Abundant fish lists anywhere?

[Reeferon]

Are there any lists that have what fish are abundant in particular regions of the globe?
So that someone can make ecologically smart decisions when purchasing ornamental fish.

**on a side note:
It bothers me to see reef builders and other sites posting rare fish species in a way that glorifies those who have them.
Rare fish should be kept in the ocean so that we don't endanger that species' existence!

 

[JHemdal]

Reeferon,

One way to reduce the environmental impact of your aquarium hobby is to preferentially acquire captive raised animals. I don't know of any comprehensive way to learn what species are common in what areas. Part of this can be inferred by pricing (but not always) and a rise in price for a given area often reflects a decrease in availablility due to over-collection (such as seen in carpet anemones and hepatus tangs).
In regards to the "rare fish syndrome" - each rare fish has a different story; some only live in isolated regions (but may be common there). Others are relatively uncommon, but found over a huge range. Some are rare at normal diving depths, but hugely common in deeper water. And then some are rare and localized. It is the latter that can be an issue. I also worry about the "collector" mentality, driving up the prices and causing some people to make poor choices (my tank is full, but they just announced that new rare fish and I MUST buy it before somebody else does). Hopefully it doesn't get to the point of tulipmania of the 1600's.

Jay

 

[philosophile]

I agree, if you want to be sustainable, don't get your livestock wild caught at all. Aquacultured is the way to go. This includes corals.

 

[RGBMatt]

Are there any lists that have what fish are abundant in particular regions of the globe?
So that someone can make ecologically smart decisions when purchasing ornamental fish.

Just about all of our fish are abundant in their natural habitat, so this shouldn't be the first thing to worry about. Small reef fish are on the bottom of the food chain, typically are very prolific, and keep coming back in numbers year after year. The aquarium trade has little effect on their populations, with few exceptions. The real problems come from destructive fishing techniques like cyanide and coral breaking - hurting the reef means that the fish won't come back until the reef recovers.

A better way to ensure that you're making responsible decisions is to buy fish from places where sustainable collection practices occur. Anywhere in a developed country (especially Australia, Hawaii, and Florida) is a safe bet.

It bothers me to see reef builders and other sites posting rare fish species in a way that glorifies those who have them.
Rare fish should be kept in the ocean so that we don't endanger that species' existence!

A "rare fish" doesn't mean that the fish is endangered - it only means that it's difficult to catch. Usually this is because it lives in deep water or comes from some remote area that's hard to access. In fact, with most of these "rare" fish, overfishing is basically impossible because they're naturally protected from humans by their inaccessibility. Buying these fish may be a more responsible choice than buying cheap "common" fish.

For instance, the tinker's butterfly is abundant in deep water (below 150'), but is caught in small numbers because few divers are willing to take the effort & accept the risk of catching them. Because it's valuable, the collectors take extremely good care of the fish and there is practically zero mortality from the ocean to your tank. There is absolutely no chance of it being depleted, because most of its population is out of reach of humans.

Contrast this with the blue "dory" tang, which is cheap and abundant, but comes from the worst cyanide-using countries on earth. There are also stories of divers breaking off branching coral colonies to catch them. Since it's a cheap fish from a 3rd world country, husbandry is not always the best and there's a good chance that many of them die before reaching the pet store. The species is abundant enough that it will probably never be at risk of extinction, but there's a whole lot of collateral damage along the way.

 

[cortez marine]

RGB is so right.
The rarest of fishes on a Philippine reef is a blue tang. The average hobbyists fueled the hunt for them so aggressively that they have been wiped out thru most of their range there.
And, the coral damage was so great that they cannot return.
Now, they are rare there, made so by...er...everybody. Everybody wanted blue tangs for so long from the Philippines in the 60's. 70's, 80's and 90's .
This focused demand created the single greatest wipeout of any and all aquarium fish anywhere.
Rare fish hobbyists do not fuel the destruction of hundreds and thousands of coral heads to catch their relatively few fish. The average hobbyist sure does though!
Nothing in this trade is so appalling as that which systematicaly compromises vital, critical habitat and yet this issue has lost attention as new flavors and lesser notions come into vogue.

