Some sarcasm, yeah, but I have been surprised by some of the people who are anti-conservation. I would just assume that anyone working with animals would be passionate about conservation of wildlife and natural ecosystems.
And
Sea-Sheperd is founded by the cofounder of Greenpeace! And they do many good things. As does
Greenpeace.
I was just working from the assumption that people who love animals also love conservation and maintaining natural ecosystems. I was unpleasantly surprised to find out that some people who love animals do actually veto conservation efforts.
Completely banning aquarium collections in Hawaii is not a conservation effort, it is a political move. While I do agree that Sea-Shepherd and Greenpeace have done great things for conservation, bringing aggressive tactics used to preserve animals like Panda Bears and Bengal Tigers, to coral reef fishes, is not the answer.
As mentioned before in other threads here in Reef Central (and in many other aquarium forums), the aquarium trade in Hawaii is one of the best (if not THE BEST) regulated in the world. All fish that are captured are counted and their destinations recorded. There are many marine reserves at the Big Island (main aquarium collecting site in Hawaii) and other islands. On top of this, high volume collection is more or less limited to the Big Island, which represents less than 10% of the geographic range of most Hawaiian fishes. So, in summary you have:
1) A well regulated industry, where everything is accounted for;
2) Species that are protected in more than 80% of their ranges;
3) Educated aquarium collectors that know that if they drive species to extinction, their livelihood will go extinct too; and,
4) The most selective fish collecting technique known to man (hand and barrier nets).
Taking into account all 4 observations above, there is absolutely no need to further protect Hawaiian fishes.
Now, if you think NOTHING should be extracted from nature you should start rethinking your life style. The mere fact of having a computer connected to the internet contradicts that, so you shouldn't be reading this to begin with :lol2: .
