Guam Tropical Marine Aquarium Fish Diver/Collectors Wanted

[scubafied]

The only problem is a quick search shows that he has been trying to sell his equipment for a number of years, since 2009 or earlier. And someone inquired about the legitimacy of his company and he is not one of the 2 recognized and licensed fish collectors on the island.

According to GDOAG Fisheries Biologist Brent Tibbatts only two business have permits to export fish and he says Baker's business is not one of the them.
“To be collecting for the aquarium trade you have to get permits from the Government of Guam several different types of permits,” Tibbatts said of the requirements. “Also you have to turn in a collection log monthly. All of that has to be permitted before you're allowed to collect and then we have to inspect the shipment before its exported to make sure that what you're saying you're collecting is actually what you're collecting and nothing is being exported that is illegal.”

I for one don't "Ah wow" at fish in an aquarium. It makes my blood boil, even if they were fished/farmed legally.

 

[agilis]

I keep marine tropical fishes, and have done for longer than most divers here have been alive. I agree some commercial collectors take too much, and damage corals while doing so. I think large scale tropical fish collecting should be ended or closely restricted. So should hook and line angling and commercial net fishing. I'm sure the list of ecologically sensitive posters on this topic obviously must speak out often and eloquently against spearfishermen.

The trend in marine fish keeping in recent years has been buying captive bred fishes and corals. I don't buy commecially collected fishes, capturing the dozen or so fish I usually have in my 90 and 260 gallon aquaria myself, by hand. Most were caught here in NJ when the Gulf Stream brings countless thousands of young tropical (Trunkfish, angelfish, butterfly fish, tangs, spiny puffers, Catalufa Big eyes, file fish, Lookdowns etc.) to inshore rock piles, jetties, and inlet bulkheads. They all die when November brings low temperatures that they can't survive.

I make a few exceptions to the NJ local collecting only rule, most notably the Spotted Drum juvenile I brought back from Panama which is still alive and thriving 4 years later and which looks better than wild specimens its size, and a breeding pair of clownfish collected separately on two different islands as very tiny juveniles. I've had one for 12 years, the other for 14 years.

In any event, divers who are critical of small scale collecting for the aquarium trade, especially for personal use, would be cowardly unethical hypocrites if they did not also condemn spear fisherman and commercial net fisherman. I've noticed that there are a lot of spearfishermen on this board. I have absolutely no problem with their activites. I prefer to kill the fish I eat with a hook and line. Most of the aquarium fish I collect would have had only weeks to live anyway. You can see their corpses littering the sand in some areas here in NJ immediately after the first south west winds bring in cold water. The birds and crabs make short work of them.

The broad distribution of juvenile oceanic life on currents that frequently carry them into places that are completely unsuitable for them is part of a natural process that has been going on for millions of years. The earth is always changing, and so are the oceans. This mass distribution system allows species to gain a foothold in areas that, after a long process of modification, eventually become capable of supporting species which those areas could not have done at an earlier time, permits oceanic life to extend their ranges over long geologic time.

Simple stuff that everone who has gotten their fishes merit badge cert. knows all about.