Couple pays $76K in fines for illegal aquarium fishing 
By CHELSEA JENSEN US Source: West Hawaii Today 1/15/2021
CHELSEA JENSEN
A Kealakekua couple has agreed to pay $76,400 in fines for illegally collecting 550 aquarium fish last year off Kawaihae.

Tyron and Kacie Terazono agreed to pay the administrative fines as part of a settlement after dropping their request for a contested case hearing on the matter last May, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
 

Tyron and Kacie Terazono were two of the three people on board a vessel boarded Feb. 20, 2020, after Division of Conservation and Resource Enforcement officers were tipped off to illegal collection activities in West Hawaii Regional Fishery Management Area waters off South Kohala.

When the Terazonos, and the third person, Wayne Newman, returned to Kawaihae, officers conducted a commercial fishing gear and catch inspection of the vessel “Masako.” The inspection reportedly turned up aquarium fishing gear, including a small-mesh net, aboard the vessel, according to the department. The vessel’s hold also contained 550 live fish, all which were returned live to the ocean.

 
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