Sea World/HSUS are against us now?

[NeuroticAquatics]

Just saw that Sea World and HSUS are "...partnering their efforts to protect coral reefs and the marine species that inhabit them from the commercial collection of wild-caught ornamental fish."

I was torn on the whole Orca thing, but this kinda worries me. Those are two fairly high profile organizations that could get the attention of lawmakers.

I grew up near Mission Bay in San Diego as a child and went to Sea World all the time. My family has had annual passes many of the last ten years. Sea World is largely what got me interested in this hobby 30+ years ago. It kills me, but after reading this, I'm done with them.

 

[hybridazn]

I think it's a ploy by SeaWorld to try and steer some of the negative attention they have been getting.

 

[NeuroticAquatics]

I'm not sure. I think this could upset a whole new set of people (all of us). I've never worried about the obscure groups that grumble about certain corals or fish being banned. I've never felt it would grab attention. This could easily get massive attention.

 

[cmcoker]

They were on public radio in the last week, the big message sea world seems to be putting out is they are no longer breeding whales and will end keeping whales in captivity. Said their focus was going to move to marine rescue and rehab. They didn't talk about ending collection, but who knows.
I quit donating to the HSUS after reading they were financing defense for ecoterrorists, ie burning animal research facilities...

 

[NeuroticAquatics]

The quote I gave was straight from the seaworldcares.com site. They talk about their three new focuses. This, fish and marine mammal protection and the ridiculous one is sustainable seafood being served at the park (which I believe it was already). They are also donating $50million to other rescue and conservation groups over the next five years.

 

[Tegridy Reef]

Just had this convo with my girlfriend with all the bad and negativity of any animal in captivity there is also good things to that happen with saving endangered animals rather u liked the orcas or not the way we were able to communicate with them is pretty amazing