melev

Kind of an oxymoron that the marine aquarium trade is a conservation tool. I understand the point, but discussing conservation while also discussing rare imported wrasses and clownfish seems a bit strange. Sure the industry can fund conservation projects, but that is in effect, an attempt to justify what is one of the largest demands on wild reefs today. We can fantasize about saving the reefs through education, and even species rescue, but ultimately there's nothing "sustainable" about removing animals from reefs. The animals propagate by the zillions as their sole method of survival, and removal of any numbers is counter to that objective.

Probably an unpopular viewpoint here or on any reef forum, but homegrown is the only real sustainable approach IMO. I know, wet blanket, but i am very positive about the direction the hobby is headed, and the SEASMART project is a major step in the "right" direction. We can't just tell them to stop fishing, so training in better fishing methods is a good approach. I hope the mortality rate sees a big drop as well.

I politely disagree. A good example is something I experienced first hand growing up in Alberta Canada and it pertained to bison (buffalo) rather than coral reefs, but none the less its the exact same point. Around this time a strange virus spread across the bison population in Canada and knocked their numbers down to basically extinct. Had it not been for zoos and private reservations that had collected the animals and therefore had the means to start breeding programs that particular animal would be something in our history books rather than an amazing creature that you can now see out the window of your car all over Canada. I guess my point is that by taking away from the reefs and being responsible aquarists maybe someday we can play a part in saving a particular species of coral or fish that would otherwise die out because of a natural occurrence. Its like an investment. We are spreading the reefs all over the world in many different locations. If something happens to one aquarium it doesn't affect another and if something happens in the ocean we can do our part to replenish. Unfortunately, as in every hobby there are going to be people that act irresponsibly either because they don't know any better or simply because they just don't care. But in order to have a hobby as large and vast as ours there needs to be money and money comes from people.

Personally I respect and admire these business' that are making a difference and making an effort towards conservation and education as opposed to just bleeding the oceans dry. It took a while for us to get here, but its finally starting to happen.

Having seen the presentations put on by the Seasmart people at MACNA, I think you are missing the bigger point. In a nation previously untapped with regard to their marine resources, the reef aquarium trade will provide the funds to support education and management programs that will have a huge positive effect on their resources. There has never been any amount of marine harvesting there (except as a food source) so part of their advantage is that the fishers don't have bad habits that have to be un-taught. Part of what they are doing is extremely complete surveys of the reefs, with cataloging of corals down to species level. They are taking "mother colonies" only after determining effect on the coral populations, which consist of 1/2 or less of a natural colony. Those mothers are then used to produce F1 frags which are then further marincultured down to F2 before any release from the project. Many of those F2 frags are considered stock for reef re-population. The fishes are also all net caught and stored in sea tanks right up until they are transported to the export facility, which is phenomenal.

All of this will be funded by the marine aquarium trade. The project is simply amazing. We should support Seasmart as a means to not only gain access to amazing items, but also to fund the conservation that is going on.