Natural Reef Communities & the Aquarium Trade

[gunslingersgirl]

Hello fellow reefers! I'm doing a speech on the destruction of coral reef communities due to the aquarium trade for my fundamentals of speech class. One of my goals is to shine a light on how Finding Nemo and other such items in pop culture can lead to an influx of poorly informed people to the hobby, increasing the demand for fish, corals, and nems and the resulting effects on the environment.

I would like to take this opportunity to open a dialogue about the positive and negative effects our hobby has on natural reef communities. What are some things that need to change? Are there any practices that need to be discontinued? How has our community of reefers on Reef 2 Reef and as a whole influenced or contributed to the preservation/conservation efforts?

Please help me in trying to educate the rest of my class on this topic. I know it's a speech class and I could have talked about anything but this is something that is very dear to me (as I know it is to all of you).

Also, if there is anyone qualified to be interviewed as an expert on this topic, please let me know!

 

[Flashy Fins]

The vast majority of the aquarium trade has a minimal impact on reefs. For an accurate presentation, you would be much better off explaining destruction from commercial food fishing.

 

[gunslingersgirl]

That's nice but that's not my topic.

 

[gunslingersgirl]

I understand I would be able to find more information on commercial fishing but it would be difficult to relay this information in a meaningful way to my audience. Aquarium keeping is something personal to me and I believe it would be nice to discuss the impacts of the hobby on the environment and raise awareness on the Finding Nemo issue. I will not be changing topics.

 

[Flashy Fins]

No worries; it's your speech. Some of your questions are not bad ones to ask/discuss, but the topic you mention is, "destruction of coral reef communities due to the aquarium trade." The trade is not what is destroying reefs, so it's a difficult start.

It's tough to read tone on the Internet, but I mean my comments in a friendly way. Some others can chime in and help you out, I'm sure.

 

[stunreefer Verified Sponsor]

Check out these articles in the Skeptical Reefkeeping series on ethics and morals of the hobby. Rich Ross @Thales (and contributors) does a great job of examining the hobby as a whole, IMO.

As @Flashy Fins mentioned, "The vast majority of the aquarium trade has a minimal impact on reefs"... compared to other stressors, I would add. Although the hobby is still a stressor.

There can be good that comes from the industry. Lots of island nations rely on the hobby as their main source of income. Properly collected animals (correct size, sex, amount, etc.) are replenished quickly in the ocean which promotes sustainability.

I think the best route a hobbyist can take is to ensure the long term survival of all their animals. This includes doing their due diligence researching animals prior to purchasing, looking for quality animals versus quantity (lowest price), and doing their best to keep all animals healthy (potentially QT/conditioning, social acclimation, quality food, clean water, etc.).

 

[Sully]

Since the majority of people here don't fall under the "finding nemo" percentage of the impact, you may want to change the way you start to ask for help. When your opening line starts with "destruction of the reefs due to the aquarium trade", you may not find a very helpful crowd.

 

[gunslingersgirl]

While the negative impacts of the hobby aren't nearly as apparent as commercial fishing or climate change, they're still there. I'm seeking to explore this topic no matter how small or large the problem is. While doing preliminary research, I discovered that divers will often squirt cyanide in the area of fish on the reef in order to capture them. This practice harms the reef and upwards of about 75% of fish captured this way die before seeing the inside of a LFS.

 

[stunreefer Verified Sponsor]

While doing preliminary research, I discovered that divers will often squirt cyanide in the area of fish on the reef in order to capture them. This practice harms the reef and upwards of about 75% of fish captured this way die before seeing the inside of a LFS.

Fortunately cyanide fishing has been reduced in most areas, but still exists. This was mainly used by people who meant no harm, but didn't know any better. There was a big movement to train divers in island nations how to collect with nets, and that information continues to spread.

You should explore Ret's website for sustainability related topics as well.

 

[gunslingersgirl]

Since the majority of people here don't fall under the "finding nemo" percentage of the impact, you may want to change the way you start to ask for help. When your opening line starts with "destruction of the reefs due to the aquarium trade", you may not find a very helpful crowd.

That is the topic I turned in to my professor. I would hope one would read the entirety of my post before deciding to lash out.

 

[gunslingersgirl]

Fortunately cyanide fishing has been reduced in most areas, but still exists. This was mainly used by people who meant no harm, but didn't know any better. There was a big movement to train divers in island nations how to collect with nets, and that information continues to spread.

You should explore Ret's website for sustainability related topics as well.

Thank you for this post..."people who meant no harm, but didn't know any better". This is why I chose this topic in the first place. I appreciate all of your comments.

 

[Sully]

That is the topic I turned in to my professor. I would hope one would read the entirety of my post before deciding to lash out.

Lashing out? Lol. Maybe YOU should read my post again. That was called constructive criticism. You might be well versed to learn that as a student since you'll be getting a lot of it.

 

[gunslingersgirl]

Lashing out? Lol. Maybe YOU should read my post again. That was called constructive criticism. You might be well versed to learn that as a student since you'll be getting a lot of it.

