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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0333.194 2010-2012OCT-4-2011 14:39 FROM:DIOE HAWAII 8083257732 T0:9618912 P.1 COUNTY CLERK COUNTY DE HAWAII NI OCT -4 PM p7 County of Hawaii Resolution No. 130 11 Ladies and gentlemen of the council, thank you for your time this afternoon. Let me begin by first apologizing on behalf of our opposition for wasting your valuable time and our tax dollars yet again in an attempt to pass a bill to ban the Aquarium Trade. This ban has been presented in several different forms and defeated each time in the past few years, and here we are again running in the same circle. I am here to testify against proposed resolution number 13011 which would amend chapter 128 and add a new section which shall ban the sale of aquatic life for aquarium purposes. This resolution claims that the aquarium trade industry is "devastating" the aquatic life within the island of Hawaii. Not only do these claims not have any scientific backing to prove them, but the organization behind these accusations blatantly mislead the public by providing false and /or misleading information to sway people who are un- educated in this aquarium industry to believing such things. Many of these claims can be found on the homepage of httd: / /www.forthefishes.org. Some of these claims include the idea that up to 40% of yellow tangs die before they even reach a hobbyist. This claim (according to forthefishes.org) was quoted from Robert Fenner of www.wetwebmedia.com. After an extensive search on WetWebMedia.com i could not find this mortality percentage anywhere. However, I did find an article posted by Mr. Fenner stating that he not only agrees that the aquarium trade poses little threat to reef fish population decline, but also provides evidence and data to show that there are other threats which are directly responsible for declining populations in certain areas. I have printed this article and included it for your review. Another claim by this organization is that the remaining 60% of yellow tangs caught die within weeks or months from stress related disease. Again, another outlandish claim that has NO scientific evidence whatsoever to back it, nor does it make any sense. What industry do you know can survive on a 90 -100% failure rate? There has not been a sufficient amount SCIENTIFIC studies performed into possible causes of reef fish population decline. One MAJOR cause of fish removal from our reefs are invasive species such as the Blue spotted grouper or "Rol" which is single handedly responsible for an astronomical amount of reef fish being eaten each year. According to http:/ [pacific- islander.blogspot.com /2009 /07 /saving- hawaiis- reef- fish.html - just off the Kona Coast, the Roi is responsible for nearly 99 TONS of reef fish eaten annually — the equivalent of 8.2 MILLION fish per year. These Roi are undoubtedly a serious threat to our reef fish populations and in my opinion, there needs to be action taken to decrease that threat Immediately. However, instead of organizations performing proptr studies and gaining valuable scientific data, they resort to pointing fingers at an industry in which they do not understand, simply because they do not agree with the idea of taking wild fish for aquarium use. Organizations such as ForTheFishes.org spread lies and propaganda in order to gain favor to their side with hopes to ban the aquarium trade industry because they have a direct moral issue with our industry. This is not and never has been a resource issue. comm. f4o 333. /9' Ref. To: p►iieisi t44 Ref. Date OC T 5 ianj"""' OCT -4 -2011 14:39 FROM:DIVE HAWAII 8083257732 TO:9618912 P.2 If, as this resolution clearly states, "the Council of the County of Hawaii desires to protect the reefs of the state of Hawaii and its aquatic life, and promote increasing reef fish population that will continue to attract and sustain the tourist industry of our state", then MUCH more data needs to be collected and we need to take a SERIOUS look at ail options and legitimate threats to reef fish population control. Do NOT put the livelihood of so many local people at stake simply because the deceiving claims proposed by un- educated and biased third party organizations. We as fisherman have families to feed, lives to live, and according to our constitution, the god given right to the pursuit of happiness. And to take that away from so many of us according to misinformation and lack of scientific data would be absolutely absurd. Regards, Christian Pi'ikaiokalani Kahahawai Aquarium Fisherman Kailua Kona Hawaii