amendments. One version would have restricted collection only in counties with populations between 200,000 and 300,000, a range that fits only Hawaiʻi County, effectively targeting the Big Island for prohibition while leaving collection open elsewhere in the state. Subsequent amendments stripped out that population caveat, but the episode illustrates how readily West Hawaiʻi becomes the contested terrain when statewide language narrows.

Questions that remain publicly unanswered include whether current stock assessments are sufficient to justify the proposed take levels, what bycatch standards would apply under the new rules, and how many enforcement staff DAR has available to monitor activity along the Kona coast. Those are the specific demands worth pressing in testimony this week.

The virtual hearing ran on Zoom Tuesday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., with registration at tinyurl.com/AQPublicHearing. The in-person session at Kealakehe High School Cafeteria, 74-5000 Puohulihuli Street, is Wednesday, April 1, from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Written testimony is accepted through April 12 by email at DAR.Testimony@hawaii.gov or by mail to Division of Aquatic Resources, 1151 Punchbowl St., Room 330, Honolulu, HI 96813.