Whoa there, tiger. I never accused you of lashing out. Nothing you said was even remotely close to what I would consider lashing out. I made a comment in reply to yours. You said I may not receive much help due to my introduction to the topic. I replied I would hope whoever read it would read all of it before deciding on what to say....

Calm yourself. I'm very well versed in constructive criticism...both in giving and receiving.

 

[Keithcorals]

The hobby is responsible for coral farms that help rebuild reefs and give jobs to people. It's also a good way of creating awareness about coral reefs. I think most people in the hobby would prefer to buy coral and fish that are sustainable and renewable. It's also responsible for most of the captive bred saltwater fish. I think the hobby has the potential to help save the reefs more than destroy them. There are problems and downsides most are due to bad policies not the hobby. Just my two cents. Good luck with your paper and please post it when you're done I'm sure it will an interesting and informative read

 

[Rybren]

Whoa there, tiger. I never accused you of lashing out. Nothing you said was even remotely close to what I would consider lashing out. I made a comment in reply to yours. You said I may not receive much help due to my introduction to the topic. I replied I would hope whoever read it would read all of it before deciding on what to say....

Calm yourself. I'm very well versed in constructive criticism...both in giving and receiving.

To be fair to Sully, I also took your comment to be directed at him. I can't read it any other way.

Good luck with your research and speech. Please try to keep an open and unbiased mindset as you go through the process.

 

[gunslingersgirl]

Last little blurb I'll say about the Sully encounter ... I said "one" not "you".

I am not here to condemn the hobby...I LOVE keeping SW. It's just a question that popped into my mind while brainstorming for a topic for a speech for my very small college classroom. After doing some preliminary research I decided that it was a good topic that I was pretty passionate about.
To give you all an idea about the assignment: There are 4 speeches on one topic of my choosing. I have checked out many unbiased books and found many scholarly articles in several journals concerning the aquarium trade and its effects (both positive and negative) on natural coral reefs. The reason I said "destruction of coral reefs due to the aquarium trade" is because the thesis statement must be problem based.
The third and fourth speeches will include past, on-going, and proposed resolutions to the problem.

This entire process is purely evidence based.

I appreciate those of you who are taking the time to consider my questions and I invite you to tag people who may be able to contribute to the discussion. Also, if anyone has any sources they would like to share on this topic, please post...I will gladly look at them as I did with @stunreefer
(Thank you by the way, I actually am going to use some of what you posted).

Anywho, I'm not trying to rub anyone's gills....I just thought our little community here would be a good source of knowledge on the subject. I must say, however, the reception I've gotten so far is pretty disappointing.

 

[stunreefer Verified Sponsor]

I must say, however, the reception I've gotten so far is pretty disappointing.

This topic is one most people choose to avoid. There's still a notion out there that somehow we are actually helping save the reefs, which as a whole couldn't be further from the truth.

Why isn't this topic talked about more frequently? One would think if hobbyists truly cared about wild reefs, that this topic would lead to long threads with ideas thrown around left and right. As we can see the long-winded threads are spent discussing lighting, filtration, and generally... the new hot coral trend.

Of course I don't expect an idea to come to light on how to save the wild reefs from everything causing it harm. But hobbyists can certainly help minimize our impact on wild reefs by simply supporting retailers, that support wholesalers, who support sustainable collection and mariculture. Simple steps like that would greatly reduce the influence anti-aquarium campaigns have over the general population.

There's some really great info out there on this topic, although I don't think you'll find much of it on any hobby forum

 

[bobman]

The hobby has done a lot of damage to the reefs and that damage continues thats why laws like cites exist although thats covers more than just marine species. Live rock takes years and years to develop out there and think of how much ground is now on land for our use just in the USA alone (dry rock also came from somewhere so dont even say thats why I buy dry rock. It all came from somewhere. Then take a look at why the lion fish our in florida waters in plague proportions. It has no real predator but man and is now taking over our reef. This was done by hobbyist. The hobby has had significant impacts throughout not to the extent of fishing and pollution but dont think it is minimal its not. Sure stuff is now being captive raised but is it really or is that what the LFS told you to make you warm and fuzzy. Even if they get if from somewhere that cultivates livestock how do we know they didnt just import these fish to keep up with demand? Truth is only the fish or coral truly knows where it came from. Every country (with exception to a few) have passed very strict laws on taking livestock from there waters for this hobby. I am sure they didnt do this for nothing.

 

[Betty1964]

I suspect that your timing is off. Right now MACNA is fight ill informed politicians who want to make much of our hobby illegal based on the recommendations of someone with an ax to grind. We are super sensitive to the suggestions that we are less concerned about the environment than our own hobby. We chose propagation over decimation, we chose to create reefs where oil companies have destroyed them, and we actively seek to bring breeding to full viability over harvesting. Many, if not most, of us are environmental activists in our own small ways. I would suggest contacting MACNA and discussing their reef renewal program with them.

 

[bobman]

We do not rebuild reefs. Do we chose propagation over harvesting sure but if its convenient. Do we truly ask how our lfs got this coral or fish we are buying and are we getting an honest answer?