Hawaiʻi land board keeps the commercial aquarium-collection ban in place

Commercial aquarium collection is not coming back this fall. Hawaiʻi’s Board of Land and Natural Resources met Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, and rejected the Division of Aquatic Resources’ proposal to reopen the West Hawaiʻi trade under a tighter whitelist. Hawaii News Now reported the vote the next day; Aloha State Daily’s Sept. 2 recap says four of five members directed DAR to revise the package and “consider the alternatives under the public trust and cultural landscape analysis.” Member Kaiwi Yoon abstained.

The industry has been halted statewide since 2021 and in West Hawaiʻi since 2017. DAR had brought a rule set that would have shrunk a 40-species, no-limit list to five species with annual catch limits. Hours of testimony — more than 10 hours by the Daily’s count — ran heavily against reopening, with opposition focused on reef fish as public and cultural resources, including the lauʻīpala (yellow tang).

This does not change recreational hook-and-line, throw-net, or spear rules. It does mean the commercial take of live reef fish for the aquarium trade stays closed while DAR goes back through rulemaking and more public hearings. Confirm any later BLNR action on the DLNR meeting record before treating the ban as rewritten.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Aloha State Daily — BLNR rejects aquarium fishing rules again (Sept. 2, 2026). Also: Hawaii News Now — BLNR rejects aquarium collection proposal (Aug. 29, 2026).