The state is proposing to permit commercial collection of Hawaii's reef fish for aquariums.

For decades, beautiful reef fish have been at the center of an ugly fight over commercial cultivation for the aquarium industry.

"A lot of us feel like this use of native reef fish is abhorrent and immoral," said Mahesh Cleveland, an attorney for Earthjustice Hawaii.

"Since 1998 and probably 2008 to present, there were actually 23 bills that were introduced to ban aquarium fishing. They all died," said Dawn Chang, the Chair of the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

There were also several lawsuits over commercial aquarium fishing. But Chang says now that those lawsuits have been resolved, and the BLNR wants to set guidelines for permitting a limited number of commercial collectors.

"It was to

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