We still have no idea when charter fishing will be allowed to resume in Hawaii. Even if they did allow it right now there wouldn't be much business because of the current 14 day quarantine mandate.
If you fly to Hawaii, you cannot leave your hotel, condo, house except to obtain medical services. You can't even leave to get food. You need to have your food delivered. When this first went into effect, many tourists just ignored it and did what they wanted to but now it's being strictly enforced. Not too many people are willing to jump through that hoop to be in Hawaii and I can't blame them.
Moving forward, the state is looking at Covid 19 testing in order to stop the 14 day quarantine. That seems like the smartest way to do it. Pre-testing before you can even get on a plane is needed. Not after arrival and exposing everyone on the airplane.
I plan on staying in business and I'm finding that I have a pretty big advantage over many to stay financially healthy. The charter fishing business is largely a cash business and because of that, many fishermen hide most or even all of their charter income. I've been called a fool by several of them when I tell them that I pay my taxes on my charter income. Now that programs like Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) are around, I was able to prove my income (schedule C – business income) so now I'm getting sizable weekly checks. It's not as much as I would make fishing but it's enough to keep me financially afloat 'til things get back to normal. The cheaters are having a harder time.
