"dark Hobby" documentary

[D E N I N O]

The people in the Hawaiian government who placed the ban on collection of aquarium fish are totally without a clue as to what is really going on with the fish & the reefs.

So taking fish out of the wild is good for the reef?... Is using cyanide to collect fish good for the reef?

I think we all know it's not.

Wow had not seen. I did check out the cast and crew page and one name was familiar:

Snorkel Bob - sort of a PETA style conservationist (and I do not mean that as a compliment) who has been a very effective PR man for the Hawaiian fishery closure

So part of me wants to see this in a desire to be ethically pure and challenge my own perception of our hobby... and the other part of me assumes I already know what I will see and don’t want them to “get my click.”

Thoughts?

You should watch it with an open mind, they made some very valid criticisms of the hobby and some of it was PETA nonsense.

It's worth watching.

 

[Andreas' Reef]

I’ll most likely forget by may 22 when it’s released .

as hobbyist , we really don’t have much say ...
similar to yellow tangs ,
They were a $20 fish when I started .
they are one of the more expensive fish now .

coral colonies were $30-$50
3/$100 for massive size colonies

now it’s hard to find 1” frags for $30-$50

the aquarium as a hobby will sadly become banned unless we can prove we are not the problem .

I agree, Everything keeps getting more expensive.

 

[James_O]

Not to mention the decimation of reefs due to the warming of the ocean.

 

[John Bolden]

I'll be in the outer banks

 

[PeterC99]

Trying to wrap my head around the sustainably of our hobby?

Forests are replanted so that we can have enough lumber to make homes. Animals are bred for pets and our consumption.

But like everything in life, there are trade offs. This hobby has taught me the incredible balance and sophistication of nature and how delicate life is.

Really come to appreciate this hobby and the complexity of life. What a wonderful gift we have been given!

 

[Fishy Jacket]

For those who believe even a small impact should be acknowledged and are frustrated when others minimize it, I disagree with you...not the doing, just the preaching.

Why? Regardless of subject, when you go down the rabbit hole of any impact is “bad” and just “do your part” thinking you end up with emotional arguments and SOME wanting to decide what is good for everyone else. I point to the silly arguments I see from our politicians today as examples.

Yes, magnitude does matter in any endeavor if you actually seek improvement. I would even argue “do your part” thinking can undermine real progress as it drives complacency in tackling the real and impactful tough choices. Further, pick your subject and it often boils down to whether someone personally benefits/wants to participate...or not.

Therefore, I chose to focus on ideas/actions to measurably improve a situation over time AND the relative impact versus other factors and choices. Yeah, I often participate in “do my part” stuff, but I really do not like others preaching to me about it.

Who wants a cheeseburger? Animal based of course.

 

[Ardeus]

I remember seeing one of those tv shows where they pull pranks and it went like this:

- An unsuspecting lady enters the butcher and orders 2 pounds of beef.

The butcher asks her to wait a moment and disappears behind the basking doors.

You then hear a cow mooing, lots of noise, shouting, a chain saw and finally the butcher returns carrying a large bleeding piece of meat. The lady runs out in horror.


How many of us would be willing to watch 10 fish live their lives in the reef, be caught, put in a bucket, transported to a holding tank, wait a few days, go inside a bag, be shipped out by truck, plane, arrive at a distributor, get to a holding tank and so on, have 9 of them die in along the way so that we could have 1 fish in our tanks?

I was very interested in watching the film, I have seen it and I was very disappointed.

The problem is not so much telling just one side of the story, it's just a film made with a cookie cutter with unimaginative arguments, the hobby could be attacked in a much more efficient way.

A few years ago, after diving hundreds of hours, I decided I no longer wanted to have fish tanks, so I offered my reef tank to a friend.

An year later he told me he had moved the tank to the bathroom. It felt like a punch to the stomach and I asked for the whole thing back.

Fast forward a couple of years, I realised that this climate change thing is much worse than 99.999999% of people realise and that the system has already gathered too much momentum to be stopped.

