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LOST FISH Coalition
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Current Projects & Tasks
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Last year we were ready
to "throw the bums out!"
Last
year on our website, we had this posted:
"We continue to believe that trusting these people is not a good
idea and therefore, we are still keeping our options open. If the fish collectors act in good faith and prove that they
will abide by their promises, then we'll try, yet again, to work with them. If, they think they can stab us
in the back again, then LOST FISH can go to the legislature and get them out of here."
In
fact, the collectors took our stance to heart and have really buckled down to cooperate with us and with the West Hawaii Fisheries
Council. Rather stunning actually, and I see some good things coming from it.
"If
the fish collectors act in good faith and prove that they will abide by their promises, then we'll try, yet again, to
work with them. "
If we unilaterally supported a ban after the
fish collectors DID in fact get their act together, would that not be considered treachery on our part? Back-stabbing,
if you will. It would be natural for them to stop cooperating with us under such a circumstance.
Why are we not supporting Rene?
You may ask
why not just do it? Why not just get it banned? Because LOST FISH knows better than anyone that getting a ban
is not easy, is certainly not a given outcome and could take many years. In the meanwhile, if we have no cooperation
from the fish collectors, they could ruin our reefs before we could make them go elsewhere.
The
main problem with Rene's campaign is that it isn't just about a ban. She can rally all she likes about that,
but in fact, she is here in West Hawaii to discredit all the good work and to impugn the reputations of hundreds of good people
who put a lot of volunteer time into community-based management of our reefs.
Here
is the nitty-gritty: if the West Hawaii Fisheries Council succeeds (and it is succeeding); the legislature will never
give Rene and Snorkel Bob a ban. Therefore, they are telling alll kinds of lies (and I don't use that word
lightly) about the WHFC, our decisions, our accomplishments and our science. Don't believe a word of it because
it won't help but will make things worse.
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If you are wondering...
This is what happened in the Spring
2010 ...
When the FRAs were first put in place, and in the absence of much enforcement, LOST FISH felt that
compliance on the part of the fish collectors was the best idea. So, LOST FISH promised that if the fish collectors
played fair with us, we would play fair with them.
In the ten years since, many of the collectors have found what we always promised them:
there would be more fish. Most realized it was in their interest to comply. However, there was always a
core group with a deep bitterness that we had won the day. They had always been in control and now they were not; they'd
never had any restrictions at all, now they did. We hoped they'd come around, but now we see they have only been
biding their time, hoping that LOST FISH would go away.
In the spring of 2010, the Hawaii County Council introduced a resolution to support efforts
to manage the aquarium industry further. Even though the collectors had already voted in favor of prposed rules, this
disgruntled group of 19 fish collectors showed up and tried to undermine the WHFC and all it had accomplished.
LOST
FISH took a hard stance with them and, we are happy to report, the fish collectors have come around. They are better
organized, and are participating in the process not just blocking it.
WIN-WIN! |
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Vigilance is still the key. Stay with us, stay onboard and
we'll see that things like this don't happen any more.
If you wish to get on our mailing list and receive updates,
please go to the Contact Us page and sign up. It's free!!
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