Reef fish belong on the reef—not in mainland aquarium tanks.

Most of us have seen Finding Nemo. We remember the moment Nemo was taken from his home, family and friends— the sadness, the anger, and the simple feeling that it was just wrong. 

Here in Hawaiʻi, this isn't just a movie. The commercial aquarium trade has historically removed hundreds of thousands of wild reef fish from Hawaiʻi’s waters each year, shipping them thousands of miles away to be sold in pet stores and kept in home aquariums.

When you think of your favorite coral reef, can you imagine it without fish? Neither can we.

Hawaiʻi’s Reef Fish Need You on August 28

On August 28, the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) is expected to face a critical choice about the future of Hawaiʻi’s reef fish.

The Board can move forward with prohibiting commercial aquarium collection—an approach it unanimously supported in 2023—or continue advancing a new Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) permitting framework that would create a pathway for the commercial aquarium trade to reopen.

This is a critical moment for Hawaiʻi’s reefs. All four counties have already passed resolutions opposing commercial aquarium collection, and communities across Hawaiʻi have spent decades calling for greater protection of our reef fish.

Now we need BLNR to listen.

Our Reefs Need Their Fish

Hawaiʻi’s reefs are the foundation of our coastal communities. These living ecosystems provide extraordinary benefits to both people and wildlife: they support marine biodiversity and fisheries, sustain subsistence fishing and traditional and customary practices, provide opportunities for recreation and tourism, and hold deep cultural and community value. They are the places where we swim, surf, dive, fish, paddle, gather, and connect with Hawaiʻi’s spectacular underwater world.

Coral reefs also provide critical natural infrastructure to our shorelines, dissipating wave energy and helping reduce coastal flooding and erosion. Healthy coral reefs can absorb up to 97% of incoming wave energy, and their flood-protection benefits in Hawaiʻi have been valued at approximately $1.8 billion annually.

These benefits depend on healthy, functioning reef ecosystems. Many fish targeted by the aquarium trade are herbivores that perform essential jobs on the reef. They graze algae, create space for coral recruitment, and help reefs recover from disturbance.

What Is the Commercial Aquarium Trade?

Commercial aquarium collection removes hundreds of thousands of wild fish from Hawaiʻi’s reef ecosystems so they can be sold into the aquarium pet trade. Historically, that meant hundreds of thousands of wild reef fish taken from Hawaiʻi’s waters each year.

Yellow tang are a powerful example of the destructive nature of this trade. Yellow tang are important herbivores and have historically been one of the most heavily targeted species in Hawaiʻi’s aquarium trade. Research comparing areas open and closed to aquarium collection found yellow tang significantly more abundant in protected areas. Following protection, yellow tang densities increased 70.6% in protected areas while declining 4.1% in areas that remained open to collection.

The collection process often involves surrounding schools of fish with fine mesh nets and individually selecting fish for sale. Concerns have also been raised about practices used during capture and preparation for long-distance transport, including puncturing fish swim bladders to bring fish to the surface more quickly, clipping fins, and withholding food before export to reduce waste while fish spend extended periods in plastic shipping bags.

Fish may then spend days in transit before reaching wholesalers, pet stores, and ultimately home aquariums.

How Did We Get To This Decision Point?

Commercial aquarium collection was once heavily concentrated on Oʻahu. Following heavy collection and significant declines in targeted nearshore fish populations in the late 90’s, much of the industry shifted to the Kona coast, where commercial collection expanded. At its height, the trade removed hundreds of thousands of wild reef fish from Hawaiʻi’s waters annually.

Litigation beginning in 2017 progressively shut down the commercial aquarium trade, culminating in a complete statewide halt in 2021 unless and until the industry completed environmental review.

In late 2023, a hui petitioned BLNR to use its conservation rulemaking authority to prohibit commercial aquarium collection. BLNR voted unanimously to support the petition, but its decision was constrained by legal advice from the Attorney General that the Board could not adopt a commercial ban because of an existing aquarium permitting statute.

That legal question went to court. In April 2026, the court ruled that BLNR can prohibit commercial aquarium collection. The State did not appeal.

Meanwhile, DAR has been attempting to reopen portions of the fisheries through environmental review and rulemaking process with a separate set of rules that would establish a new permitting framework for commercial aquarium collection.

