Kill Roi Days

[blaiz]

A local diver and avid conservationist here on maui named Darrell Tanaka organizes these events about every month. I believe they are also trying to jump on the cause over on Oahu as well.

Roi or Peacock Grouper (Cephalopholis argus) were introduced in the Hawaiian Islands from Moorea in 1956 as a possible food staple and commercial fishing industry. Unfortunately, as with most introduced species in Hawaii, they have done a lot more harm than good. Since the roi is infamous for causing ciguatera fish poisoning it is no longer sought after as a food staple. Among other factors along with hawaiian waters being a perfect habitat for these fish the roi populations here have ski-rocketed.

Roi are veracious predators who are capable of taking down large prey. Due to the explosion of the roi population other native and endemic fish populations have declined. Though the intruduction of roi to hawaii is not the only factor to our native fish decline it is a substantial one and small group local spearfisherman have signed up to help eradicate this pest from our local waters.

I was fortunate enough to have time to participate in a Kill Roi Day on Saturday, April 19th. The water was clear, calm, and the roi were out in full force. There were about 15 divers, other than myself, of all skill levels. This is a potluck style gathering so everyone brings drinks, snacks, or something to throw on the grill when we get back to the beach.

A total of 110 roi were taken from the reef on Saturday which represents a new "KRD" record for a running total of about 995 rois taken from the leeward side of maui alone.

Due to the fact that in is not safe to eat the roi taken from west maui all specimens are transfered to DAR for an ongoing ciguatera research program.

I will be posting updates on this effort along with dates for up and coming KRDs. If you are interested in participating in a KRD or want to learn more about them post here or check out Hawaii Skin Diver • View forum - Hawaii Spearfishing

Aloha

 

[island_sands]

Hello there

Interesting post. I am currently doing a course with Reef Check, taught by a marine biologist here in the UAE. We have also discussed other issues outside the scope of the course, like red tide, Crown of Thorns invasions, etc.

The Marine Biologist explained to me that some years back people attempted to desperately clean up and remove Crown of Thorns (sea star that eats coral) from the reefs in an attempt to stop them killing the coral en masse. Such epidemias, normally occur for a reason. Like a jellyfish bloom will occur after red tide as they eat the red tide.

She told me that humans should not try to take charge of the ocean’s population as they normally have a way of sorting themselves out.

Grouper, (or hammour as it is known in this region), has actually been flagged up as a species in danger. Stocks are incredibly low here and the fish are small. They are being overfished by fisherman and spearos alike, and the Emirates Diving Association has asked us to spread the word, and don’t buy it in the shops.

http://www.uaeinteract.com/docs/Stronger_regulations_to_preserve_hammour/33093.htm
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081211/PAGETHREE/168660196/1119

It will be interesting to know the outcome and progress of your “Kill Roi Days”.

Keep us posted.

Kind regards,

SLH

 

[blaiz]

I definitely appreciate your point of view. Understand two things. This isnt something that a rogue set of divers decided to do because they "thought" it was the right thing. I do believe Maui's DAR (Department of Aquatic Resources) is behind this effort as well.

The second thing is that this isnt a "natural" infestation. Roi were introduced here in the mid 50s by humans and are there for an "invasive" species. This is only an effort to preserve our native and endemic fish species though I understand it might be too little too late.

As far as your grouper being an endangered species... thats kind of like comparing apples to oranges. Your grouper is a completely different species. Roi are definitely not an endangered species, they are not native to Hawaiian waters and therefor I believe we should make an effort to protect our waters.

 

[island_sands]

Ouch!

Mate, I wasn't criticising. You did mention that the Roi were introduced, which is an example of human interference in the marine environment, whether accidental or intentional. I was just making a comment.

I am genuinely interested in hearing how it goes, and also forwarded to post to our local marine biologist to look at.

I am not comparing apples with oranges, I am merely making a comment on how different continents have different situations of stocks with similar species (grouper, whether the same kind of not, as we have many different kinds here).

