The Snorkel Bob Foundation

The Snorkel Bob Foundation focuses on reef recovery. To that end, the Foundation will oppose finfish harvesting that may cause reef collapse or critical by-catch. It’s all one reef; the Snorkel Bob Foundation recognizes the global impact of any problem on any reef around the world, and will also focus on recovery and protection of whales, monk seals, dolphins and other marine mammals. Offensive vessels shall include long liners, drift netters, whalers and factory ships.

The Snorkel Bob Foundation shall further resist reef fish harvest by any means for commercial sale or display by the aquarium trade. Commercial sale of freeze dried seahorses, blowfish, seashells or corals or any component of the marine curio trade is an assault on reefs worldwide, and may warrant response, as the Foundation is able to provide. We will also defend marine habitat against human effluent where mitigation is still practical.

The Foundation may donate Snorkel Bob Brand masks, fins and snorkels to those organizations engaged in defense of marine habit and/or species.

The Snorkel Bob Foundation provided pivotal efforts toward gill net regulation for the first time ever in Hawaii in 2006. Maui is now 100% free of gill nets by administrative rule. Often called “curtains of death” gill nets killed millions of reef fish, along with sea turtles and monk seals, and are still killing monk seals (endangered), Hawaiian green sea turtles (endangered) and hawksbill turtles (endangered) on other Hawaiian islands and around the world.

The Snorkel Bob Foundation was instrumental in exposing the Hawaii aquarium trade and its devastating attack on Hawaii reefs. The aquarium trade fills 80% of all tanks in the U.S. with Hawaii reef fish, 99% of which die in a year. Those same fish live up to 40 years on the reef. Those fish leave $3-4 each in Hawaii but retail for $40-50, and each fish requires a few hundred dollars more in hardware—tanks, filters, pumps, etc.

The struggle continues. Hawaii aquarium hunters have no limit on their catch, no limit on the number of catchers and no constraint on species. 80% of the fish taken by the aquarium trade are herbivores. The second biggest threat to Hawaii reefs is algae.

The Snorkel Bob Foundation produced Turtlerama, a gala evening of turtle and reef movies, once on each island, so that reef huggers around Hawaii could gather to celebrate what we love, and to mobilize a petition and letter campaign to the Secretary General of the United Nations, urging the ban of North Pacific drift nets and long lines.

A move is afoot to take Hawaiian green sea turtles off the endangered species list so that these turtles may be eaten. This initiative by the National Marine Fisheries “Service” is part of a greater move to reopen the Hawaii long line fishery, so that the turtle and sea bird by-catch kill will be tripled, and many thousands of humans will incur mercury poisoning from eating tainted swordfish. The Snorkel Bob Foundation is focused on that campaign.

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