CNN Article on Hawaiian Fish Trade

[BeltwayBandit]

Enforcement is good, but I forsee higher prices too.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/10/10...o.ap/index.html

[Guest jamjam_77]

Going to Hawaii and being at Hanama Bay and seeing the reefs is what got me into this hobby. Can you imagine though being a fish in a real reef, and then being caught and then to be sold and then being put in a aquarium. I guess were all guilty, makes you really wonder. Sorry but the article makes you wonder. Who posted this article anyways see what you've done making me feel bad.

[BeltwayBandit]

I'm glad I could brighten your day!

 

But think of the flip side, there are more sources of captive bred and raised fish and corals becoming available daily. I alwasy try to get captive raised over wild caught any day. Two reasons. 1. Better survivablity 2. Better for the wild stocks. I know that many species are not available from captive stock, but you do what you can. The industry is getting better, incrementally. It takes conscientious aquarists to demand better. You vote with your $$$ every time you make a purchase. If you ask for captive bred and propagated stock the dealers will have incentive to seek sources of supply for those stocks. It also then helps the captive breeders to experiment with new stocks of marine life. It will take time, but I can see a time in the future where all wild collection will be severly limited if not forbidden. It is far better to encourage the captive propagation now. That way if future wild collection is banned, we will have a much broader base of captive stock to keep the industry alive.

[Guest Larry-T]

That's actually a wire service article and is also in today's Washington Post.

[Caribbean Jake]

You vote with your $$$ every time you make a purchase. If you ask for captive bred and propagated stock the dealers will have incentive to seek sources of supply for those stocks. It also then helps the captive breeders to experiment with new stocks of marine life.

 

That is exactly wright.... and the reason I get aquacultured livestock

[martin]

Going to Hawaii and being at Hanama Bay and seeing the reefs is what got me into this hobby. Can you imagine though being a fish in a real reef, and then being caught and then to be sold and then being put in a aquarium.  I guess were all guilty, makes you really wonder. Sorry but the article makes you wonder. Who posted this article anyways see what you've done making me feel bad.

41601[/snapback]

 

Me too, I was stationed in HI and scuba dove. I still have a moorish idol coffee cup from those days. I guess thats why I have HI fish theme in my tank.

[fishface]

Let try not to strip the oceans bare within our kids lifetimes!

 

The same way the gov is suddenly talking alternative fuels like it's a good idea, and not anti-american to conserve gas....

the main issue with breeding is that is has to be cost effective. Right now collection is cheaper to the distributors, even though up to 70% dies before it reaches us.

 

So even that math is skewed, since captive breeding has a much higher survival rate. Once the cost of import is high enough, it becomes a better idea in peoples minds to buy bred species.

 

True, there are species that are not yet cultured, but for the ones that are, we should only buy those and not wild caught. Seahorses are a great example. The bred ones are healthier, hardier and easier to keep.

 

FF