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Senate committees advance Oahu-focused changes to aquarium collection bill after hours of testimony
Summary
Senators heard hours of public testimony on HB 2101, which would limit or ban commercial aquarium collection. Environmental groups urged bans statewide; fishermen and business owners warned of job losses and disputed the science. The committees voted to apply a temporary Oahu ban and requested further community processes before broader action.
Senators on the joint Committee on Hawaiian Affairs and the Committee on Water, Land, and Culture and the Arts heard more than a hundred public statements March 24 on House Bill 2101, the measure that would restrict commercial aquarium collection in parts of Hawaii. After lengthy testimony from conservation groups, fishermen and industry representatives, the committees recommended a narrower, time-limited application of the bill — applying it to Oahu only and suspending or revisiting action on other islands while state planning and local processes continue.
Testimony split strongly along two lines. Environmental groups and community advocates, including Earthjustice and the Sierra Club, urged senators to ban commercial aquarium collection statewide to protect reefs, citing recent storm-related runoff and decades of extraction they say harmed herbivore populations.…
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