Divers and Fish
capman at augsburg.edu
capman at augsburg.edu
Thu Nov 1 23:49:43 EST 2001
In addition to the increasing successes in captive breeding of reef
fish for the aquarium trade, many thus far unbreedable species of
reef fish are now being offered for sale (in some of the more
responsible aquarium shops anyway) that have apparently been captured
from the wild as planktonic larvae (presumably close to the time when
they would be settling out on the reef) and raised up to salable size
in captivity. It would seem that as long as there are viable
breeding populations on the reefs to produce these larvae this might
prove to be a much more environmentally sound way of providing fish
for the aquarium trade (if the breeding populations on the reefs are
fished out this isn't going to work though, of course!).
It would seem to me that the probability of depleting populations by
collecting larvae would be much lower than from collecting fish from
the reefs themselves, and there would be little to no damage to the
reefs as a result of these collecting efforts. However, reality is
not always as one supposes when viewed from thousands of miles away.
So my question for the group is: are any of you familiar with these
operations? Are they in fact as low-impact as they seem to be?
Do you think there is much potential for local people in the vicinity
of the reefs to be able to benefit from such an approach (e.g. by the
establishment of rearing facilities), or is this probably going to be
an approach mostly carried out by fish farms distant from the sources
of the larvae. It seems that for local people to embrace the
protection of their local coral reefs they will need to perceive the
reefs as providing them with some benefits.
Bill
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