That is the choice now returning to BLNR: prohibit commercial aquarium collection or continue down a path toward reopening the trade.

Our Reefs Are Already Under Enough Pressure

Hawaiʻi’s reefs are simultaneously confronting warming oceans, bleaching events, pollution, invasive algae, coastal development, shoreline hardening and other cumulative pressures. The question is not whether aquarium collection alone will cause a reef to collapse. The question is why we would deliberately add another extractive pressure to reef ecosystems already fighting to survive.

Yellow tang are a powerful example. Historically one of the most heavily targeted species in Hawaiʻi’s aquarium trade, yellow tang play an important role grazing algae on the reef. Research comparing areas open and closed to aquarium collection found yellow tang significantly more abundant in protected areas. Following protection, yellow tang densities increased 70.6% in protected areas while declining 4.1% in areas that remained open to collection.

Significant uncertainty remains about the cumulative ecological impacts of reopening commercial collection under current reef conditions. Hawaiʻi should be reducing the pressures on our reefs that we can control, not adding new ones.

Who Benefits and Who Bears the Burden?

The benefits and costs of reopening this trade are deeply skewed toward the interests of a few.

The potential local commercial fishery consists of a very small number of collectors supplying a much larger mainland aquarium and pet industry. Under the framework currently being pursued, approximately seven potential permits are on the table in West Hawaiʻi, while the Oʻahu proposal contemplates approximately 15 collectors if its environmental review is completed.

Approximately 95% of the fish collected are exported to the mainland.

Yet Hawaiʻi taxpayers would bear the cost of administering and enforcing the fishery. Collectors would pay approximately $100 annually for a permit, while the State program is estimated to require approximately $200,000 in public resources.

A handful of commercial collectors and a much larger mainland pet industry receive the economic benefit. Hawaiʻi taxpayers pay to manage the program. Hawaiʻi’s reefs bear the ecological risk. Our communities bear the loss of fish that support ecological, subsistence, cultural, recreational, and coastal resilience values. And future generations inherit whatever we leave behind.

Hawaiʻi Has Already Spoken

For decades, thousands of people across Hawaiʻi have submitted testimony, attended hearings, participated in environmental review, organized their communities, and asked decision-makers to protect Hawaiʻi’s reef fish from commercial extraction.

Today, that opposition is reflected across the islands: all four counties have passed resolutions opposing commercial aquarium collection.

In 2023, BLNR itself unanimously supported pursuing a prohibition on commercial aquarium collection. The court has now confirmed that the Board has the authority to do it.

The people of Hawaiʻi have shown up, again and again, to protect these resources. Now BLNR needs to listen.

Take Action: August 28

Tell BLNR to protect Hawaiʻi’s reefs and move forward with prohibiting commercial aquarium collection.

• We need our reef fish on the reef. Reef fish help sustain healthy, functioning ecosystems that provide enormous benefits to Hawaiʻi—supporting biodiversity and fisheries, traditional and customary practices, recreation and tourism, our local economy, and coastal resilience. Herbivorous fish like yellow tang also perform essential ecological work by controlling algae and helping corals recover.
• Our reefs cannot afford another added pressure. Hawaiʻi’s reefs are already confronting warming oceans, coral bleaching, pollution, invasive algae, coastal development, and shoreline hardening. We should be reducing the pressures we can control—not reopening another extractive trade.
• The costs and benefits are deeply skewed. A small number of commercial collectors and the mainland pet industry stand to benefit, while Hawaiʻi’s reefs bear the ecological risk and the public bears the cost of permitting, monitoring, and enforcement.
• BLNR has a public trust obligation. Hawaiʻi’s reef fish are public trust resources that provide ecological, cultural, recreational, economic, and coastal resilience benefits. BLNR should manage them for the benefit of Hawaiʻi’s people and future generations—not a narrow commercial interest.
• Listen to Hawaiʻi’s communities. For decades, thousands of residents have participated in the public process calling for an end to commercial aquarium collection. All four counties have opposed the trade, BLNR unanimously supported pursuing a prohibition in 2023, and the court has confirmed the Board has the authority to act.

 

Hands Off Hawaiʻi’s Reefs

Our generation has a choice about what we leave behind.

Keep commercial aquarium collection closed.

Keep Hawaiʻi’s reef fish on the reef.