I have a friend who is moving to Hawaii this coming summer. He is going to start a new fish tank over there seeing as he cant take his with him. He has talked to me about catching his own reef fish from the ocean. Is this legal? I dont even really know if he could catch them at all.
Legality of catching your own fish?
- Thread starter graham
- Start date
Check with the Fish and Game (or whatever they are called in HI) dpt. Here in Florida, it is legal as long as the fish itself is legal to catch, was caught in a legal manner, and you have the appropriate fishing license. Whatever you keep counts against daily bag limits and overall posession limits.
Usually its legal, unless the fish is undersized or you use an illegal way to catch them. With reef fish it may get a little more complicated.
If it is legal, diving to stock your tank is a lot more satisfying than shopping, and cheaper! I have brought up some very cool things including an Atlantic moray that was over 3 ft. And this way you know they weren't brought up with chemicals, and that they have been treated well.
Tell your friend not to use a slurp gun; it tears up their gills. The ones I caught with a net (and cheesewiz) always did much better, and it is not any harder.
Tell your friend not to use a slurp gun; it tears up their gills. The ones I caught with a net (and cheesewiz) always did much better, and it is not any harder.
From what I understand to do that you have to buy a 50 dollar permit every year and then follow some rather strict rules and guidelines. At least thats what my dad told me.
I think it depends. I know in alot of parts in hawaii it is illegal to take things esp. from the reefs alot of it is protected land and patorlled by scuba diving cops of fish and game. My friend has a sister that lives near one and she was telling me about it when she went snorkling over there. They are really strict on it but I dunno what island that was on.
Hawaii has it's own rules as to what can be taken, how and where, I believe there is a live harvest permit required for aquarium type fish, The local F+G people can clue him in.