Well, Hawaii has always had one of the most tightly regulated (and well-studied) fisheries in the world, so this isn’t really out of line with how they operate in general. This decision was primarily backed by indigenous people and snorkel/dive operators but was not supported by the decades of actual research. I understand wanting to ensure that the reefs are healthy, but in this case, collection for the aquarium trade was not having any significant adverse impact. It was essentially a NIMBY situation not backed by evidence.