HONOLULU, Hawaii – Jim Lovell, a well known aquarium fish collector in West Hawaii, attended a hearing at the Capitol on Wednesday on House Bill 511, “prohibiting the harassment of persons marine fishing and aquarium fishing.”

The bill received passionate testimony for and against. From Lovell’s perspective, the law is needed to prevent conflict in the ocean over Hawaii’s reefs, where he has felt threatened and harassed by groups like the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which have been keeping a watchful eye on Lovell and others as they harvest from the fishery.