Preserving Hawaiian Coral Reefs and Keeping the Icebox Full
Holomua Marine Initiative: Sustainable Herbivore Management Plan
The State of Hawaiʻi has created a plan to sustainably manage marine herbivores in Hawaiʻi.
Why do we need this plan?
To keep the reefs healthy and to keep the icebox full of fish.
- Herbivorous fishes are some of the most commonly eaten fishes in Hawaiʻi. We need healthy populations of these fishes to feed our communities.
- As coral bleaching is projected to increase in severity and frequency, our reefs are in peril.
- Healthy herbivore populations maintain coral reefs and help aid in recovery after bleaching.
- Hawaiʻi needs to act now to ensure that we will still have abundant fish and healthy reefs for the next generation.
A reef with lots of herbivores (left) vs. a reef with low amounts of herbivores (right).
Illustration showing the key role of herbivore fishes as gardeners of the reef.
A antler coral that is healthy (left) and one that is dead and overgrown with algae (right)
Current Status of Herbivores in Hawaiʻi
Herbivore stocks in Hawaiʻi are depleted compared to levels in the past, especially on the most populated islands.
Herbivorous fishes are important for food AND for the reef.
If there arenʻt enough for both, then there arenʻt enough fishes.
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DAR hosted 16 initial scoping sessions that started in the Fall of 2020 to gather feedback and comments on the management and status of herbivorous fishes and invertebrates. A series of three additional statewide scoping meetings were held in December of 2021 to present the proposed regulations for the Statewide Herbivore Management Strategy. There will still be an opportunity for the public to comment on the final proposal in the future.
On December 8, 2022, DAR requested the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) to approve holding statewide public hearings on the proposed rules amendments on select species of herbivorous fish, including minimum harvest size adjustments for manini and kole and bag limits for uhu and kala. Based on their feedback, DAR has drafted additional rule amendments with accommodations for the commercial fishery for uhu and kala.
Following the August 2023 statewide public hearings, DAR biologists and staff held many meetings to discuss the next steps forward. All feedback and testimony submitted were carefully considered, and a revised proposal was drafted and submitted to BLNR for request of final adoption of rules on December 7-8 th , 2023. The agenda item for this was continued to December 15 th , 2023, in which it was approved by the BLNR. View the full land board submittal HERE to see the final proposed amendments.
In February 2024, the amended rules were signed by the governor and went into effect.
Please sign up for our mailing list below to receive future updates and visit our website for more information and to access all previous scoping summary notes.
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