shoreline dunking
The State of HI closes the area from the Diamond Head lighthouse to the ewa (west) end of the Natatorium every odd-numbered year. The area opened the first of this year to the usual craziness so I was curious if the mayhem had subsided. When I checked the area just west of the lighthouse, there was 1 diver in the water and a few fishermen on shore but nothing like the beginning of the year madness.
All the naive fish have been removed from the gene pool after 2 full months of fishing, and the tidepools were missing the large schools of bait fish present during the “off” year, but there were still a few fish left on the reef.
bright red moana
The fish I caught were mainly under the legal size limit or not that desirable although they still were a lot of fun to catch and release. The motley crew included small omilu, large lizardfish, jumbo humuhumuapua’as, Christmas wrasse and this beautiful moana (manybar goatfish).
I don’t believe the 1 year closed period is enough to increase fish population in this area since all it seems to do is give the fish a false sense of security only to be easy prey the following year. An increase in the permanently closed area of Waikiki or a longer closed period would seem to be more effective.
During off years I see choke red weke, mullet, aholes right on the tide pools. But I seen guys come with illegal throw nets and scoop and run. Heard DFG no do nuttin. Dats why no mo fish now.
I too have seen those schools of fish you mentioned, during the off years, and don’t see them now. It pains me that there are people that blatantly break the law and selfishly pillage the fishing resources. I guess all you can do is note the offender’s license number and call the DLNR at 643-DLNR. I’ve heard that DLNR can’t arrest anyone unless they catch the offender in progress but at least you can report the incident so they can keep records of the offenses.