Is there a moral high ground when you are a reefer?
I mean, we are in a hobby where it is simply an accepted practice to remove wild animals from their native environment and keep them in artificial systems. Critics will lambast us, saying that we are raping the environment and callously dooming precious wild animals to death in inadequately-maintained closed systems. They'll heap us right up there with the oil companies, whalers, blast-fisherman, and loggers as a threat to wild populations.
That kind of sucks, huh? Totally unfair.
The reality is that yes, we do take some animals from the wild reefs. Certain people in our industry do engage in practices that are illegal, wether knowingly or unknowingly, while trying to make a profit. These "bad actors" tend to become the "poster children" for the anti-aquarium hobby crowd, and serve as rallying points for those who would just as soon have our hobby evaporate from the face of the earth.
The reefs are under siege, and so is our hobby.
The sad thing is that the outside world DOESN'T see us engaging in "self-policing" our hobby and industry. They don't see the many, many reef tanks populated with nothing but captive propagated corals and tank-rasied fishes. They can't hear us gently correcting our own when they engage in non-sustainable, potentially damaging practices. The never hear about the tireless work of hundreds of coral propagators across the US, and for that matter- aquaculturists in the Indo Pacific- who do great work that will, in time, significantly reduce the number of corals taken from the wild.
It never saw a real reef...but who outside of the hobby knows that?
I doubt that anyone outside of the reef hobby has ever even heard of a "frag swap", let alone, knows what the term "frag" means (outside of some war movie dialogue!). Even more sad is the fact that a lot of people (including some who are waving the flag against our hobby) have no clue that a coral is not a "plant."
Even sadder still is that we, as a group, have done relatively little to convince people outside of the hobby that we are the very group of people who you want protecting the reefs. The only voices being heard in the mainstream media are the "haters", self-appointed guardians of the environment. Ironically, reefers in general are some of the most conscientious, protective, devoted, and compassionate stewards of the wild reefs that you will ever encounter. Our love for the reefs is far more powerful, our resolve far more clear, and our spirit far more resilient than the "haters" who seek to thwart our hobby can even comprehend. As reefers, we understand the delicate nature of the life forms we keep, and the environments from which they come way better than the majority of the people who seek to end our hobby ever could.
But, we're doing a pretty lousy job at communicating this to the outside world. Look, I'm just telling it like it is. When I get an earful from an ignorant seat mate on an airplane about how the aquarium hobby is "overfishing" or "destroying" natural reefs, I have to do more than just cringe. We all do.
We have to set the record straight. We need to let the world know that the reef aquarium hobby is filled with people who are doing their part every day- wether it's just making a few frags, or supporting a school setting up its first reef tank, breeding clownfishes, or even just taking the time to save some snails from your filter..
We care. We understand that the reefs are in peril. We know that there are real threats to some of the very animals that we keep in our reef aquariums.
We get it.
So, as part of my personal pledge to put my money where my mouth is, I'm going to make a great effort to help educate (or should I say, "reeducate") those outside of our hobby community that need to understand the good things that we really do. I'm sending some articles to publications outside of our industry to help spread our message.
Let's all make the effort in 2014 to share all of the good stuff we do every day in this hobby with those that just don't know the whole story. We can do this. And together, we as reefers can help keep our hobby vibrant, alive, while at the same time protecting the reef environments that we love so much.
Happy New Year!
Let's make it a good one.
Stay wet.
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
I mean, we are in a hobby where it is simply an accepted practice to remove wild animals from their native environment and keep them in artificial systems. Critics will lambast us, saying that we are raping the environment and callously dooming precious wild animals to death in inadequately-maintained closed systems. They'll heap us right up there with the oil companies, whalers, blast-fisherman, and loggers as a threat to wild populations.
That kind of sucks, huh? Totally unfair.
The reality is that yes, we do take some animals from the wild reefs. Certain people in our industry do engage in practices that are illegal, wether knowingly or unknowingly, while trying to make a profit. These "bad actors" tend to become the "poster children" for the anti-aquarium hobby crowd, and serve as rallying points for those who would just as soon have our hobby evaporate from the face of the earth.
The reefs are under siege, and so is our hobby.
The sad thing is that the outside world DOESN'T see us engaging in "self-policing" our hobby and industry. They don't see the many, many reef tanks populated with nothing but captive propagated corals and tank-rasied fishes. They can't hear us gently correcting our own when they engage in non-sustainable, potentially damaging practices. The never hear about the tireless work of hundreds of coral propagators across the US, and for that matter- aquaculturists in the Indo Pacific- who do great work that will, in time, significantly reduce the number of corals taken from the wild.
It never saw a real reef...but who outside of the hobby knows that?
I doubt that anyone outside of the reef hobby has ever even heard of a "frag swap", let alone, knows what the term "frag" means (outside of some war movie dialogue!). Even more sad is the fact that a lot of people (including some who are waving the flag against our hobby) have no clue that a coral is not a "plant."
Even sadder still is that we, as a group, have done relatively little to convince people outside of the hobby that we are the very group of people who you want protecting the reefs. The only voices being heard in the mainstream media are the "haters", self-appointed guardians of the environment. Ironically, reefers in general are some of the most conscientious, protective, devoted, and compassionate stewards of the wild reefs that you will ever encounter. Our love for the reefs is far more powerful, our resolve far more clear, and our spirit far more resilient than the "haters" who seek to thwart our hobby can even comprehend. As reefers, we understand the delicate nature of the life forms we keep, and the environments from which they come way better than the majority of the people who seek to end our hobby ever could.
But, we're doing a pretty lousy job at communicating this to the outside world. Look, I'm just telling it like it is. When I get an earful from an ignorant seat mate on an airplane about how the aquarium hobby is "overfishing" or "destroying" natural reefs, I have to do more than just cringe. We all do.
We have to set the record straight. We need to let the world know that the reef aquarium hobby is filled with people who are doing their part every day- wether it's just making a few frags, or supporting a school setting up its first reef tank, breeding clownfishes, or even just taking the time to save some snails from your filter..
We care. We understand that the reefs are in peril. We know that there are real threats to some of the very animals that we keep in our reef aquariums.
We get it.
So, as part of my personal pledge to put my money where my mouth is, I'm going to make a great effort to help educate (or should I say, "reeducate") those outside of our hobby community that need to understand the good things that we really do. I'm sending some articles to publications outside of our industry to help spread our message.
Let's all make the effort in 2014 to share all of the good stuff we do every day in this hobby with those that just don't know the whole story. We can do this. And together, we as reefers can help keep our hobby vibrant, alive, while at the same time protecting the reef environments that we love so much.
Happy New Year!
Let's make it a good one.
Stay wet.
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
