LR illegal in hawaii!

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guitarded

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Sep 4, 2004
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Location
Hawaii
i just spoke to some members of a local saltwater aquarium club and asked them where they get their live rock. they told me that LR is illegal in the state of hawaii, even if it is bought and shipped from the mainland U.S. (or anywhere else). i asked them if they have any LR dispite the ban and, although they are pretty staunch enthusiast, they don't and kinda look down on those who are "breaking the law".

i, too, am pretty conforming when it comes to these things so i will also comply.

i guess i will be setting up a FO tank and spending some time in that forum.
 
guitarded said:
i just spoke to some members of a local saltwater aquarium club and asked them where they get their live rock. they told me that LR is illegal in the state of hawaii, even if it is bought and shipped from the mainland U.S. (or anywhere else). i asked them if they have any LR dispite the ban and, although they are pretty staunch enthusiast, they don't and kinda look down on those who are "breaking the law".

i, too, am pretty conforming when it comes to these things so i will also comply.

i guess i will be setting up a FO tank and spending some time in that forum.
Click to expand...

Just get some Base rock from HiRocks.com It is just rock not from the ocean. I will soo turn purple if you get some Corline Alage scrapings.
You won't get the critter,but you'll get the look :D
 
I agree, if you can get some quarried terrestrial rock, it should be OK, if not, you can make your own base rock (instrctions on GARF.org) and it can become live in your tank ;)
 
hoops guru, thanks for the link. i will share that with the SW club! i guess it will be legal for me to havest one gal of live rock per day (yes, that read gal, not pounds - as per the following quote from the state website...

"The taking of sand, coral rubble or other marine deposits is permitted in certain circumstances. The material may not exceed one gallon per person per day, and may be taken only for personal, noncommercial purposes. HRS §171-58.5, §205A-44"
 
i did some further research and the above says i can take a galloon of sand, coral rubble or other marine deposits. it doesn't say anything about live rock. i further found the regulation about live rock as follows...

Live rocks
Unlawful to take, break or damage, with any implement, any rock or coral to which marine life is visibly attached or affixed. HAR 13-95.

so i guess as i originally posted... no live rock. also, after talking again with the SW club, they say that if you are found with live rock, regardless of actually origin, then you can be prosecuted.
 
guitarded said:
they say that if you are found with live rock, regardless of actually origin, then you can be prosecuted.
Click to expand...
Um, how are they going to prove that you didn't make it yourself? And if you did actually make your own then it will eventually look just like regular LR so does it become illegal at that point to??

Also, that quote doesn't say anything about importing LR.
 
I agree with Atari. Also there are companies that Aquaculture LR, which would not be taken from a reef.
 
looka like its time to write a letter. :) Explain that you've read up on the laws and describe that there are "main land" companies that sell base rock and there are even ways you can create rock for your tank with cement. And ask if doing so would violate any laws. Thats what the department is there for and what your tax dollars pay for. Use them :)
 
well the same could be said with the sand. if you get 1 gal every day for 5 day that is 5 gal of sand. how are they going to know that you just did not go out one day and get 5 gals?
 
I would disagree with the belief that you can be prosecuted for owning live rock, based only on the laws you quoted. The intent of the laws are obviously to protect the natural reefs around the island and make no mention of possession. If there is no law in effect which stipulates the possession as being illegal, then it is legal plain and simple. Just keep the receipts in case it is questioned.
 
Live rocks
Unlawful to take, break or damage, with any implement, any rock or coral to which marine life is visibly attached or affixed. HAR 13-95.

so i guess as i originally posted... no live rock. also, after talking again with the SW club, they say that if you are found with live rock, regardless of actually origin, then you can be prosecuted.
Click to expand...

This only states that rock cannot be broken off (which is a method of harvesting liverock, chiseling it from the main rock structure). "Coral rubble" is the term for rock that has broken off naturally, most often from storm damage.

I would wonder how reefers in Hawaii would have reef tanks then? Corals have to be mounted to something. I've sent an email to Hirocks.com to shed some light on the subject before I state that the saltwater club is fibbing. :p
 
I got some info to help clear things up for all of us, including how much you could legally take in pounds from the beach (I would only use it to seed some good Hirock baserock). According to Randolph Baxter at Hirocks:

1. A resident of Hawaii may collect up to 5lbs of dead coral or rubble per day from the beach areas (only way to regulate to make sure people are not harvesting it directly from the reef).

2. Base rock in Hawaii is technically governed by the state's Department of Agriculture because it is a quarried product. There is no jurisdiction for the DO Fish and Wildlife which typically governs liverock.

On my own research, I checked a bunch of sites that sell liverock including Walt Smith International. None mention anything about not shipping to Hawaii. The claims of this saltwater club do not make sense to me, at this point anyway. I have sent off for more definitive answers.
 
well instead of beating around the bush I'm going right to the source. I've emailed the Hawaii Dept of Land and Nat. Resources with our questions. I'll post any response I get.
 
hoops... go research and comments. billyz... i will be interested in the reply you get! at any rate, as you can imagine shipping LR to hawaii can be pretty expensive so it would be nice to be able to grab a little to, at least, seed the tank. not to mention, that i feel kinda silly getting LR from florida when i live in the midde of the pacific ocean.

i just wanna say, however, that i do respect our environmental laws, especially living on an island!
 
Well I have not yet gotten any response. So looks like we'll need to keep beating those bushes! :wink:

Here is a copy of the email I sent, in case anyone is interested (just ignore the typos :? ).

Hello,
I am trying a help a Hawaii resident with a salt water aquarium. They
are concerned over the legality of possession of Live Rock in Hawaii.
Review of the information on your website
(http://www.hawaii.gov/dlnr/dar/library/coral_liverock.htm) clearly
makes it illegal to collect the rock from waters around Hawaii. We
understand and support this fully. Where our questions lie are around
other forms of live rock that a Hawaii resident could acquire and if
these other forms of Live Rock would be illegal to keep.

For example, there are US companies that culture live rock. These
companies take rock and submerge it in the ocean and leave it to
acquire the algaes and life forms that make the rock beneficial to
hobbyist aquariums. They then return and collect the rock and sell it.
Would it be illegal for a Hawaii resident to purchase this aquaculture
live rock? There is also an option for saltwater hobbyist to use dry
rocks or manufactured rocks (cement based) and then use small amount
of actual live rock to seed the dry rock in the aquarium which would
then over time become live rock. Would there be any legal issues if
they were to use dry rock and some collected live rock rubble(within
the bounds stipulated by the laws as quoted by your website)?

Thank you very much for your time. If there are any other sources that
you think would help clarify the rules and regulations as they pertain
to Hawaii residents they would be much appreciated!

Thank you again,

-Bill
Click to expand...
 
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