Re: our impact

> 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.
>

You are right there. We as aquarists should do anything we can not to buy
animals caught by chemicals. I know it isn't always easy to tell wheter it's
been caught by cyanide or not. I have bought coral beauty and it did very
fine in my aquarium, ate, was interested in everything but after about two
weeks I found her lying dead on the bottom. I didn't see any indications she
was suffering from anything. My guess is that she was caught by cyanide
'cose all other fish that were in that time with her in aquarim are still
alive and well (2 years ago). So I decided not to buy fish from that store
anymore.
I know that I can't be sure if in other stores fish are caught by cyanide
but having good experience for some time with one LFS gives me peace of
mind.


> 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.

I think that every link in the chain of buyers and importers should do
everything that is in their power not to get cyanide caught fish. Besides
ecology they should also think for their buisness. If they sell poisoned
fish I think it cannot be good (long term) for their buisness

>
> Greenly yours,
>
> TPG
>


.

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