HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 1145.080 2012-2014County Council Bill 318 to be heard Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014 OPPOSITION Page 1 of 1
P1 AiA1E6c-
County Council Bill 318 to be heard Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014 OPPOSITION
X DELETE REPLY <4,— REPLY ALL FORWARD •••
mark as sareacQ
Tina Owens <tinaowens @hawaii.rr.com>
Mon 11/17/2014 11:52 AM
:s
To: Council Testimony;
-YS
N
To the Honorable members of the County of Hawaii County Council:
I am writing you today in opposition to Bill 318 concerning the care and handling of tropical
fish while on county property. I would hope that all of you realize that you have very little
expertise in the care, handling and shipping of live marine life. As such you should be
listening to experts, not neighbor island people with a personal agenda.
Despite the bill sounding like it is only a small matter of humane treatment, it is a not -so-
well disguised effort to put tropical fishers out of business. If you recall, these same people
came before you once before to try to get a ban, which they weren't able to get because
state waters are not under county authority.
The study they are using to validate their stance is a recently put together paper, sponsored
by the Humane Society (one of the people who brought you this bill) and thanks Humane
Society scientists for their help. This paper is very suspect for those reasons alone, and in
the section of the paper referring to this topic (supply chain), the author is very sloppy about
referencing where and when his data came from. Most of the figures he cites are from third
world countries with very primitive supply chain protocols. A great deal of very valid science
is available and can be provided easily.
Whether you like the aquarium trade or not is not the issue here. The animals these
wholesalers ship to the mainland represent the product they are selling. If they consistently
sold ill, damaged, or soon -to -die fish, they would soon be out of buyers. No one has a
greater interest in the health and safe delivery of these animals than the dealers
themselves. To say that they can just go out and catch more doesn't reflect the fact that
catching more won't help if you have no customers at the end of the supply chain.
I know there are many others who can speak in much greater detail than I because I am not
in the industry or connected to it, but this I do know: if you pass this bill, you will do more
harm to the fish being shipped than good. The fish will suffer for it.
Mahalo for your attention,
Tina Owens Comm. No. I S•
Kailua -Kona, HI R v
ef. To: � $G
Ref. Date NOV 18
https :Hwebmail.hawaiicounty.gov /owa/ 11/17/2014