Hawaiian live rock/fish

[Elitehunter1]

I am traveling to hawaii in the near future and I was curious about peoples opinions of the following:

1st of all, does anyone know if it is illegal to take live rock/coral/fish from kawaii?

Also equally important, what are your opinions on adding live rock/fish directly from the ocean , assuming it was extracted and transported

 

[Purevil21]

Welcome to AA! This subject comes up a lot on here, to answer your questions, it is almost always illegal. You have to have special permits and there are limits. If I am not mistaken Hawaii is really cracking down on this issue, Florida is getting there. Second, you probably wouldn't want to add it anyways, there could be a plethora of harmful hitch hikers and bacteria. You could dry it out and add it, but then it is essentially base rock. I would advise leaving the rock in the ocean where it belongs.

 

[Sarcothelia]

I'm pretty sure harvesting live rock from the Hawaiian islands is illegal under all circumstances. It does occasionally get shipped in, but I'm still pretty sure it's illegal.

 

[Purevil21]

I believe I read somewhere that Hawaii was about to make rock and coral harvesting completely illegal. I couldn't say for sure, I am by no means an expert. I know in Florida harvesting rock is restricted to certain areas and there are permits required.

 

[Elitehunter1]

Does the same apply for fish? Also is drying the rock the only way to prevent introducing harmful side effects?

 

[Purevil21]

Collecting fish completely depends on that states laws. I don't know Hawaii's policy, but I wouldn't chance it. Yes, drying the rock would be the only way to kill off potential hitch hikers that would leave the rock safe for aquarium use. It's not like you can bleach it. Again though, I would ask you to leave it where it belongs and buy dry or aqua cultured rock. This hobby has done enough damage already.

 

[mr_X]

both are illegal. corals too..except for certain soft corals like zoas.

 

[Elitehunter1]

Thanks for the insight. I went onto the website and was able to apply for a permit for recreational aquarium fish. Looks like live rock is a no go, but it did say sand and coral fragments were fair game, so not really what I was looking for.