Important info for those considering parrot fish

[Fishmas]

Read link from todays Guardian

Limiting catch of one type of fish could help save coral reefs, research finds

http://gu.com/p/4t4v4?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Messaging

 

[ThRoewer]

Not a fish on my list and I don't see them often in stores either.
But you find them quite regularly on fish markets in their native distribution.
So I don't think this is targeting the aquarium trade, but rather the fishing industry.

 

[Fishmas]

The small ones will be big ones.

Maybe the people catching these things eat the big ones and sell the little ones for the hobby.

I am conflicted with the keeping of ocean fish when populations low. If the parrot fish has a role to play in saving reefs leave them there to help revive the ecosystems that are in danger.

I have some ocean caught fish. Dont want to sound better then other reef keepers but this is an interesting hypotheses and a rather simple conservation measure to take.

Dont buy the fish to eat or reef and see if things change. They sound like trouble makers anyway. I dont need something that feels the need to nibble on everything to see if edible.

 

[ThRoewer]

What is taken on fish from the wild for aquariums - as much as it may be - is not even registering on the scale when compared to what is taken for human consumption. It isn't even measured in numbers of fish but by mass in thousands of tons.

These parrot fish are primarily caught for human food, not for fish tanks, and the article specifies that pretty clearly.

 

[Deinonych]

What is taken on fish from the wild for aquariums - as much as it may be - is not even registering on the scale when compared to what is taken for human consumption. It isn't even measured in numbers of fish but by mass in thousands of tons.

This.

 

[snorvich]

What is taken on fish from the wild for aquariums - as much as it may be - is not even registering on the scale when compared to what is taken for human consumption. It isn't even measured in numbers of fish but by mass in thousands of tons.

These parrot fish are primarily caught for human food, not for fish tanks, and the article specifies that pretty clearly.

Exactly. As a diver, you can always tell when an area has been over fished.

 

[ThRoewer]

Exactly. As a diver, you can always tell when an area has been over fished.

True, but you would have to be a very old diver to actually have a true baseline of what a virgin area looks like - the oceans are heavily overfished and polluted since WWII, in some areas even before that.
Even what still looks intact today is only a shadow of its former glory.

 

[snorvich]

True, but you would have to be a very old diver to actually have a true baseline of what a virgin area looks like - the oceans are heavily overfished and polluted since WWII, in some areas even before that.
Even what still looks intact today is only a shadow of its former glory.

Having dived in areas that are still pristine, (and being old) I can tell the difference.