Not sure if anyone saw this...

[kschweer]

Just got this in an email from my boss. I heard that "snorkel bob" joined up with sea shepherds but did not know that he is Vice President of the organization. The have officially launched their campaign against the aquarium trade on earth day. Here's the article:
http://www.reef2rainforest.com/2013/05/22/sea-shepherd-launches-new-anti-aquarium-campaign/

 

[mnat]

You can follow this page as I am sure a lot of aquarium people will be too. There are a ton of articles out there destroying Snorkel Bob and his terrible science/statistics. It is worrisome but it should push all of us to be better reefers.

 

[SHLUZER]

I dived (or dove) in Hawaii. Haven't seen any remarkable corals that I would want to collect. Dolphins ,pretty fish, turtles, yes. But not the corals.
So I think they are off point there. Regulations and restrictions don't work (remember prohibition?). And who will pay for enforcement of the rules, taxpayers? Though I could see some politicians play this. Much easier that do anything real.

 

[TanksNStuff]

I've been a fan of Sea Shepherd for their work in protecting the whales. I may not have always agreed with their tactics, but the risks they went through to stop the whale killings made it somewhat tollerable considering.

I applaud their new desire to save the worlds reefs, but I don't think ending the home-aquarium industry is the answer... or even possible.

There will always be someone who wants fish/corals, and they will do whatever it takes to get them. Laws will not stop them.

Instead, I feel they should concentrate their efforts on improving the industry. Why not help the captive breeders improve their methods or do research to help find more successful methods to raise live fish and corals? Take some of those donation profits and put them to good use instead of a smear campaign!

"25 million creatures are in the commercial aquarium pipeline at any given moment. Nearly all will die within a year from the point of capture.”

That may be true with regards to wild-caught creatures that go direct to retail... but if they instead went to breeders / aquaculturists who develop proven methods to have them reproduce and sustain enough population for the industry... then we could severely reduce or even eliminate the need to take more from the oceans.

Another problem I see with their campaign is that this affects responsible reef-keepers too. Sure, there are a great deal of people who just join the craze and get a fish tank, fill it up, and everything dies due to their lack of knowledge, experience or willingness to properly care for their tanks. But on the other end of the spectrum, there are many who have learned and research what it takes to be able to successfully keep almost all of their livestock for years! They may lose a fish or coral here or there, but that's the case in the oceans too.

The way I see it, the emphasis should be on improving and increasing the breeding / aquaculture end of the business. I would think that if it was possible to get a specific fish/coral via captive breeding instead of live-caught... 99% of the time the purchaser would prefer the captive breed. It's not only better for the environment, but it also has a better chance of surviving in an aquarium.

The captive breeding industry is a very small percentage in comparison to wild-caught animals. But this is mainly because it's in it's early stages of development still. Give the breeders time and backing to expand and improve... and they will succeed.

Anyway, that's my take on it.

 

[Hawkeye]

Successfully managing the various reefs is a very complicated web of science and opinion. The small part we as reefkeepers can do is to try and steer our purchases to items that are renewable (captive bred clownfish) or plentiful (blue devil damsel anyone?). If captive bred isn't possible, then maricultured items like the way Dr. Mac sells his clams. I feel like better enforcement of existing laws (rather than new ones, or knee-jerk headline news ones like banning everything) would be better received.