Re: our impact

"Mislav" <m@xxxx> wrote in message news:dehd64$rcu$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> I seriously doubt that the reason of barren reefs is due to the aquarium
> trade. If those fish there are cought by net, without cyanide it can not
> seriously endanger fish population. The number of fish caught for aquarim
> trade is insignificant compared to tons of fish caught for consumation
> every day.

Hi Mislav,

I'm sure that you (and Marc) are correct that the aquarium trade doesn't
contribute too much to the decline in reef health. IMHO: That's not the same
as saying that there's no problem with the trade in wild caught aquarium
specimens.

As you point out, some aquarium fish are caught by humane and efficient
means with low by-catch rates and low collateral damage rates. OTOH: There
are still a fair number of professional collectors out there who use
chemicals to increase their yield and, coincidentally, probably kill more
animals than they collect; to include killing or damaging (which comes to
the same thing) animals other than the target species.

I won't pretend to understand all the intricacies of the aquarium fish trade
but it seems unlikely that anyone can tell how a given fish was originally
caught by the time it has been through a chain of buyers, exporters,
importers, wholesalers, and vendors. [I would be happy to be corrected on
this point!] Further, there are a number of occurrences of wild caught
animals being sold for which there is insufficient husbandry information or
incorrect/incomplete identification. That sort of thing often leads to a
specimen starving or otherwise dieing after awhile in the home aquarium.

OTOH: Captive bred fish are fairly easy to identify since such animals are
virtually always identified in the seller's advertising. It's also far
easier to include correct I.D. and husbandry info for a captive bred animal
since the breeder obviously needs to know that stuff in order to have a
successful operation.

My bottom line is that, insignificant or not, the professional collecting of
wild fish and inverts is fraught with enough problems or potential problems
that we, as consumers, should avoid supporting the trade as much as
possible.

Greenly yours,

TPG


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Relevant Pages

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