Reefs.org Forums

[JeremyR]

Coral collection has been illegal in hawaii forever.. sheesh.

[MaryHM]

Fish are still able to be collected in Hawaii. Some areas have been designated as "no catch" in order to insure sustainability. Coral is not allowed to be collected in Hawaii. There are no imminent bans.

[naesco]

What is the current status on the collection of fish and coral in Hawaii? Are bans imminent?

And a supplemental question please

Why are fish and coral removed from the ocean labeled by the industry as 'Hawaiian" when the only thing Hawaiian about it is the industry operation is located there?

Thank you

[naesco]

Thank you Mary.
What about the Hawaii labeling issue?

[MaryHM]

I use two suppliers occasionally out of HI- both import fish from other countries to their facilities in Hawaii. There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing that. Both indicate on their lists the origins of the fish they have. Marshall Islands, Cook Islands, Tahiti, Xmas Island, etc... Also, most wholesalers that import the same species from different areas indicate on their stocklists the country of origin. For example:

Coral Beauty Angel
Coral Beauty Angel Fiji

You can assume the first is from the Philippines. My company uses the item code to distinguish country of origin. Item numbers with a J= Indonesia, F= Fiji, S= Solomons, etc... This way my retailers can easily distinguish origins.

[sdcfish]

What Mary is saying is true. The Hawaiian suppliers in Honolulu, depend on imports from neighboring islands and then re-export them under their origins.

What happens though is that the fish then re-sold by the wholesaler....say in Los Angeles, then labels the fish Hawaiian, but not in all cases.

Flame angels.....most people think they come from Hawaii, right? Not true. Only very few Hawaiian flames are caught every week and actually are very expensive.

The majority of the flame angels sold today are either from the Xmas Islands or the Marshall Islands, Cook Islands also have flame angels.....but not many would know that.

Other fish like Goldflake angels, black tangs, etc are imported into Hawaii as well.


Although coral is not legal to import and export through Hawaii, unless just passing through in transit, there is mined rock that is sold as Hawaiian base rock.

It's a complicated issue and one that I am sure one day will be corrected as fish counts will most likely be counted and tracked from origins in a more complete and accurate manner more similarly to corals (cites animals).

[naesco]

I think there should be a labeling requirement.
My concern would be that someone could import a Phillipines fish through Hawaii and it could than be sold as Hawaiian.
IMO reefers will pay the extra price but don't want misrepresentation.