I have mixed feelings about attempts to limit collecting. Like many other issues, there is no simple solution.
Yes, I'd like to see more captive breeding, but so far, only a few species have been bread in commercial quantities. Most of them are smaller fish. Being able to breed and raise fish like tangs and angles is sort of the "holy grail", and to my knowledge is not able to be done commercially. For many fish, they still need to be gotten the hard way, by collecting them.
Setting limits is actually a good idea. If we wipe out a species on the reef, we no longer can collect it for our tanks. While I don't want to see the price of yellow tangs go to $100, I also agree with the others about the number that are sold to people not prepared to care for them. We saw a similar thing when "Finding Nemo" came out. Many people with no experience wanted a "nemo" and a "dory", and quality of both species went way down for years. High prices do tend to stop people from making quick purchases.
There are also many species still collected that should just be left in the ocean. Cleaner wrasse comes to mind. They are almost impossible to keep in a home sized tank. I wouldn't mind seeing a ban on fish like this.
I think the best thing we can do is to support regulation of collecting, but make sure the regulations make sense. All to often there are political forces at work that either want no regulation at all or want to shut everything down. We need to keep a balance.
Yes, I'd like to see more captive breeding, but so far, only a few species have been bread in commercial quantities. Most of them are smaller fish. Being able to breed and raise fish like tangs and angles is sort of the "holy grail", and to my knowledge is not able to be done commercially. For many fish, they still need to be gotten the hard way, by collecting them.
Setting limits is actually a good idea. If we wipe out a species on the reef, we no longer can collect it for our tanks. While I don't want to see the price of yellow tangs go to $100, I also agree with the others about the number that are sold to people not prepared to care for them. We saw a similar thing when "Finding Nemo" came out. Many people with no experience wanted a "nemo" and a "dory", and quality of both species went way down for years. High prices do tend to stop people from making quick purchases.
There are also many species still collected that should just be left in the ocean. Cleaner wrasse comes to mind. They are almost impossible to keep in a home sized tank. I wouldn't mind seeing a ban on fish like this.
I think the best thing we can do is to support regulation of collecting, but make sure the regulations make sense. All to often there are political forces at work that either want no regulation at all or want to shut everything down. We need to keep a balance.
