<Would a list of what is commonly offered from the area be of use? Maybe as a side bar? Perhaps as a separate article.>

Where can you get the best yellow, convict, gold rim among other tangs? How about longnose, saddleback et al. butterflies? Here's a real clue; what area is the only source for the blue line butterflyfish, potters and bandit angels? Answer: Hawaii.

The reasons abound why the fiftieth State is the location of choice for marines that can be gotten there:

1) Careful collection, handling and shipping by locals.

2) The enterprise is closely monitored and controlled by the government.

3) Close proximity to U.S. markets coupled with regular, frequent flights to the mainland (and Japan).

4) Initial high quality and quantity of stocks.

This article will expand on these attributes.

1) Collection; the People & Technique:

Gathering wildlife underwater in Hawaii is one of the last domains of the wildcat independent. It's each person for themselves going off almost daily to favored areas in small skiffs. It fills one with wonder to meet these people; no two are alike, yet they share a spiritual love and respect for the sea, and it's inhabitants. Many are native Hawaiians.

Of all the chains major islands, the bulk of fishes and invertebrates are collected from the Big Island (Hawaii), the groups' namesake, with Oahu making up most of the rest.

And what an island it is! The Big Island is big; @ 4,038 square miles, approximately the size of Connecticut, it is more than twice the size of the rest of the Hawaiian islands combined. The second largest cattle ranch in the United States is on this island; the Parker, with more than two hundred thousand acres.

Hawaii's entire perimeter is surrounded by lava rock and coral reefs, a diver, pet-fish, and collector's paradise.

Back to collecting. Each boat is self-contained including capture and transport gear; nets, "chase poles", holding buckets (more like net type clothes hampers with a spring loaded top), recirculating tanks for the ride back, decompression hang lines with clips, and lots of scuba gear.

A typical collecting day goes something like this; all the tools loaded and gassed up, the boat is launched and motored out to site. Bottom time is optimized best by the use of a dive computer that accurately co-tracks and warns of limits of nitrogen saturation. At the bottom a barrier/mist net is played out in a propitious spot in a rough "J" shape. The transparent barrier nets here are taller than I've ever seen anyplace else; 10-12 feet high. In part this is to accommodate the often uneven and steeply sloped environment, but mostly it's to waylay the various species that would easily ascend/descend over/under shorter nets. In the crook of the "J" a deep pocket is made by placing a stone a few feet up and into the net. Desired fishes are driven into this "J" pocket by a charging diver waving "chase poles". There are several variations of these tools but the most productive versions are bright colored fiberglass of about six foot length.

From the mist net fishes are hand-netted and transferred to hamper-size collection buckets for safe storage and decompression. At the end of each session the diver gathers his/her gear and heads for the surface for a decompression/safety stop. While there and on the boat, biding time blowing off nitrogen, they "make a couple of wraps" every few minutes on the specimen container lines, slowly bringing the buckets topside. Yes, most fishes will get 'the bends' if brought up too quickly.

After all the catching and lifting sorties the fish (& invertebrates) are brought onto the boat which is quickly motored back to dock. Livestock are re-netted to a 'truck tank' and live-hauled to a garage set-up or industrial space. Here they are warehoused, hardened, and consolidated into a saleable lot; optimally a cargo-container full that will be shipped en masse either to a U.S. or Japanese marine wholesaler.

The holding facilities I've seen in Hawaii run the full gamut of sophistication. Some friends (acknowledged below) are typical; they share a large home garage arrangement incorporating a centralized recirculating system with two protein skimmers, a fluidized bed filter, ammonia-ring towers, utilizing natural seawater. Are you surprised there aren't at least two sub-systems for invertebrates or safety? Steve (Keiilina) tells me they don't add much (no need) to the system's water; no copper, etc. They do reduce the specific gravity by adding fresh & generally ship in the same system water.

Hawaiian shipping styro's are called coffin boxes because of their oblong shape, as opposed to the common double Styrofoam containers of most everywhere else. People there know to pack their shipments loosely. ; about 15-20 organisms of medium size per box, less than half the concentration and with twice plus the volume of water of Indo. or the P.I. shipments. And the difference shows. The survivability and vigor of Hawaiian livestock must be experienced first hand to be appreciated. I have seen many one hundred percent live, zero DOA shipments from Hawaii; extremely few from other areas outside the U.S..

(2) It's the Law, Brah:

Live pet-fish collecting is a licensed, inspected enterprise in Hawaii. Boats and facilities are taxed/licensed and regularly examined. Each fish that is caught, shipped or dies is accounted for. Can the same be said for geographic regions not under United States jurisdiction? No.

(3) The Universal Ingredient, Time

How long wild caught livestock is held before shipping is crucial. Many fishes such as surgeons continuously graze the reef during the day. Weeks may pass between capture and air freight before livestock leave the Philippines, days from Hawaii. I could regale you with anecdotes of having my Asian shipments bumped by the airlines for electronics shipments to the U.S., being left on the hot tarmac, etc., but I think you catch my drift. The situation is this simple; the shorter the time in transit, the better the quality of livestock.

(4) Holy Shannon-Wiener Species Diversity Index!

The abundance and diversity of shallow reef life is excellently high. Except for the occasional catastrophic meteorological event, there is a year round supply of catch-able food and ornamental fishes. Further, due to Hawaii's remote placement and ocean currents, about a third of the life there is endemic; found nowhere else.

Some Conclusion:

I can't encourage you enough to keep your eyes open for cheap flights to the Aloha State and to go there. The water is warm and clear year round. Can't keep Reticulated, Ornatissimus Butterflyfishes, Moorish Idols? Tinker's butterfly too pricey to purchase? Go visit them.

In the finite game of pet-fishing, Hawaiian livestock is a winner. They are worth every penny; they live due to better handling, public regulation, shorter flight times, and better initial quality.

Special thanks (Mahalo) to Steve Keiilina of Aquatic Design Systems and Tammy and Eric Rood of Ocean Pacific Tropicals; collectors to wholesalers on the Big Island of Hawaii, for friendship and instruction re their philosophy and way of business life. They may be reached @ 75-300 Aloha Kona Dr., Kailua Kona 96740, 808-329-8569.

1) A laundry basket of yellow tangs Zebrasoma flavescens, kept separate in a holding tub to reduce intraspecific aggression with larger conspecifics, as well as to facilitate clean-up from messy feeding/defecation, and re-capture.

2) Same as one above, but showing the larger individuals underneath.

3 and 4) The man and his boat. Steve Keiilina and the Piilani. Would you go out in the open ocean in this vessel?

5) A real inventive Cargo Container; this one used to ship in Styrofoam boxes and tops, and to "size-up" outgoing orders. Scheduling and shipping by the airlines' standard size boxes is the only way to operate. These aluminum units are light, quickly loaded and fit right into the freight-belly of the plane.

6) Steve in front of the holding systems main filtration units; larger versions of the same gear hobbyists utilize. Protein skimmers, ammonia towers, ozonizer and ultraviolet sterilizer.

7) Wholesalers at rest. Steve, Tammy & Eric Hood at the other side of their home/garage facility.

8) Eric and one of the humungous hamper-with-a-spring-loaded-top catch/holding containers. Compatible new captures are placed in these for safe keeping and decompression stops.