Tropical fish are pretty much gone in Kona.
According to Honolulu Civil Beat, in the last three years 500,000, half a million colorful tropical fish were stolen from Kona shores.
The same article stated that in three Hawaiian islands between 1999 and 2010 collectors took between 750,000 and one million fish per year. That’s 2,000 a day.
Aquarium poachers sucked them into plastic bags and shipped them off to the mainland. Many of the fish died on the way, ending up in buckets and car trunks.
But the poachers made a profit, that’s all that mattered to them.
Millions of tropical species in a myriad of colors — blue, green, and silver — once drifted between the rocks now are gone.
But it’s more than greedy collectors stealing our rare fish. It’s the tragic loss of the beauty of our island. A large part of the soul of Hawaii is fading away.
Old timers tell stories of looking out at the waves of Kona in the 60s and 70s seeing shimmering walls of golden fishes shining in every wave.
Each wave that lifted showed a panorama of yellow tangs in the clear water.
It’s why Kona was called the Gold Coast, it was the glittering lines of fish turning the coast into a bright miracle of fishes, amazing to behold.
We are the Gold Coast no more, thanks to poachers. Now we are the empty coast.
When you snorkel in Kona all you see are a few lonely fish nudging the bottom here and there.
Whether it’s fish robbers, whalers, or foreign fishermen clubbing dolphins in a cove. It is the eternal battle between beauty on Earth and the sinister souls who destroy it for money.
Uncaring poachers have stolen the gold from our seas to put green in their pockets. And now they want a license to go out and do it again.
If a bank robber steals almost all the money in the bank, you don’t invite him back in to finish the job and take all the money.
Rights and licenses are given to responsible, law-abiding citizens. But fish collectors have been irresponsible and illegal for years.
Actually, the so-called occupation of aquarium collecting should not exist. It can’t be thought of as a regular, everyday job.
Stealing and selling a million tropical fish a year off a public beach is not a legitimate or reasonable thing to do. It’s robbery, clear and simple.
The reason it’s robbery is they take it all, leave it bare and don’t care.
All other types of fishermen and hunters always leave enough for next time. Not these guys, they grab it all and run.
This careless activity should stop until Kona can once again be the Gold Coast, with golden fishes flashing brightly in every wave.
Dennis Gregory writes a bi-monthly column for West Hawaii Today and welcomes your comments at makewavess@yahoo.com