rgbmatt":3fh2uf9g said:
There are four species of butterfly fish in Hawaii that really do need coral to survive and cannot be fed on anything else. Out of these, a grand total of eleven were caught in 2007.
I have to wonder which fish rgbmatt is referring too here. The '07 reports show that 11 Ornate Butterflyfish were caught on Oahu that year, and some were caught on the Big Island, too. But what about the other 3 he mentions? Which corallivores can be "switched over" to feed on something else by the typical hobbyist? How many of the 1871 Fourspot Butterflyfish that were collected that year are still alive today? How many of the 2762 Moorish Idols that were caught that year, survived for more than a month? What about the 1405 Cleaner Wrasses?
The Hawaii bill had an amendment ready to give public aquaria and researchers special exemptions. What the Waikiki aquarium is able to do with it's fish does not even remotely resemble what is going on in the hobby. We all know that mortality rates attributed to the newbie are astronomical.
Something has to be done to stop the "ridiculous overharvesting" that is happening on Hawaii's reefs - like the 1.76 million hermit crabs that have been taken since 2001. Compare that to the 47,000 that were taken in 2000. According to the experts, it is likely that entire local populations have been wiped out by the aquarium collectors. Meanwhile, the State resource managers just sit back and tally the numbers...
Why are at least 400,000 yellow tangs collected from Hawaii's reefs every year?
In a '97-'98 study, Tissot and Hallacher compared collected species populations to non collected species. They documented declines ranging from 38% - 75% in the most heavily collected species. Kona got their no-take areas, and the rest of the State got nothing. Unlimited, free for all, extraction for a $50 annual permit. No size limits, no species limits, no bag limits, no limits on the number of permits available: Regulations Florida has had in place for 20+ years.
Of course Hawaii residents and tourists want this stopped. Our most BEAUTIFUL reef fish are dissappearing.