article in the paper

[h=1]Should we capture fish just too look at them?[/h]2014-06-27 08:43









































A school of yellow tang off the coast of Hawaii. ( Bill Walsh,
AP)

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Honolulu -
The waters off the Hawaii's largest island are home to a half-million
brightly-coloured tropical fish that are scooped up into nets each year and
flown across the globe into aquariums from Berlin to Boston.

Scientists
say the aquarium fishery off the Big Island is among the best managed in the
world, but it has nevertheless become the focus of a fight over whether it's
ever appropriate to remove fish from reefs for people to look at and
enjoy.

Activists have launched a campaign to shut down the buying and
selling of fish for aquariums, saying the practice from Hawaii to the
Philippines is destroying coral reefs.

"In this day and age, where the
ocean faces a crisis, there's absolutely no justification for a fishery for
hobby", said Mike Long of the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which
is spearheading the campaign.

A coalition of fishermen, state regulators
and even local environmentalists say the group should focus its attention
elsewhere, noting comprehensive aquarium fishery regulations and scientific
research that shows fish stocks there are rebounding.

"We don't have a
problem here anymore", said Tina Owens of the local environmental group Lost
Fish Coalition.

Scientists estimate the aquarium trade removes about 30
million fish from reefs around the world. Hawaii accounts for less than 2%,
while the vast majority comes from Indonesia and the Philippines.

Some
fishermen in these countries capture fish by pumping cyanide into the water to
make fish sluggish and easier to catch. The chemical may also harm nearby marine
life, as well as shorten the captured fish's life
span.

Pirates

The Philippines has long prohibited
cyanide fishing and in April banned certain types of fishing gear that destroy
coral reefs and other marine habitat, said Asis Perez, director of the
government's bureau of fisheries and aquatic resources.

Hawaii collectors
use nets to capture fish. Local collectors may sell one yellow tang, the most
commonly caught species on the Big Island's west coast for about $3 or $4. With
middlemen adding costs to store and ship them, the fish may retail for anywhere
between $30 and $60.

Long said Sea Shepherd would take the campaign to
Indonesia and the Philippines as well, but didn't offer details.

The
group is known for using aggressive tactics, even violence to achieve its aims,
as when its members rammed Japanese whaling ships in Antarctica and hurled glass
containers of acid at the vessels.

A federal judge called them
pirates.

Conflict over the aquarium fish industry shot into the limelight
last month when Sea Shepherd activists wearing cameras approached two fish
collectors working underwater in West Hawaii.

One collector swam to one
of the activists and ripped her scuba air regulator out of her mouth. Both the
fish collector and the activist filed complaints against each another.
Prosecutors are reviewing evidence but haven't decided whether to file
charges.

Local activists have long pushed to shut down Hawaii's aquarium
trade.

Robert Wintner, the owner of the Hawaii dive shop chain Snorkel
Bob's and vice president of Sea Shepherd's board, sued the state in 2012, saying
environmental studies should be conducted before collection permits are issued.
A state judge rejected the lawsuit, but the plaintiffs are
appealing.

Long said Sea Shepherd came to Hawaii to help Wintner and
other local activists. He said the group doesn't intend to "harass, attack or
engage an individual fisherman who is trying to put food on the
table".

The group is focusing on filming and documenting to bring
attention to what he called "a very fragile ecosystem out there that is being
depleted for the sole benefit of a multi-billion dollar industry for the home
and business hobbyist".

Fish collectors say the filming isn't harmless,
saying it could scare away fish.

West Hawaii's aquarium fish collecting
rules date to the late 1990s, when the state Legislature, responding to concerns
about declining fish stocks, banned fish collecting along sections of the
coastline.

Today, collecting is prohibited on 35% of the
coast.

Scientific surveys show yellow tang populations have jumped 88% in
these areas since the regulations went into effect, said Brian Tissot, a Humbolt
State University conservation biologist who has studied the fishery for
decades.

- AP

 

Makes sense in the marine industry to prohibit collecting. Reefs take many years to develop. Also you dont hear of ppl really breeding marines. Only marine fish i know was captive bred is clown fish. 30 million fish yoh

 

Remember these are animal rights activists. They believe animals are the moral equivalent of humans and that keeping pets is slavery. I think they hate pet keeping even more than killing animals (judging from the enthusiasm with which they "euthanase" all the healthy cats and dogs they can get their hands on - obviously feeling that death is preferable to "slavery")

They are against many conservation programs as well on the grounds that they involve human intervention. In short, I would take their claims about the environmental impacts of fishkeeping with the same pinch of salt with which I take their claims that milk causes autism and prostate cancer, that humans are not evolved to eat meat, etc. etc. Not that bad practices don't have an impact of course. I'd just rather have other evidence than the propaganda of an animal rights organisation before I believe it. Here's a good article I found on this exact incident. Pretty sure the fish collector was at fault. Doesn't mean that fish collecting should be banned.

 

@Nawaaz, actually it is something in the region of 100 different marine species that have been bred in captivity , even in SA there are guys breeding various clowns,sea horses, gobies , cardinals, basselets, grammas, damsels, shrimps and loads of guys propagate corals.

Regardless of this , the Sea Shepard, PETA and all the other militant environmental groups are so full of them selves and there ideas are so over the top it is actually ridiculous. 30 million may seem like a lot and is probably exaggerated as a propaganda tool, however to put it into perspective off our coast line they collect 155 000 tons of hake a year , year after year , assuming that the hake weigh 1kg each that equates out to 155 million hake a year in 1 country , compared to 30 million small colorful fish collected world wide.

 

Lol maybe my head is to deep in lake tanganyika @soulfly. Just haven't met those breeders.

I hear you...

 

A bit old in the statistics side, but this give's you some idea of what the history is like for marine cultivation in SA and what it would take to start your own.

http://www.nda.agric.za/doaDev/sideMenu/animalAndAquacultureProduction/docs/marine.pdf


Later Ferdie

PS I think we have more permit requirements for cultivating marines these days.