[Coral-List] Distructive fishing practices in the Caribbean--long
capman at augsburg.edu
capman at augsburg.edu
Fri Apr 30 18:22:55 EDT 2004
These stories of the overfishing and overall devastation of reef fish
communities are truly depressing. Most of these stories in this
thread seem to deal with larger fish that are caught for human
consumption. I'm wondering whether the same stories can be told
about the smaller fish collected for the aquarium trade? Are they
also being overfished?
Certain Caribbean reef fish are popular in the aquarium trade. For
example, fish such as royal grammas and cherub angelfish (and
flameback angelfish) are particularly popular and abundant in the
aquarium trade. Queen angelfish are also commonly encountered in the
aquarium trade, as are yellowheaded jawfish, and occasionally other
fish such as Caribbean blue tangs and some of the dwarf seabasses
(e.g. chalk bass).
What sort of impact is the collection of these fish for the aquarium
trade having on wild fish populations and on the reef in general?
How much of this collection for the aquarium trade is being done in a
responsible, sustainable manner? It seems that if done properly,
income from collection for the aquarium trade could make intact reefs
more valuable locally, perhaps giving people near the reefs
motivation for taking steps to preserve and protect them, though I
fear the reality might be something a bit different (??).
Also as populations of large predaceous reef fish such as groupers
are overfished, are some of the smaller fish increasing in abundance?
If so, it seems the effects could be unpredictable and complex, and
likely not good for the reef (e.g. fewer larger predators -> more
damselfish. More damsels + fewer parrotfish and maybe fewer tangs
and surgeonfish might then result in lots more algae???)
--
*********************
Bill Capman
Associate Professor
and Department Chair
Biology Department
Campus Box 117
Augsburg College
2211 Riverside Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55454 USA
612/330-1074
FAX: 612/330-1076
capman at augsburg.edu
*********************
More information about the Coral-List
mailing list