We normally hear what climate scientists think, but if you want to know how they feel, here's an interesting read:

This is how scientists feel

Climate change is a complex and intimidating threat. You can't see it when you look out your bedroom window. Its impacts are often not immediately noticeable, nor are the benefits of acting against...

www.isthishowyoufeel.com

Hint: many of them have decided not to have kids.

In the past 20 years we've lost what, 50% of all reefs?

The Great Barrier Reef has lost half its corals in the last 20 years

The UNESCO World Heritage site has suffered three mass bleaching events in the last five years as the planet continues to warm.

www.nbcnews.com

Anyone thinking that the other half is going to take longer than that to disappear is under a heavy dose of hopium.

 

[alain Bouchard]

I must say, I disagree with most of your arguments. 1: Scientists is not one person with ultimate knowledge (that would be the job of god). They make hypothesis based on observations. That many scientist agree on an hypothesis does not make it true, it make it more probable. 2: Human activity contribute to climate change, not is 100% percent responsible like you seem to implicate. 3:I do not want to minimize the coral bleaching event, but I do not think having corals in my tank has anything to do with that. I would suspect that dropping millions of gallons of chemical in the sea like when a oil tanker loose it cargo has much more negative effect. 4:We must protect the ecosystems, but life is much more resilient than what catastrophist want to make us believe. Yes, sadly certain type of corals will disappear, but certain will adapt. Same goes for the fishes.

 

[Ardeus]

I won't argue about this subject, just like I don't argue about the temperature at which water boils.

I was just suggesting that reading about their feelings, not their peer reviewed papers, would allow us to get a bit more information about the subject.

 

[dmy535]

I’m offended....

 

[Ardeus]

Btw, it seems the new password to watch the film is thedarkhobby2021

 

[JCM]

It's a hard thing to rationalize. Obviously our hobby is a drop in the bucket compared to the many other problems our oceans face, but it has an impact regardless.

As a hobby we've made great strides in the last 10-20 years though. The percentage of aquacultured corals and fish has skyrocketed.

We should strive for continued advancements while acknowledging that we are having an impact.

Hopefully we as a species decide to tackle the larger problems facing our oceans. It probably won't make anyone money so I'm not holding my breath but the death of our natural reefs is a travesty.

 

[Smarkow]

You should watch it with an open mind, they made some very valid criticisms of the hobby and some of it was PETA nonsense.

You are, of course, correct

 

[Clownfish_Boy]

So taking fish out of the wild is good for the reef?... Is using cyanide to collect fish good for the reef?

I think we all know it's not.

Most certainly the use of nets and vacuum devices should be mandated; cyanide is a very lousy toxic way to catch fish. If I know a fish was caught with cyanide, I won't buy it.... Such fish often do not live long after exposure to the cyanide. I was actually pointing out that the Hawaiian legislature is very ill informed as to the status of the fish populations.

 

[T-J]

A "documentary" filmed with everyone on one side of an argument is not a "documentary".

 

[JCM]

A "documentary" filmed with everyone on one side of an argument is not a "documentary".

I haven't seen it. It being one sided doesn't mean they don't bring up valid points though.

 

[T-J]

I haven't seen it. It being one sided doesn't mean they don't bring up valid points though.

If you're trying to educate people, be fair about it. Present the facts...ALL the facts, not just the facts that support your argument. Then let the person decide for themselves.
Otherwise, it's just propaganda.

 

[dedragon]

Btw, it seems the new password to watch the film is thedarkhobby2021

new password is darkhobby2021 in case anyone wants to actually watch this

 

[JCM]

If you're trying to educate people, be fair about it. Present the facts...ALL the facts, not just the facts that support your argument. Then let the person decide for themselves.
Otherwise, it's just propaganda.

That would be best, I agree. Like I said I haven't seen it, I'm not sure what they're presenting. I don't think we should ignore criticisms about the hobby though.

 

[4FordFamily]

A "documentary" filmed with everyone on one side of an argument is not a "documentary".

I could not have said it better. We've lost sight of this as a society -- on all sides of any discussion.