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Senate committees advance Oahu-focused changes to aquarium collection bill after hours of testimony
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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. Kylie Wager Cruz of Earthjustice told the committees the bill "would prevent the floodgates from reopening" where legal collection could resume under new rulemaking; she said an accepted environmental impact statement (EIS) for West Hawaii does not automatically entitle collectors to permits and that a statutory ban would block reopening.
Opponents, including former and current aquarium fishers and representatives of aquarium businesses, said the fishery has been among the most regulated and studied in the world and that local families depend on it. Ron Tubbs, who said he had been an aquarium fisherman for 45 years, called the fishery "low impact, sustainable" and said a West Hawaii EIS took five years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Several fishermen and business owners argued a ban would shift demand to less-regulated foreign fisheries and damage livelihoods.
Committee members pressed agencies about the status of EIS and rulemaking processes. A Division of Aquatic Resources representative confirmed West Hawaii had a completed EIS and that Oahu is still in earlier stages of EIS work, with public notices and revisions pending. Senators discussed the Holomua community-engagement plans that state agencies are starting for Oahu and urged DLNR to accelerate local participation.
To find a compromise, chairs proposed — and the committees adopted — amendments narrowing the bill’s immediate application to Oahu and setting the measure to sunset when the Holomua community planning process is complete for that island. Chair Lee said the change was intended to "put DLNR's boots to the fire" to complete the community process while protecting Oahu reefs in the meantime. Some senators opposed the narrowed approach and said they would vote against the measure on principle but acknowledged the compromise reflected competing priorities.
The committees recorded their recommendations to pass HB 2101 as amended for the Committee on Water, Land, and Culture and the Arts (chair recommendation to pass with amendments) and for the Committee on Hawaiian Affairs (chair recommendation to pass with amendments). The action does not adopt a statewide ban; it advances a time-limited Oahu restriction and asks agencies to report and proceed with community-led management work.
The committees also asked that the committee report clarify the measure’s relationship to aquaculture and broodstock collection permits, with an explicit note that the amendment is not intended to impede permitted aquaculture activities. The bill will proceed to follow-up committee steps and potential floor consideration with the adopted amendments.
