More than 600 fish found dumped at harbor
by Carolyn Lucas, West Hawaii Today
Friday, January 29, 2010 8:54 AM HST
Several Hawaii residents, environmentalists and commercial tropical fish collectors are outraged over the dumping of 610 fish, discovered this past weekend in a trash bin at Honokohau Small Boat Harbor.
Of the 610 fish, 551 were yellow tang -- a species that represents more than 80 percent of the aquarium catch in West Hawaii waters. The remaining 59 fish comprised six other species, including butterflyfish and surgeonfish. All the dumped fish had no outward signs of illness or injury, said Bill Walsh, state aquatic biologist. Nearly half of the yellow tang were recruits, very small individuals newly settled on the reef. Recruits usually start settling in summer months and by December are larger in size, which leads the Division of Aquatic Resources to believe these yellow tangs were not collected recently. (to read the entire article, click the link)