Steve

 

[PeterIMA]

EASTI obtained a grant from Aus-AID to rear blue tangs from post-larvae in Mindanao (southern Philippines). We learned that the only blue tangs being exported were being caught with cyanide in the Sprately Islands (area disputed by 5 countries).

Ferdinand Cruz shipped blue-tang post-larvae from Indonesia to support the project. EASTI was able to rear the post-larvae to adult size in cages in association with the community. These fish were sold to an exporter. But, without a regular supply of post-larvae the project was terminated.

If the post-larvae or the adult fish (reared from post-larvae) were used to repopulate healthy reefs (in marine reserves) it may be possible to re-establish breeding populations of blue tangs in selected areas. But, there is presently no funding for this effort.

Peter Rubec

 

[PeterIMA]

LESSONS LEARNED FROM REARING BLUE TANG, Paracanthurus hepatus,
AS A MICRO-ENTERPRISE FOR A COASTAL COMMUNITY IN MINDANAO

Presentation at Marine Ornamentals '08 Conference held in Lake Bueno Vista, Florida

Jose Tomas M. Cabagay* and Ferdinand P. Cruz

East Asian Seas And Terrestrial Initiatives, Deocampo Apartments-Unit 1, Umali Subdivision, Los Banos City, Philippines 4030, tomcabagay@gmail.com


One of the most important species for the marine ornamental (MO) fish trade is the blue tang. They are usually caught using sodium cyanide. The destruction or coral reef habitats from cyanide fishing and other factors, and from over-collecting have caused the disappearance of the species in traditional collecting areas near-shore throughout the Philippines. Historically, the supply of juvenile blue tangs dwindled in July making it difficult for MO fish exporters to have an ample supply of the right size of blue tangs during the peak period of demand from October to May of the following year. Large quantities are still being caught using cyanide in international waters at Scarboro Shoal, the Spratleys, and White Island.

Captive rearing of blue tangs was evaluated as an alternative livelihood. A pilot project was conducted with the fisherfolk organization situated in the Municipality of Pana-on, in the Province of Misamis Occidental, Mindano. The goals of the project were to assess the feasibility of rearing post-larval blue tangs to marketable size, and to assess the socio-economics of supplying captive-reared fish to exporters.


The initial stock of net-caught post-larval blue tangs came from Indonesia through a supply arrangement with the village of Les. Trainings in fish husbandry, packing, shipping, and marketing conducted by EASTI with 20 members of the people’s organization in Pana-on resulted in 3.18% mortality in floating cages and 0.51% mortality in shipments to the exporter in Manila. The fish were sold for P300 each. The cost of the post-larvae represented 65% of the selling price, feeds (4.56%), overhead (2.2%), and selling expenses (2.6%). The net income to the fisherfolk per fish was 25.67% of the sale price.

The constraints to full-scale commercialization of the project are now being addressed. Among these are: a) decreasing the cost of post-larvae by buying them directly from Filipino net collectors; b) improving growth rates through better feeds and feeding; c) enhancing the fish handling and packing skills of fisherfolk; and d) direct export marketing to provide more added-value to the community. Domestic marketing to exporters has some limitations. Most exporters do not differentiate between net-caught/captive-reared and cyanide-caught blue tangs and still peg their buying prices to those paid for small wild-caught blue tangs.

 

[lordofthereef]

It bothers me to see reef builders and other sites posting rare fish species in a way that glorifies those who have them.
Rare fish should be kept in the ocean so that we don't endanger that species' existence!

Just thought I would add, rarity (as far as in this hobby) doesn't necessarily mean scarcity in the wild. A lot of times it relates to the difficulty of collection or even a more rare color pattern/morph (which would actually make life in the wild potentially more difficult... though this is not to say we are "saving" this animal). Of course animals that are able to be tank bred/raised are less scarce. Frankly, IMO, if we are on this subject, the only truly responsible decision is to go purely tank bred. This of course limits your choices drastically, though breeders are making a lot of headway as of late. I do hope to see this continue!