The Responsible Reef Keeper

Max R. Bollinger - 12/07/1997

Good evening (or morning), I would like to thank the people at #reefs for giving me a chance to speak. I would especially like thank DBW for walking me through this. Does the aquarium industry have a major impact on the overall destruction of our coral reef systems? That is the question I have been trying to answer for the past two months.

I have communicated with many different agencies and people around the world. (Sometimes computers can be great) The overall feel I have got is NO. The aquarium industry does not have a major impact. However, having said this, I feel the question is really two fold. Where as the aquarium industry may not constitute a large percentage of species collected, the means in which these species are collected can and most often do have a major impact.

I asked Dr. Clive Wilkinson, Coordinator Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network , if he could give me any statistics on the wild population of corals around the world. His response was; "There are thousands of species, of which only a few are suitable for aquariums. Of these there are thousands of acres of coral reefs around the world with these species." Because of the vast numbers and the inaccessibility, he was unable to give any statistics. This is of course good and reassuring news, but I have to wonder about such claims as the one I read from the Reporters Tip Sheet #2 which states; "Coral reefs are in serious decline globally, especially those near shallow shelves and dense populations."

Where ever Man is, nature cannot be....sigh. The populations that Dr. Wilkinson mentioned must be protected, or they too will be in decline. According to NOAA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the marine aquarium trade, which supplies both large public aquaria and individual hobbyist, currently has a worldwide retail value of approximately $200 million. From this information, I think we can conclude that this is relatively small in comparison with other marine industries such as the food trade. However small the aquarium trade may be, it is still another source that drains the natural resources of our planet. You may find this a harsh statement, but in fact, it is true. For every marine fish that is plopped into our tanks. How many died in the transportation or how many died via cyanide poisoning? We as responsible reef keepers, must purchase fish and coral that were collected using sustainable means.

How many of you have witnessed a store clerk sell a piece of coral to a customer without asking any question about their water quality, lighting requirements, or nutritional needs of said coral? In fact this may be the biggest danger that faces our industry. For this reason, my initial response was to advocate licensing individual hobbyist before they were able to purchase a piece of coral. Although licensing has some merit, I now feel it would be impractical. Bruce Carlson at Waikiki Aquarium University of Hawaii gave me some interesting questions pertaining my proposal. He states: "What government agency would establish and monitor the licensing conditions?" He further states: "Would I need a license to buy dead coral too? If not, then presumably I could kill as much coral as I could obtain and sell it, but I would not be able to keep any of it alive unless I obtained a license."

Furthermore, I received an e-mail from Nancy Daves, CITES coordinator National Marine Fisheries Service. In the letter she states: "The Endangered Species Act, the implementing legislation for CITES, does not require any licenses for the purchase or possession of hard coral, and would require amendment for this change." As you can see, the licensing idea is not really that great, and most likely would not have the desired effect.

Switching my gears a little bit. I wrote to Professor Daphne G. Fautin, Division of Biological Sciences University of Kansas. I asked her for some information pertaining to the over harvesting of Anemones. In her e-mail she describes many concerns not only applying to host anemones, but many species as well. In one concern she states: "Since clownfish require a host anemone to survive in nature, removal of each anemone from nature ipso facto reduces the clownfish population as well (and since the anemone have much greater potential lifespan than the fish, the effect is not only on fish alive now, but those for decades into the future)"

We as reef keepers have an enormous responsibility to our captive organisms, and to the environment from were they came, something many people take too lightly. We must purchase only those critters that were caught using reef friendly means, and whenever possible, please purchase propagated organisms. In addition, I encourage each of you to talk with your LFS about setting up free classes for new marine hobbyist. Thank you for the floor.

Please list major causes of reef destruction around world?

As far as my research has yielded, I think the major one is land development, with pollution being second.

Cyanide catching of fish, how extensive is the practice?

In under developed countries it is a major cause for alarm. We can not really be sure, we are purchasing from good collector.

we have found in rainforest preservation that making the area pay in a non destructive way is the best way to protect it, is not the reef aquaria industry helping, beside tourism doing just that?

I don't quite understand what you mean.

Has there been any studies down on the mortality rate of fish to the aquarist?

when I asked, how much is out there, I got a variety of answers.

Is chlorine used in fish capture? If so, how destructive is it to corals?

I have not heard anyone mention chlorine. cyanide is the main one.

how can we control in the US the sell of Cyanide caught fish and put pressure on LFS selling them ?

Maybe, if we all made it a point to insist on environmentally safe caught animals. The LFS would get the message.

How can we really tell if we are getting cyanide caught fish? I deal with 6-10 wholesales that all say none is used, but how can I really be sure?

This is the problem that we a faced with. We cannot control other countries harvesting technics. CITES only requires that countries have a permit to import or export.

Is anyone putting out rubble to encourage new reef growth ? Any studies done on feasibility of this?

I don't now. I never asked that question.

Any information on anemones, and if their removal from the wild does make an impact on their numbers? i.e. their reproduction rate and life span

Yes, Professor Fautin has stated that anemones can live for centuries.

How can we deal with the reality that LFS rely on mortality to stay in business? If no critters died in hobbyists' care, LFS would soon go out of business.

This is a reality, maybe boycotting the establishment.

The resulting lively discussion can be seen here.