Reef aquariums = bad???

[WWCC]

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Talk about make us reefers feel bad!!

What do you think?

 

[no_Wedge]

just guesstimates and propoganda

 

[Peter Eichler]

While that video clearly has an agenda and is biased, there is no denying that the marine ornamental trade and marine aquarium hobby is quite destructive.

 

[Mako]

"Video created & presented by the The Pacific Fisheries Coalition (PFC), a project of the Hawaii Audubon Society, in an effort to educate people on the negative impacts of the marine (salt water) fish aquarium trade in the state of Hawaii."

Just so people know the origin.

The video definitely paints a negative picture of the industry. The references to cyanide use in the Phillipines isn't very current though, and certainly has no bearing on the collection practices used in Hawaii.

Overall, I think it's pretty biased to their cause.

 

[WWCC]

I watched it again and i noticed it said 80% of the saltwaterfish collected in the (USA)!!!!!! come from Hawaii, well duh! where else in the USA other than carribean do we have reef fish trade!?But it still makes me feel bad because the stuff about the butterflyfish dying is true.....

 

[cindre2000]

Your right. It's a very tricky video. It says "and 80% of those fish collected in the United States, come from Hawaii's coral reefs". But it reads "80% of Salt Water Aquarium Fish Come From Hawai'i.

"People who keep saltwater aquariums support an industry that harms Hawaii's coral reefs"

It should also mention that every person who owns a fishing pole support an industry that harms corals reefs.

 

[Arthurjc]

just guesstimates and propoganda

I mean you can't think everything on the internet is true, especially on YouTube.

 

[flying_dutchman]

Yeah the hobby can be quite destructive for the reefs. But buying aquacultured and maricultured instead of wild colonies, makes a big difference. And more, and more captive bred fish come available. Tangs, and butterfly's etc are unfortunately currently still impossible to breed.

Climate change and pollution are a bigger thread to the reefs(and all marine life) at the moment JMO

 

[es1887]

i do not know which made me feel worse the message they are trying to convey or the music. just when i think i am doing a good job keeping my tank i get shot down. it really should be left up to the professionals to keep saltwater aquariums. i must say though that i think us people who do it for the love of the animals are much better at keeping them alive and healthy then some one who gets paid to do it. i have seen some public aquariums that make me sick with all the diseases and dying fish. just makes me want to be more responsible about my hobby (not that i am not already). it is sad though how many fish do die just from transport.

 

[MazdaSPD3]

Flames Angels only exist in Hawaii? Thats news to me.

+1 on the bias.

 

[johnny313]

The video doesn't tell you that 75% or more of the fish exported from there are Hawaiian owned businesses!
Hawaii should LIMIT the export of fish! BOTTOM LINE!

 

[flying_dutchman]

^^
Distribution: Pacific Western; Scattered reef areas in the tropical central to western Pacific; Hawaii, Society Islands, Australia, New Guinea, Philippines and Guam.

 

[Boyman]

this video makes me feel horrible =/

but I also question the validity of everything that was mentioned in the video

 

[ludnix]

The video doesn't tell you that 75% or more of the fish exported from there are Hawaiian owned businesses!
Hawaii should LIMIT the export of fish! BOTTOM LINE!

I agree, it seems like legislation against collecting would be more effective than guilting people out of the hobby. Especially since it seems like the people who will be emotionally affected by this video are the people who have a real love and passion for the fish in the first place. Only legislation will stop the people who do not care or do the proper research from keeping these fish.

 

[DGee]

Random thought here... It would be interesting to see how much of an impact corporations like petco have on the death toll percentage vs. privately owned reef shops.

I know my local wholesaler and 98% of the reef shops in my area are amazing and put great care into keeping healthy animals. Now what happens after they are sold is a whole other story.

The video is sad, but the disturbing part is the inaccuracy throughout the video, however it looked like an older video.

This is almost as good as the whale wars retard saying that reef hobbyists were no different than pedophiles.

They might as well go after the producers of finding nemo too...

I do agree with everyone else that legislation would actually do something instead of just complaining about it and hoping it will go away.

 

[Frick-n-Frags]

Yeah the hobby can be quite destructive for the reefs. But buying aquacultured and maricultured instead of wild colonies, makes a big difference. And more, and more captive bred fish come available. Tangs, and butterfly's etc are unfortunately currently still impossible to breed.

too bad people are very selectively consciencious. i agree. ornamental fish collection and the support of the hobby on this end is reef rape. you cannot justify that harvesting for entertainment as anything else.

the hypocrisy makes me laugh when someone with a tank full of exotics gets ontheir high horse about preserving the reefs.
me, i have an algae blenny out of necessity so i'm not lily white on this issue either. when i get another basslet, it will be a captive propagated one.

If i cant frag it, i dont want it. it isnt really cool to me.

and i really like how people just pack the fish into small tanks like goldfish. that saddens me everytime i see it. rape+torture

 

[runyonh]

Imo aquaculture is part of the answer. Sooner or later technology will help to aquaculture more fish and inverts. There is no doubt that this hobby is a destructive one. I think education is the real answer to this problem. Letting people know that they are also destroying the reefs. Encourging people to go geen helps to save reefs. Qoute "This is almost as good as the whale wars retard saying that reef hobbyists were no different than pedophiles"(DGee). The guy on whale wars says this as he rides around on a boat fuled by fossil fuel, and is also polluting the ocean. We are all responsible if you live on this planet you will have an impact on it. When I see this video it makes me proud that I take such good care of my reef tanks and fish.

 

[Jersey Bounce]

Just a few comments...

"œPeople who keep saltwater aquariums support an industry that harms Hawaii's coral reefs"

Most blanket statements are full of malarkey and this one is no different. Sure, the industry in general has a component that elicits a harmful affect on coral reefs; I don't deny that. However, alleging that people who keep saltwater aquariums--as in all people who do so--inherently support the harmful affect on coral reefs is bunk. Just look at the enormous strides in captive breeding of fish and aquaculturing of corals that have been made in the last decade. At the end of the video they support the purchase of captive bred fish, which are kept by "People who keep saltwater aquariums" so they obviously didn't put much effort into editing hypocrisy out of their guilt-laden diatribe.

"œMaintaining a saltwater home aquarium for marine fish is extremely difficult"

Um, no. It doesn't have to be, and it's not as "extremely difficult" as maintaining a sick, elderly diabetic dog or cat.

"œThe water they live in needs to be exactly like the ocean. If any one of these aspects is not correct, the fish will not survive."

So someone has been keeping my fish alive by dumping toxic chemicals and driving gas/diesel powered boats around in my aquariums when I'm not around? Dang! Not again!

 

[chipnamanda]

How old is this video?

 

[noahm]

There is a really neat video somewhere that shows how fragging/propagation techniques LEARNED THROUGH THE REEF AQUARIUM HOBBY, are being used to rebuild reefs in the Philipines that have been damaged from disease and other non-collecting related problems. It is not all bad, but there are definitely a lot of poor choices that drive the destructive end of the industry.