Funny, I am PADI certified, work at a Fish store selling "nemo's" and hunt, underwater and out of water. Realizing that my hunting actually funnels more money back to wildlife conservation that most of the "animal-rights activists" that claim to not want to hurt animals then drive their Eddie Baurer edition SUV to the beach wearing leather shoes eating an In-and-Out Burger. So as a response to the topic at hand, I get asked about nemo about 15 times a day. An important note will be that the details of the movie are quite bad and should not be taken as information about the aquarium trade, dentists or brats with braces. "Nemo" was describes as a two bar clown by its scientific name on the trailer website, body movements modeled after a maroon clown and coloring after an occelaris clown. As for talking about the high mortality rate of saltwater fish captured for the aquarium trade, and the methods, some of you are misinformed out there. There are now new standards in effect that protect the environment more, decrease mortality rate and support the sustainability of the catch. The misinformed people are probably talking about the use of cyanide, that was used in the 60's. Now SW fish are captured just as you see in the Movie, with nets and without chemicals. The aquarium industry has developed standards, MAC core standards. It is to the aquarium industries fullest advantage to maintain sustainablity, reduce reef damage in order to reduce loss of inventory and be more profitable. While this may seem like the wrong motive, dual motives or consequences don't affect the positive outcome, whatever the primary motive may be. Wbsites that all of you aquarium haters that think collecting is the ultimate end need to check these links and educate yourselves. I will tell you, some collectors still use archaic methods of destructive collection, this I cannot deny, but due to the high mortality rates are not well liked in the aquarium industry. Whom better to want to save reefs and the environment than those who use it, namely hunters, fisherman and people who use resources from the ocean. If divers, aquarists do not use sustainable methods, it won't be here for us in the future, we aren't stupid. For those that may wish to learn more about things they are judgemental about, and for those with open minds check out these websites outlining the saltwater aquarium trade. You may be suprised at what you can learn.
www.garf.org
www.aquariumcouncil.org
www.orafarm.com
www.seacrop.com (good site about collecting from reefs)
I hope this might shed some light on the current state of the industry and explain how the saltwater trade has changed since the 1960's. Thanks to all who listened, I will step off of my soapbox now.
