Aquarium trade in Hawaii

[rgbmatt]

What could be positive about removing aquarium fish from the reef (except personal gain?) Here on Maui I observe an enormous difference in fish population between protected areas and non-protected.

I don't do it for personal gain. As you surely know, tourism is more lucrative than any type of fishing. I'm thankful that I'm able to earn a living doing what I love, but if I wanted to make a bunch of money I'd have started a dive charter instead of catching fish.

Not everyone is fortunate enough to live near the ocean like us, and even some who do aren't able to get in the water for a variety of reasons, including age or disability. Keeping an aquarium is a way for people to learn about and experience the ocean who otherwise couldn't. This is something I personally feel is valuable to society and I'm happy to support it. Most aquarists are just as passionate as scuba divers are, and you can't say that one group of people has a right to enjoy the ocean and another doesn't.

Obviously, nothing we do in life is without consequence, and if my actions negatively affect the resource (or divers' ability to enjoy the ocean) then something should be done about it. Fishing and dive tourism get along like oil and water, and if somebody catches a lot of bright yellow fish from a popular dive spot, people have every right to get upset. Which is why we make a point of not taking fish from recreational dive sites. I don't know how it is on Maui compared to here, but I suspect the large tour industry combined with a much smaller reef area probably leads to conflict.

Like I said, there's more than enough ocean for everyone to coexist, and like any type of fishing it can be done sustainably. That's what we should work towards, not the hard-line "it must be banned everywhere" approach.

 

[rockjock3]

"Most aquarists are just as passionate as scuba divers "

Hmmm, considering the percentage of divers that ever go on to do more than vacation diving is probably less than 10-15% I would say your thoughts are off a bit. In Hawaii, maybe, because anybody that is trained to dive can access it year round, but when you go to non-coastal areas there are thousands if not millions of divers that hardly dive more than annually for vacation. That my friend is not "most" nor is it passionate. Divers that are that passionate about diving are in the vast minority of divers.

The viewpoint is more representative of what I have seen with aquarists is that they fit right in with real view of scuba divers and their passion. Most aquarists I see, and I know many, are not passionate at all. They simply keep a fishtank because it is cool or blends with their decor. They don't keep one because they "help save the environment", or because "they really care", or because "they want to educate others". If they are not running a public aquarium then they aren't educating/preserving crap. They are simply playing God (as a hobby) with the lives of those fish and just to feel cool. There are a small number that are very passionate about it, but I assure you, those are in the minority just as with scuba divers.

I have been here 4 years and have see the marine life decline in that short period of time. I can only imagine how it is over decades. I just love the commericals on T.V. too that blame the tourist for taking all the fish when it is many locals as well. Crazy when I come out at e-beach, for example, and see locals coming out with ice-chests full of fish, then proceed to rinse them in the showers and throw half of them out because they are too small. Yea, we are all killing your islands. Nope, you're doing yourself.

I do agree it shouldn't be flatly banned everywhere either, but change needs to be made before a tipping point is made that can't recovered from.

 

[cuddlefish]

if I wanted to make a bunch of money I'd have started a dive charter instead of catching fish.

I respect your opinion. However, this one statement caught my attention. I don't know anyone making a bunch of money in the dive charter business.

 

[Shaka Doug]

I heard of an interesting way to collect reef fish and I think it could be less destructive to the environment. Let me share it with you.

Instead of netting live fish and transferring them to tanks to be sorted and sold this one guy has taken a different approach. First, he only does his collecting at night. He will go to an area on the reef and hold a light steady for a while. (Anyone who has done this knows what happens next.) Before long, many mysids and other tiny critters are attracted to and tend to bombard the light. They become quite concentrated, (sometimes to the point that they effectively block much of the light). Once there is sufficient concentration, he scoops up these little pre-juvenile organisms. They are taken to a holding tank and allowed to grow. Before too long, they start to resemble little reef fish and other sea creatures. The desirable reef fish are then removed and rasied to a point where they are sellable. I don't know what they do with the undesirables but there is probably some significant die off in this process.

I think it's kind of a novel approach. Very little actual impact on the reef. Most of these 'larvae' would die or be eaten before reaching even a juvenile stage anyway. The ones that are captured and survive then grow up in a tank setting and the whole transfer/sale/mortality process is less stressful for them. You can also end up with an amazing assortment of reef fish that might never be collectable in the traditional netting method. It is very interesting to me and I can imagine the wonder as you would see these little fish mature into what they are. Yes, it might take a while to discover that you actually got yourself a yellow tang or a flame angelfish or other highly sought out fish but there are literally squizillions of fish eggs that get fertilized and just drift around trying to survive and grow to maturity. We all know, most never make it in the wild. That's why nature has provided fish with a reproductive method of mass reproduction with relatively small survival rates.

