HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0862.113 2008-2010October 21, 2010
County Council of Hawaii
Honorable Committee Members,
My name is Christian Kahahawai and I am opposed to Resolution 363 -10.
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 over-
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
Coma
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Ref. To: ���
RaC Date 1 2010