<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9557639#post9557639 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by greenbean36191
I'm not saying that it makes no difference, but it makes very little. Less demand doesn't equal less collection because we aren't the only ones using the reef. The animals and rock are also being collected for construction, the live fish (food) market, curios, muro ami, herbal medicines, etc. Even if the hobby completely stopped collecting from the reef, our share of the impact would only get shifted to one of the other users of the reef. Regardless of the state of hobby collection, the collectors still have to make money to stay alive and in a lot of areas, collecting from the reef is one of their only options. They could collect a handful of live corals and make $4 a week or they can collect a dumptruck full for use in construction to make the same amount. They could collect 100 or so fish for the hobby, or they could do muro ami and crush hundreds of corals and kill thousands of fish for the same amount of money. Compared to other uses for the reef, collection for the hobby is extremely high return for the amount of damage we do. While reducing our demand does reduce our impact, it only increases the impact of the other users.
Fragging at home does nothing to encourage responsible use of the reef. Promoting it as a solution only undermines the progress of coral farms that really can make a difference. If there's no demand for farm raised corals, no one is going to build farms. Yes, home fragging does have a place in the hobby, but not a conservation role.
That's quite the slippery slope you've created... If the reef cannot be used to make the revenue they won't keep destroying it. They're not going to keep collecting "dumptrucks" full of rock if their is no construction needs for it. Are you saying just because the revenue from the fish trade goes down there will be more demand for rock in the construction in that area? It just doesn't follow.
I also fail to see how it would encourage more muro ami. Even if it did that's no reason to let other problems in this industry go unchecked. It's like saying, why should we bother going after terrorists, catching them will just create more terrorists. Plus Muro Ami is not nearly as horrific as many have been led to believe. Yes, it's bad, and maybe it's more destructive than our hobby. But really it's hard to say and I think the cyanide and drugs used to catch fish for this hobby does more damage than muro ami fleets ever have (do they even still exist?). To my knowledge the muro ami fleets are now using pa-aling. While it's still a startlingly efficient form of fishing which in itself is a problem, the direct destruction to the reefs in minimal. Here's a little excerpt from a famous story about Muro Ami fishing from a writer that was following a Muro Ami boat with a documentary film crew.
"We were also pleasantly disappointed in the reef destruction caused by the Muro Ami fisherman. Ironically, after witnessing the drives underwater, we found little evidence of severe reef damage. In fact, the swimmers are careful not to strike the coral more than necessary because once a rock becomes lodged in the reef, they must dive to the bottom to retrieve it. If the scare line is lost, they must pay for the materials to make a replacement. Certainly there was some damage done to the more delicate hard corals. But this damage was not much greater than that caused by the dive fins from a boat-load of sport divers.
As for the slave labor and the exploitation of children, I can only say that I never saw an unhappy or unhealthy face aboard any of the boats we boarded. And though we were told of disease and vitamin deficiency among the children, even the youngest boys seemed healthy, happy and proud of their work. Their bodies were strong and they were quick with laughter or a smile. Certainly, theirs is a hard life by any standards, and not all return from their year of service (though we could find no statistics to document their mortality). But perhaps this lifestyle is no meaner than many others in that part of the world. And it seems to be a lifestyle of their own choosing."
Lastly, in the curio trade it's typically sharks, shells, starfish, seahorses, and puffers. I see this one as the least of our concerns. Harvesting algae (a multi billion dollar a year business) and shrimp mariculture probably has more of an impact on the wellfare of the reefs than the curio trade does.
In short, it's silly to not address problems for fear of other problems arrising or worsening. If everyone had the outlook you're taking very little would ever get accomplished in this world. Tackle each problem, and if new problems arrise you tackle those. Perhaps that's a little optimistic, but it's a hell of a lot better than things keeping on the way they are.
)