Would this work for you folks who want marine aquarium fish? It certainly is a different approach to fish farming and although may not be perfect, with practice and technology it may be a viable way to sustain the industry.

This method could quite possibly be used as a way of reintroducing fish species to areas where their populations have been declining as well. It may even be applicable to large public aquariums. They already know what species are in their huge tanks. Some of those fish must be reproducing but at what survival rate? Maybe they could do the whole night light thing in the aquariums and help to keep their populations more sustainable without going out and getting wild fish to replace the dying ones.

 

[Lopaka]

Interesting. How successful is he at raising them? Seems like a lot of TLC and fish knowledge needed to get them to grow to adults.

 

[scubadada]

Hi rgbmatt,

You seem very knowledgable and caring about your profession. I hope you can assist in coming up with a viable solution, for all of us.

Good diving, Craig

 

[friscuba]

I have been here 4 years and have see the marine life decline in that short period of time. I can only imagine how it is over decades.

Is it really that bad on Oahu?

I'd like to see some current studies, at least here on the Big Island. I may not share other local divers opinions, but I'm thinking the last four years it's improving somewhat where I dive. I'm seeing Flame angels at most sites, have 6 stashed at one, we're seeing frogfish regularly after having years of limited sightings, we've seen 3 lionfish in the last few weeks, which is a nice change of pace... seen one or two the last couple of years after about 4-5 years without running into them at our regular dive sites at all, our boat's seen more leaf scorpions this last year than we'd been seeing in a while. I don't count, but it's always nice to run across more "oddballs", many of which are popular in aquariums.

A decade and a half back I was associated with the group putting on the fireworks display in the community I lived in. I know for a fact that they'd tripled the size of the show in a 5 year span, but listened to several people tell me how it had gone down in size over that period of time... back in the good 'ol days things were always bigger and better I guess.

I'll totally buy into the argument that decades ago it was much better, but recently I can't say I've noticed any kind of decline where I'm diving.

 

[Sloth]

My brother owns a reef aquarium business on the mainland. it was pretty disgusting seeing how many invertebrates and fish died in shipment when i worked there long time ago. Fish loss probably was at 5% where as invertebrate loss was closer to 10%. Thankfully their is a trend in the aquarium industry to purchase and sale coral, fish and invertebrates grown in captivity. It's all Nemo's fault This trend will more then likely continue so if you are worried about your livelihood, maybe look into setting up breeding ponds or tanks. A hell of a lot of initial investment and work but it's truly sustainable and will keep us tree huggers away

Personally I think the reduction in tropical fish on Oahu has more to do with years and years of industrial and urban run off then anything else but when ecosystems are as out of whack as Oahu reefs appear to be every little thing has a negative impact including what should be a sustainable industry such as fish collecting.

 

[rockjock3]

Is it really that bad on Oahu?

I'd like to see some current studies, at least here on the Big Island. I may not share other local divers opinions, but I'm thinking the last four years it's improving somewhat where I dive. I'm seeing Flame angels at most sites, have 6 stashed at one, we're seeing frogfish regularly after having years of limited sightings, we've seen 3 lionfish in the last few weeks, which is a nice change of pace... seen one or two the last couple of years after about 4-5 years without running into them at our regular dive sites at all, our boat's seen more leaf scorpions this last year than we'd been seeing in a while. I don't count, but it's always nice to run across more "oddballs", many of which are popular in aquariums.

A decade and a half back I was associated with the group putting on the fireworks display in the community I lived in. I know for a fact that they'd tripled the size of the show in a 5 year span, but listened to several people tell me how it had gone down in size over that period of time... back in the good 'ol days things were always bigger and better I guess.

I'll totally buy into the argument that decades ago it was much better, but recently I can't say I've noticed any kind of decline where I'm diving.

Yep, it is that bad here. I remember when I first arrived here E-beach (kahe point beach park). When you dove there it was wall-wall fish. You couldn't hardly see through the clouds of fish. It was really that heavy. Now it probably isn't half and more like about 1/3 of the fish that used to be there. This is a place where the tour operators feed the fish for the snorkelers.

On the south shore along Lanai lookout and in Hanauma Bay the fish are probably 2/3 to 1/2 what they were when I first arrived 4 years ago. Hanauma Bay is a protected area.

North shore has also decreased along all the dive sites from Haliewa to Sharks cove.

I have 500-600 dives on Oahu in my time here and can only speak from observations, not numbers. These are not a numerous as some people that have thousands of dives in the same time, but my dives are all DIVING dives and not TEACHING dives so I am actually observing the environment and not my students. I can also only say the numbers are less, but not from what. I know it is not all from one source. I am sure changes in environment, aquarium collection, as well as overfishing all play a part. The problem is though that those last two can be controlled much easier than the environment and have a much quicker impact.