US Representative Ed Case (HI) has sponsored a bill known as House Resolution 6447, or the Saving Natural Ecosystems and Marine Organisms (NEMO) Act. The legislation was introduced concurrently with the Hawaii State Board of Land and Natural Resources' deliberation on imposing restrictions on reef fish collection.
This isn't the first instance of Case expressing concern over the needs of coral reefs in and around Hawaii. In fact, he made a floor statement about the bill, colloquially referred to as Saving NEMO, on November 17, urging his colleagues to lend their support.
Case stated in a news release on December 15, "Our oceans are indispensable to life on our planet, not only to our global environment but to the billions that are directly or indirectly reliant on its resources. Our oceans in turn rely on the health and diversity of our coral reefs, some of our most diverse ecosystems, with nearly 25 percent of the ocean’s fish dependent on coral reefs for shelter, food and reproduction. And our coral reefs are interdependent with healthy, diverse and sustainable marine flora and fauna."
The news release announcing the new bill highlighted a recent study titled "Evidence for managing herbivores for reef resilience," published by The Royal Society on December 3. The study used data from monitoring programs in Hawaii to measure herbivore biomass and benthic condition over a decade before any significant coral bleaching events. Researchers discovered evidence suggesting that changes in herbivore biomass linked to fishing impact benthic conditions. According to the study's introduction, a variety of management actions such as area-specific fisheries regulations and gear restrictions can enhance parrotfish biomass.
In relation to this research, Case said in the news release announcing the new bill: "Among these are prized ornamental reef fish and coral species highly valued by collectors. While it is possible to collect them at sustainable levels which do not harm the coral reef or broader marine ecosystem, high demand leads too often to unsustainable and destructive collection practices such as overcollection of species overall, overcollection of younger specimens, collection through reef-dredging, gill nets, explosives or poison and harm to specimens leading to excessive deaths in transit. Most of the collection occurs internationally where most of our world’s coral reefs are found, in countries, such as in Southeast Asia, which do not have strong regulation or enforcement regimens against unsustainable or destructive practices. As the largest importer of ornamental reef fish, our country has both responsibility for creating the demand that leads to such practices, and the opportunity to channel that demand to sustainable collection."