As the Minister of Information and Policy and Strategy advisor to the Hawaiian Kingdom I can state unequivocally and with full authority that the "aquarium industry" is in violation of one of the basic principles of Hawaiian culture, malama aina.

Malama aina has been a traditional socio-cultural practice of Hawaiians and ALL Polynesian peoples for many many thousands of years. Malama aina roughly translates as "nurture and sustain what feeds and provides for us". It means that we must act ethically, sustainably and on a subsistence basis at ALL times whenever we take food or resources from nature,

To do this we take from nature only what we need to sustain ourselves and NOTHING more and we do nothing that might effect the natural balance of all living things.

The "aquarium industry" violates this basic Hawaiian principle because it takes reef fish for monetary profit NOT for subsistence.

ponokeali'i
Minister of Information and
Policy and Strategy Advisor
to The Hawaiian Kingdom