On aquarium collecting
Letter: Dennis Gregory’s Feb. 9 Making Waves column on the supposed tragic loss of tropical fish especially Yellow Tangs in West Hawaii, due to aquarium collecting isn’t very accurate on a number of counts.
He makes the assertion that Kona was called the Gold Coast due to the shimmering walls of Yellow Tangs in the waves but we’re no longer the Gold Coast due to aquarium “poachers.”
A 2010 West Hawaii Today Letter to the Editor by Will Lazenby of Kailua-Kona sets the record straight on the Gold Coast origin. The relevant points of his letter are as follows:
In the late 1960s, the late-Gov. John Burns was flying in a private plan to survey the west coast of the Big Island. This was before the Queen Kaahumanu Highway was built. As he looked out at the coastline and saw the unspoiled and undeveloped vista, he was amazed at the tremendous potential for opportunity and development. It was then that he coined the term Gold Coast. The governor used the term later on many occasions while giving speeches or giving interviews with the Honolulu Advertiser.
As to the statement that our coastline is empty of yellow tangs, clearly that is not true, either. Based on hard data from Division of Aquatic Resources extensive monitoring programs and NOAA habitat mapping, a 2019 five-year DLNR Report on the Effectiveness of the West Hawaii Regional Fishery Management Area reported that overall Yellow Tang abundance in the 30’-60’ depth range over the entire West Hawaii coast increased by over 3.4 million fish (150%) from 1999/2000 to 2017/2018 to an estimated population of 5.7 million fish.
William Walsh
Captain Cook
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