Reef-fish collectors treat prey with care
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer
Once a professional aquarium fish collector plucks a tropical fish off a Hawai'i reef, that fish will almost certainly survive to reach a home or commercial aquarium, wherever in the world that may be.
"You can ship fish around the world with almost 100 percent survival nowadays," said Waikiki Aquarium director Bruce Carlson.
Fish collectors across the state, who have been criticized for overcollecting on the reefs, have objected to characterizations of their trade as one in which most fish die soon after collection. In fact, fish caught in Hawai'i do very well, according to those familiar with the industry.
"Hawai'i has the best reputation in the whole world. Guys are pretty competent here," Carlson said.
The Oceanic Institute is developing techniques for raising Hawaiian reef fish in captivity in an attempt to take collecting pressure off the Islands' reefs. Collectors take a lot of fish from Hawai'i reefs, but a researcher was mistaken in suggesting that mortality levels are high, Carlson said.
State figures show that in 1999, 167,000 yellow tangs were taken by licensed collectors and shipped out of state from the waters off West Hawai'i alone.
Both the level of the take and conflicts between commercial aquarium collectors and other users of the waters led the state in recent years to ban collection in about a third of the near-shore waters off the coast of West Hawai'i.
In 1998, state records show 406,000 tropical fish were shipped from all islands. After yellow tang, the most sought-after Hawai'i aquarium species that can sell for $10 to $20 apiece retail, the popular species are kole, achilles tang and clown tang, said Alton Miyasaka, aquatic biologist with the state Division of Aquatic Resources.
That represents the sales reported by fish shippers. Some fish may not be represented in those figures, but Miyasaka said he believes the vast majority is included.
That's a lot of fish, but it is far less than the number of reef fish collected for eating, he said.
He agreed with Carlson that the aquarium fish are generally well-treated and survive at high rates.
"It costs too much for them to ship and have most of the fish die in transit. They take very good care of them," Miyasaka said.
He said no comprehensive studies have been done, but he estimates mortality at 3 percent to 5 percent.
Honolulu wholesaler Randy Fernley of Coral Fish Hawai'i said his results are even better than that.
"I lose 1 to 2 percent of my stock, and I'm probably average," Fernley said.
He said customers on the Mainland and elsewhere would not stand for receiving fish that are dead or in poor condition.
"If there's more than a 5 percent mortality, they would be buying someplace else," he said.
Tropical fish are hardy, and Hawai'i's aquarium collectors are among the most-skilled in the world, Carlson said. They catch fish almost exclusively with nets. There are problems with the use of toxic substances such as cyanide by fish collectors in Asian tropical waters, but that has never been an issue in the Islands, he said.
Still, overcollecting, damage to coral and conflicts with competing users of the ocean do raise issues for the industry.
"I know there are problems. The industry needs to police itself, or the government will," Carlson said.
Information on the council is available on the Web at www.aquariumcouncil.org.
