Marine Fish For Sale

[ScubaFriend]

Hi

I dont know if this is the right section for this to be posted in but here goes anyway and i would like to hear others feedback, whilst looking a underwater creatures on the internet i clicked on a link for what i thought was a site about marine fish .......it was a site that was selling fish.

Now i know a lot of people get a lot of enjoyment from fish tanks but i thought there were some restrictions, i have since searched the internet and found hundreds of different companies sellin fish, coral nudibranchs what is happening surley if we are concerned about the oceans this should have more restrictions on it, some of the items are what i would call rare

 

[archman]

animals from U.S. waters are tightly regulated, stuff collected from little Pacific nations usually aren't. There are trade restrictions in place against many marine organisms, but a lot slips through the cracks (or are simply not restricted). There are whole CLASSES taught on trafficking of exotics; it's a big mess.

 

[LioKai]

Archman is right.
Most US regulations are site specific. Less than 30% of the Kona coast of Hawaii is protected against fish collecting, and that is NOT a federal thing (with the exception of the endagered species act), it is a local regulation.

The worst part:
I attended a meeting of the local and state regulators. There were about a dozen or so "professional collectors" in attendance too. One of the collectors asked only one question over and over and over again, "What is the fine if I am caught violating this rule". I nearly puked. However, most of the collectors are law abidding and follow the rules of paperwork for their catches and such. There are always going to be a few (in every industry) that rot the entire basket of apples.

 

[LioKai]

one more note:
There is a seahorse farm here in Kona. They farm all different kinds of seahorses and dragons. I have had lunch with the owners a few times. They are the beginning of what I hope is a trend in the market. Farm raising of these animals is a better and safer alternative than taking from the wild.

"To win a bloodless war, the battle is long."

 

[fongwee]

Have to agree. However I think most of the marine creatures are actually caught in the Indo-Pacific rather than in US because of poor regulations. Sad thing is can't find much data on this aspect.

Cyanide is increasingly being use to catch aquarium fishes and not only live seafood. With movies like finding Nemo, sales of marine fishes shot up.

Ignorance is often a factor. With a price difference of $1-2 vs $20 for a clownfish for wild catch and farmed fish, it is difficult for the public to accept paying the extra.

 

[archman]

It's also because the marine life in the Indo-Pacific is more colorful, diverse, and above all else, abundant. Face it, except for sponges, Caribbean fauna pales to that of the Pacific. In fact the Caribbean faunas were very nearly "done in" not too far back in the geologic past. They rebounded somewhat, but if you ever compare the size of the Caribbean Basin to that of the Indo-Pacific, you're eyes will pop out at the difference. THAT much more room for speciation and population growth...

 

[Drewpy]

I toyed with the idea of starting a nice reef tank a while back... But when I asked if any of the tropicals were raised or breed in captivity..his answer was very few(clown and one or two others) I quickly changed my tune! It was sad to see all the angels and puffers, etc trapped in such small environs, and knowing that they once had a nice reef all to themselves kind of killed it for me!

 

[fongwee]

It is great that we have people like you who are conscious of the aquarium fish trade. However I think that there are still a lot of people who are ignorant. Do pass the message around.

As for the post on abudance on Indo-Pacific marine life, I agree. However I guess the approach is to put it in perspective especially to ill-informed people. Abudance does not mean bottomless. Demand would create a supply for them.

From what I understand, for every 1 fish that reached the aquarium alive, around 4 died in the process. What a waste. Do spread the message around once again.

 

[mempilot]

From what I understand, for every 1 fish that reached the aquarium alive, around 4 died in the process. What a waste.

While preflighting the outside of the aircraft, I often see the boxes of tropical fish being loaded in the 'pet' bay of our forward cargo hold. Even though this animal bay is climate controlled (runs at the same temperature as the cabin and is pressurized), we have no way to keep it within the fine limits of what these fragile fish can handle. We aren't even told what that number is. My guess is that the fish that survive the transfer are severly shocked. I wouldn't doubt if your numbers are accurate on the survival rate. As long as people out there will buy them, they will continue to die in the bottoms of airplanes.

 

[cpreefguy]

I currently have a reef tank. To avoid from contributing to buying wild caught specimens, I buy fish and coral from www.thelogicalreef.com or a company called ORA which only sell captive bred species.