In 1956 the government let go several fish species in Hawaii that were native to Tahiti. They were the peacock grouper (roi), blue striped snapper (ta’ape) and black tailed snapper (to’ao). They let the fish go in Hawaii to add to the amount of fish the fishermen could catch to eat or for sale. It turned out that these species sometimes carry the ciguatera fish toxin that makes you sick if you eat them! Now fishermen do not catch and eat these species and they are reproducing so quickly that they are taking over the reefs and habitat from our native fish. This is a huge problem for the future of our marine life. I am spear fishing many of these fish and sending them to the University of Hawaii for ciguatera testing with the hopes of finding out how many fish carry the toxin, and which ones we can safely eat. Invasive species are one of the largest problems facing our ability to have good fish in the future for our children to catch. I have taken over 300 roi off the reefs in the Hanalei area already and they are still all over the place. There are more ta’ape now in Hanalei then any native fish species! This is a very big problem that needs to be solved.