As far as doing your own collecting as long as you are doing it legally it could be a very rewarding experience.
I would disagree with the generalization the ornamental fish and coral industry is destroying the reefs. Quoting from this United Nations report,
http://www.unep.org/PDF/From_Ocean_T...ium_report.pdf
on pg 9 "The aquarium industry as a whole is of relatively low volume yet very high value, thus potentially providing an incentive to conserve reef habitats and offering a livelihood to coastal communities often living in low-income areas. In 2000, 1 kg of aquarium fish from the Maldives was valued at almost US$500, whereas 1 kg of reef fish harvested for food was worth only US$6. Similarly, the live coral trade is estimated to be worth about US$7,000 per tonne whereas the use of harvested coral for the production of limestone yields only about US$60 per tonne. In Palau, live rock is exported for the aquarium trade at US$2.2 to US$4.4 per kilo whereas it is sold locally as construction material for less than US$0.02 per kilo. Sri Lanka earns about US$5.6 million a year by exporting reef fish to around 52 countries and estimates indicate that 50,000 people are directly involved in the export of marine ornamentals. In the Philippines, about 7,000 collectors depend on the reefs for their livelihood." We are giving people that are living in 3rd world countries an economic incentive to protect their reefs. And there is ample evidence that what is needed to help reef ecosystems is to restore the apex preditors, the sharks, to their historical highs. Probably something that will engender as much resistance as restoring wolves to their historic levels.
I'm sure you've heard the hoopla about collecting Yellow Tangs in Hawai'i. If you read this report:
http://files.hawaii.gov/dlnr/reports-to-the-legislature/2010/dar/DAR10-Hawaii-Fisheries-2010.pdf looking at the population counts performed by yearly by biologists from several univerisities and the World Wildlife Fund one of the interesting things to note is as the yellow tang populations go up in the protected areas from collecting the achilles tang populations go down and in the areas open to collection even though achilles tangs are being collected their population goes
UP as the yellow tang population goes down. This is
suggests a blanket ban on collecting ornamental fish may actually hurt the overall biodiversity, it certainly points out this is a much more complicated situation than is typically presented.
To add an additional twist we have this research:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2291018/ demonstrating a link between sunscreen and coral bleaching. So when you go do your collecting if you are really serious about protecting the environment don't use any sunscreen. :sad2:
