From the outrage over the bonefish netting a few days ago has picked up some steam. There’s an on-line petition to ask for bonefish to be moved from the “kill as many as you can catch” category to the “gamefish” category, meaning they would not be in markets any longer.
Hatch Magazine has a story about it…
Opponents of net harvesting of Hawaiian bonefish, known locally as o’io, are attempting to have these fish placed under gamefish status by Hawaii’s governor. Once under gamefish status, killing bonefish would not become illegal, but Hawaiian bonefish would be harvestable only when caught by rod and reel, thus ending the ability of local fisherman to harvest large catches of bonefish via netting.
Read the story here.
Of course, this has been going on for a long time. I ran a story about the netting bonefish on Kauai a while back. Bonefish have been eaten by the locals and natives for a long, long time. However, modern tactics (like nylon nets) have the potential to wipe the fishery out. Seems like it is time to do something about it.
Go ahead… sign it. Only 296 had done so when I last saw it. We can do better.
- If you liked the story above, check out these stories below
- Big HI Bone (0.882)
- Big Hawaii Bone (0.882)
- FYI - not everyone gets skunked in Hawaii (0.863)
Tags: bonefishing, Conservation, fly fishing, Hawaii, O'io
[…] this, and I agree with Coach Duff on the approach. That said, at least check out the story at Bonefish on the Brain. Form your own opinion and hopefully you’ll sign the petition. Share this:EmailLike […]
Right on. People have to understand that we can’t keep doing business as usual and expect the world to make it. I agree with Coach Duff (I fished with him a while back), in order to make conservation stick in Hawaii we’ve got to understand the Hawaiian culture. Duff if you read this, General Mattis USMC would be proud of you.