Best
SL
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[mishu1984]

blaiz, you could use Roi, or any other fish for that matter, as fertalizer. i dont know how your soil lends itself to growing crops or what not, but in kuwait, we dont get rain as much as hawaii does
when we were planting some trees in our beach house we would take catfish and use them as fertilizer. i believe that some native american indians also used to use the same technique. just a suggestion.

also, as i understand this to be a kill all Roi day, do you impose a bag limit per diver, or is it the more the merrier type of thing?

 

[blaiz]

Ouch!

Mate, I wasn't criticising. You did mention that the Roi were introduced, which is an example of human interference in the marine environment, whether accidental or intentional. I was just making a comment.

I am genuinely interested in hearing how it goes, and also forwarded to post to our local marine biologist to look at.

I am not comparing apples with oranges, I am merely making a comment on how different continents have different situations of stocks with similar species (grouper, whether the same kind of not, as we have many different kinds here).

Best
SL
Posted via Mobile Device

I truly apologize if it sounded like I was attacking you on my post. That wasnt my intention at all. Maybe it was due to a long night of work but now that I read it, it does sound a little hostile:blackeye.

Please dont take it the wrong way, I was merely trying to support my words with a little more information. And like I said I really do appreciate your point of view and like hearing opposing ideas.

My wife is actually a marine scientist as well and is going down to meet up with some people who are also involved with "reef check." Looks like an awesome program. She is hoping to get involved with is somehow as well.

Are you training to be an instructor or trainer?

 

[blaiz]

blaiz, you could use Roi, or any other fish for that matter, as fertalizer. i dont know how your soil lends itself to growing crops or what not, but in kuwait, we dont get rain as much as hawaii does
when we were planting some trees in our beach house we would take catfish and use them as fertilizer. i believe that some native american indians also used to use the same technique. just a suggestion.

also, as i understand this to be a kill all Roi day, do you impose a bag limit per diver, or is it the more the merrier type of thing?

Im not sure what happens to the roi after DAR gets them. I think some go to the University of Hawaii and the rest... thats a good question.

Since Roi are an "invasive" species it is a "more the merrier" type of thing. They are trying to eradicate roi. A bag limit is put on other reef fish however. They make sure that the focus of that many divers in a single area is roi and roi alone. If spearos were out there poking anything and everything that could be devistating to a reef as well.

 

[BennyB]

Sounds like a fantastic initiative Blaiz! Quite reminiscent of the "Snake Whacking Day" episode of the Simpsons, though much better moral ground than whacking snakes to the tunes of Barry White

Would there be any issues with using fish with ciguatera as fertiliser for human crops?

Cheers,
Ben

 

[settingsteel]

Kqoool name Kill Roiroflrofl, thats to bad as it looks like a tasty fish, you should send a few Miamians over there that should put a dent in their population:t...we have quite a few of those "replant" problems here in Florida, and it seems every effort to fix it actually worsens it.

 

[yotd1976]

aloha everybody! my first post here at db

if you search maui roi round up you can find the many articles and video about this event.

the big rois(over 1 lb) does go to UH for Ciguatera Research http://www.fish4science.com/ . their goal is to have a very cost effective way of testing any reef fish for that poison.

the small ones either get sold to the local aquarium for shark food or given free of charge to the local organic framers to make compost.

i think the running total of roi harvested from the Oluwalu Reef area is just over 1100.
multiply that number by the amount of juvenile reef fish each roi can eat every yr(146)= 160,600 juvenile reef fish that now have a better chance to become an adult and spawn on the reef.

the next Maui Kill Roi Day is set for this sunday at oluwalu 7am

if your interested in participating in the next Maui Roi Round-Up Tournament the schedule date is AUG 15,2010

 

[blaiz]

Whats up Yotd? Welcome to deeperblue. Good to see a familiar hawaii guy on this forum.

See you on Sunday.

 

[hanks77]

Hawaii people are clever ... !!

this is a gReat Post !!

 

[Mr. X]

What a shame they are not safe to eat. Being edible makes some invasive species (e.g. American Signal Crays and Chinese Mitten Crabs in the UK) a more attractive proposition for hunting.

 

[spoonman]

Roi is one of the tastiest fish I have eaten & ciguetera seems to be less of a problem in some parts of the island - why visit Vegas when you can eat Roi in Maui?