HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0883.007 2008-2010July 27, 2010
County Council of Hawaii
Honorable Committee Members,
My name is Christian Kahahawai, as a diver and aquarium fish collector; I
spend nearly three hours a day under water observing and catching fish. I
have yet to see any problem whatsoever with the numbers of fish on our
reefs. The reefs are still very bountiful with many different varieties of reef
fishes. I would urge any of you council members to take a trip out with us
to see for yourselves and have an up close and personal experience with
the reefs and fish we dive with everyday. In fact according to a recent
article by Scott Radway, with the current management in place and plans
to increase and create more in depth management activity, species such
as the yellow tangs have increased in number as much as 35% along the
Kona coast! This proves that with proper management and care for the
population and our West Hawaii reefs, we can not only sustain species
numbers, but also even INCREASE the number of fish throughout our
coastlines. We can do all of this while providing work for our divers, AND
be beneficial to our ever - expanding tourism industry.
In conclusion, our current management and regulations are proving to be
successful in sustaining fish population along the Kona coastline. With
arrangements in place to work more closely with the DLNR and DAR to
refine the management tactics of aquarium fish collecting, there is no
reason whatsoever to shut down our entire industry and put so many local
residents out of work and remove a powerful source of economic growth
from our community. Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,
Christian Kahahawai
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