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It's a shame you see all those live organism's that you know are doomed no matter who's hand's there in and most LFS only care about the sale and money not the organism I think LFS procedure's should be looked at as well as a list we can make and debate and figure out something we all can agree on as hobbyist, professor's, educator's, and those looking for the peaceful existence of the reef in the Wild and to keep the population's in the wild plentiful as well as have a sustainable hobby.
mr.reef24
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It is indeed frustrating, because I saw at least two really large lionfish everytime I got in the water last week in San Salvador, Bahamas, and the research station even had a notice for students as to what to do if they were envonomated (use hot water from the boat engine discharge if in the field - a really novel idea). It's also frustrating with corals like Acropora. I saw enough Acropora to sustain the global hobby for years within a 500m stretch of beach and don't see any real risk to wild populations from some areas, but other areas need every coral and fish that exists..., but they are also easily propagated and grown so why take any?
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Eric Borneman
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| Now this is a subject right up my alley. How does this sound regarding the future of a sustainable Aquarium Industry......In brief, I can give a little background that led up to the present. The short version: Born into the Industry via my father and retail stores. Became involved with wholesaler/distributor of Marine animals about 20 years ago (can't believe that!) Joined Reefcheck (www.reefcheck.org) as a board member about 9 years ago. Will launch "S.M.A.R.T" labeled fish shortly with the help of Reefcheck and our Mexico supplier hopefully to soon become the "Dolphin-Safe" label for all of the industry. Ambitious? You bet! Sustainably Managed Aquarium Resource Trade program works like this: Reefcheck goes into fishing grounds and does monitoring and specie assessments. Quotas and areas for allowable fishing are determined. Permits are given with quotas for each collection site for each supplier. Yearly monitoring and new assessments are given for each permit. Best practices at all levels, Collection, Handling, Transport are developed and followed by all levels in the chain of distribution. Livestock is followed by the SMART label and marketed to create further public awareness about environmental issues. This is a very brief description of what has been in the works the last few years and should be culminating into reality in the upcoming months. If you are not familiar with Reefcheck, we are a non-profit organizations with a global monitoring program of coral reefs and possibly the most current and wide base of information on the condition of coral reefs. If you want to read their coral reports, you can visit the website and check out all the information. I have been very involved in creating awareness for this group within the Aquarium Industry and have felt a strong need for us to develop Fisheries Management plans for over a decade. I remember speaking to Eric Borneman a few years back about helping us create some "Care Sheets" for each of the groups of fish and corals that we trade in within the Aquarium Industry, and hopefully we can still work on that project together soon?  I am pretty sure a simple care fact sheet about each Genus of animal would suffice and handed to every retail customer upon purchase. This task is down on my list and not really going to be that cumbersome....would be nice to have Eric's touch on the information don't you think? TBD. Anyway....this is my plan....this is my journey....this is my life's work "Find a job you love, and you will never work another day in your life"!
Eric
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Eric Borneman (6/27/2009)
It is indeed frustrating, because I saw at least two really large lionfish everytime I got in the water last week in San Salvador, Bahamas, and the research station even had a notice for students as to what to do if they were envonomated (use hot water from the boat engine discharge if in the field - a really novel idea). It's also frustrating with corals like Acropora. I saw enough Acropora to sustain the global hobby for years within a 500m stretch of beach and don't see any real risk to wild populations from some areas, but other areas need every coral and fish that exists..., but they are also easily propagated and grown so why take any?
It's sad the thing's that go on I guess the best we can all do is try to educate the public as much as possible to be more aware of the thing's they do when visiting reef's and as well as in there everyday life a little time to pick up litter or not release a fish in the wild could go a long way. That is sad they would discharge hot water from the engine into the field I could see a tourist or some random person but for a research station with student's they should know better. very true with the acropora hopefully the more you talk to people and we all post and tell friend's and customer's and etc... we can come to grip with the stuff going on in the ocean.
mr.reef24
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Hi Eric
Thanks for posting and its nice to see industry here. This is something I would like to discus further and will send you an email at some point in the near future when I am caught up a little more. Glad to see willing participation as this is key. I think ReefCheck can play an integral part in resource country monitoring, but a lot of baggage has to be lost or fixed from past years to ensure credibility. So many individual initiatives, so much lost time.
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Eric Borneman
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[quote]Eric Borneman (4/25/2009)
on introductions
http://www.reef.org/programs/exotic
[/quote]
A little more background on introductions from myself and Mr. Greenemeier can be found here:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-10/feature/index.php
Mike covered introductions quite well in his post, but I have run into a lot of hobbyists that released something back into the wild to "save" it. They might possibly be saving a single organism, but if they become established they could harm/kill hundreds/thousands/millions of other organisms.
Please spread both of these links around. Many hobbyists are well educated, but many others are not, especially when it comes to ecology and food webs and what happens when they are disturbed.
Brian
7 years FW, 5 years SW
Education is the solution to pollution, not dilution.
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