Does our hobby contribute to natural reef destruction?

[mpagri]

I was RUI earlier today and I hit a brick wall of conflict. So far I have only bought things from other people's tanks and tank raised fish from the lfs. But as I begin to diversify my tank I am quickly coming across species that do not reproduce in captivity, things were not propagated in tanks but were taken from nature.

I don't know if all of you are big nature freaks, I assumed we all were, but that may not necessarily be the case.. some people definitely could just be like screw the reef I want something sweet in my living room.

But to the people who do care, and I am assuming most do, how much of an impact does this hobby have on natural reefs around the world? I know there are collection laws etc. but taking all that reef and putting into our tanks? Is that really a good idea? maybe we should put our frags back into the ocean.

Of course I havent done any research yet, but i wanted to hear what you guys had to say regardless.

Off to google..

 

[Scott]

sorry, what's RUI?

 

[dz6t]

You can sleep easy if you only buy tank raised coral and fish. There are at least two reasons: 1. Tank raised coral and fish are hardy. 2. The natrual reef is not harm by your action.

 

[JayM]

sorry, what's RUI?

Reading under the influence.....

 

[Scott]

I thought maybe it was Reefing Under the Influence.

Sorry, serious topic.

I'm not a nature freak, but I care about it.

I like the idea that we're creating this virtual reef a hundred gallons at a time. As long as we're populating it with cultured livestock the reef's not getting harmed.

But of course there are people out there harming it.

As for putting our frags "back", most of them were never in the ocean in the first place.

 

[Jocko]

Fish collection is definitely a problem. Especially species that have yet to be successfully captive bred (most of them).

I'm not as concerned about the impact on corals. The way things are going, it sounds like they are all going to be extinct in the wild soon enough thanks to temperature and atmospheric CO2 content. I personally want to see as many species as possible introduced to the hobby. I then want to see them grown successfully, fragged and distributed among hobbyists around the World. This will at least preserve these wonderful animals well after the ocean has lost the capacity to support their existence.

 

[JayM]

Damn, that's a sobering AND realistic statement

 

[Jim Tansey]

Do bears poop in the woods?

Jim

 

[smcnally]

Putting your corals into the ocean will just kill them unless you plan on taking a trip to where they come from.

 

[stingythingy45]

I think Bob Fenner summed it up nicely whan he said something like this,"people can not love what they do not see".Yeah sure,you can watch all the ocean/diving shows and get some idea what's out there.But you will never get that feeling or understand what a reef looks like till you see it.And I'm not saying that our tanks represent the reefs perfectly.But they do give a window into what lies beneath the waves away from the eyes of humans.

 

[JayM]

Do bears poop in the woods?

Jim

yes.

 

[jovreef]

If you want captive raised fish that dont breed in our tanks there are still options without taking adults out of the ocean. There is a company that collects fry & raises them.. the name escapes me at the moment but I'll get back to you on it. They always have a nice selection of angels, tanks, & other various fish. The only downside is they never know what they have till it grows hehe.

Tampa bay saltwater also places rock in the ocean to make live rock, this keeps from destroying the reef to collect rock.

 

[Jocko]

Tampa bay saltwater also places rock in the ocean to make live rock, this keeps from destroying the reef to collect rock.

Related to my first post: one nice thing about FL aquacultured rock is that it can be collected and sold with whatever happened to end up growing on it. It's not uncommon for TBS rock to come in with various Caribbean coral species on it. They aren't usually as exciting as the Pacific species, but it's a great way to get some of these species into our tanks.

 

[mpagri]

I was joking about putting frags back into the ocean. Might even do more harm by introducing non-native species hitchhikers.

I guess that if you take a "it's all going to be gone soon anyway" outlook then we're doing a service by preserving the reef after the reef.

I think I'll stick to trying to buy aquacultured, seems to be more affordable that way too.

RUI was reefing under the influence.. I was hoping some people would figure that out (I love the name of this site! quite the dichotomy..)

 

[Greg Hiller]

While there are some particular fish (Banggai cardinals for one) that have very limited ranges, and have particular draw for the aquarium hobby, I personally don't think that there is that much impact on fish populations collected for the hobby if the collection is performed without harming the reef (no cyanide or dinamite). There've been some studies in Hawaii showing some impact, but it's not been tremendous. The reason for this is that collecting for the hobby is often times done one fish at a time, not like commercial food fishing.

Regarding corals, except for a few speices (perhaps Elegance) that are limited in their local abundance and grow slowly, again I don't think the impact is really very large. Also as has been pointed out, nearly every coral species can be artificially propagated now, so it's only the really slow growing ones that would be hard to obtain as aquacultured corals (if you want to go that route).

The issue that I grapple with much more is the amount of electricity that is used in the hobby, and how the generation of that electricity (and just use of resources) causes it's own set of problems on a global scale.

 

[dz6t]

If we continue buying wild collect coral colonies from retailers, our hobby do impact the natural reef.

 

[Matt L.]

The issue that I grapple with much more is the amount of electricity that is used in the hobby, and how the generation of that electricity (and just use of resources) causes it's own set of problems on a global scale.

I second everything Greg says.

My main concern is the amount of energy this hobby uses. I do foresee a future where the average person will be unable to do the hobby due to skyrocketing energy costs.

Because the energy for our hobby is likely coming from the burning of fossil fuels, and these increase atmospheric CO2, which in turn lowers the pH of the ocean causing coral death, then yes, the hobby does indirectly harm the reef. But so does driving an oversized vehicle.

Matt

 

[cjburden]

I second everything Greg says.

My main concern is the amount of energy this hobby uses. I do foresee a future where the average person will be unable to do the hobby due to skyrocketing energy costs.

Because the energy for our hobby is likely coming from the burning of fossil fuels, and these increase atmospheric CO2, which in turn lowers the pH of the ocean causing coral death, then yes, the hobby does indirectly harm the reef. But so does driving an oversized vehicle.

Matt

I'd like to think that in the future we'll be significantly less reliable on fossil fuels overall. I recently saw a news article about a solar home competition that MIT was involved in. To be honest the houses looked incredibly nice, had some sweet amenities and were supposed to be 100% off the grid (I would imagine outside of water?).

Found something relating to it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/technology/personaltech/01pogue-email.html

 

[Matt L.]

I'd like to think too, but the atmospheric concentration of CO2 has been raised so much, reefs are beginning to suffer already. By the time we switch, it will be too late. I predict there will be no wild coral left in 50 years.

Matt

 

[stingythingy45]

I'd like to think too, but the atmospheric concentration of CO2 has been raised so much, reefs are beginning to suffer already. By the time we switch, it will be too late. I predict there will be no wild coral left in 50 years.

Matt

Another graduate of the Al Gore"We're Doomed"academy.