The Reef Hobby- An Endangered Species?

Rjramos · Sep 4, 2014

Great write up Scott! We need to show them the living proof that we are solutions to the problems with reefs today, not the problem itself. Organizations farm raising corals to replace and restore areas hit by coral bleaching, and other types of damage. Guys like Martin Moe, a pioneer in captive Bred specimens restoring natural populations of depleted long spine sea urchins and other organisms. Clearly, we have the tools and knowledge to prove our beneficial cause, we just have to put it out there to the big wigs.

Marquiseo · Sep 4, 2014

Why aren't there any protests or anything going on in regards to this? Why hasn't the media been alerted to inform the nation of the massive job loss that would come from the effort of that organization making species that "they think" are threatened. Here is the impact it will have if more are added in the future:

- LFS job losses (Unique Corals, Sexy Corals, AquaSD and so on)
- Wholesaler job losses (Sea Dwelling, Quality Marine, and so on)
- Aquarium supply providers job losses (ie Ecotech, Bulkreefsupply, and other big names)
- Overseas communities would crumble because it is their only means of livelihood to export livestock to the US

I am just going to leave it at that.

Shep · Sep 4, 2014

Has anyone been able to contact PIJAC and figure out how they are going out about this? It might be easier to easier to focus on just preventing the ban on selling, buying and tradingof non-wild harvested specimens than outright fighting the total ban. To beat the total ban you would have to prevent them from being listed under the ESA, which could be very difficult to do.

iiluisii · Sep 4, 2014

Scott can you post data showing how many wild colonies are harvested yearly to supply all the countries in the aquarium trade I bet it's a huge impact on the reefs but I'm only assuming with no data as you are too if you can't provide data. To me we are a huge impact on the reefs but is just my opinion. You can't count how many yellow tangs and hippo tangs I have seen dead on local fish stores, I can't count how many corals I seen melt away in local fish stores when they can't sell them fast enough. But again I'm only assuming and I know you have more knowledge on this than most of us but can we see some data first

uniquecorals · Sep 4, 2014

Thales said:
Scott, I love the call to action, and we have needed to all get on the same page for years already. We need to do it now too. Thanks for writing the piece.

Everyone, here is some more information on the listing. It is important to know the details.
Implications of ESA's New CORAL Listing for the Marine Aquarium Trade

Thanks so much for the good link, Rich.

My intent was to give us a little kick in the behind, to rally behind those who are doing the fighting on behalf of the hobby and industry, and that's a really good thing. Maybe, just maybe, we're waking up...

MikeTucc · Sep 4, 2014

Hi all, I came across this post today and made an account just to say a few words. First off, thanks for taking your time to post and share this important info, Scott. I can't emphasize enough how every single hobbyist needs to be aware of what's going on legislatively with the marine aquarium trade and hobby right now.

I work for a large importer/wholesaler of fish and inverts, and by virtue of my job have witnessed the formation of the PIJAC marine subcommittee and its largely unpublicized activity over the last 2 years or so. This group of concerned folks, including my own boss, have spent countless nights and weekends reviewing dense petitions from groups of activist lawyers like CBD, monitoring up-and-coming legislation, crafting defense strategy and reaching out to scientific experts all over the world so that these obscure legal maneuvers don't get railroaded through NOAA and NMFS without our hobby and industry having a say. I don't exaggerate when I say this handful of people are the first (and sometimes only) line of defense the hobby and trade has against this sort of thing, and I shudder to think what NOAA's ruling could have been if they had not worked tirelessly to ensure that the process was at least partly based on the best science available, not a cursory review of outdated or flawed abundance data.

But the days of these unsung heroes working behind-the-scenes while we sit back complacently and drool over the latest rare cirrhilabrus are coming to an end. We all need to be active in the coming fight to ensure the hobby we share a mutual passion for doesn't disappear, and that means putting aside petty differences and rallying around a common cause. Reptile keepers have done this admirably- benefit auctions for their legislative defense funds regularly pull in thousands of dollars because everyone knows their contributions are necessary for them to keep their hobby.

I'm a lifelong aquarium hobbyist who happens to have gotten a dream job being a fish geek for a living. But I've been consistently dismayed at how divided and ambivalent us reefers have been about this stuff. Case in point (sorry to pick on someone here randomly- nothing personal), Scott's talking about the END of the reef hobby and the first thing some of us can think about is whether this will affect the purchase price of their next frogspawn (!!) I regularly talk to people in the hobby who actually favor trade bans of all kinds or ESA listing, without realizing that these bans make NO allowance for a frag 20 generations removed from the wild or a fresh import. It's all the same in the eyes of the law. Please, get informed, and start thinking about what you as an aquarist can do to help the cause. It doesn't have to be much. I wrote an op-ed about this for CORAL magazine after last year's MACNA but it doesn't look like things have changed much. I urge everyone to do what they can, even to spread awareness. Post about this on your local reef club forum. Even better, start a discussion about it at your next meeting. The threats we all face (coral ESA listing is just the tip of the iceberg) require a united, active hobby community if we are to be successful. We can't just keep our heads down and assume people better informed than we are going to make sure everything is ok. It might not be.

Mike

iiluisii · Sep 4, 2014

Ok this is just internet data and by no mean I'm saying this is 100 % accurate but with this numbers I say yes we do have a huge impact.

In 1985, the world export value of the marine aquarium trade was estimated at $25 million to $40 million per year. Since 1985, trade in marine ornamentals has been increasing at an average rate of 14 percent annually. In 1996, the world export value was about $200 million. The annual export of marine aquarium fish from Southeast Asia alone is, according to 1997 data, between 10 million and 30 million fish with a retail value of up to $750 million.

iiluisii · Sep 4, 2014

Here is the whole article.
http://issues.org/17-1/bruckner/

uniquecorals · Sep 4, 2014

iiluisii said:
Scott can you post data showing how many wild colonies are harvested yearly to supply all the countries in the aquarium trade I bet it's a huge impact on the reefs but I'm only assuming with no data as you are too if you can't provide data. To me we are a huge impact on the reefs but is just my opinion. You can't count how many yellow tangs and hippo tangs I have seen dead on local fish stores, I can't count how many corals I seen melt away in local fish stores when they can't sell them fast enough. But again I'm only assuming and I know you have more knowledge on this than most of us but can we see some data first

Actually, Ret Talbot has written a lot on the aquarium trade and the truly small percentage of material it removes from the environment, relative to other industries and threats. We represent such a small percentage it's not even funny. I'll see if I can get the data from him. You are making an observation that correlates very well with the conclusions of our detractors-they see the melting corals, too, but they fail to see the thousands upon thousands of healthy maricultured, propagated, and aquacultures corals that enter the trade each day.

Here is an excerpt from a Facebook response to a fellow respondent about this subject by ORA President Dustin Dorton, commenting on the data used by NOAA to make the decision, and the frustrating lack of clarity. He's referring specifically to Acropora lokani:

"...While I respect for the efforts of the biological review team I think you are confusing hard work, or a lot of work with good work. I always come back to Lokani. It made it on the listing due to an identification error. They state over and over again in the status review report that there was no data to work with and the final report lists an estimated population of 19 million(!) and it is still deemed vulnerable to extinction. With that lack of data and those population figures what isn’t?"

The bottom line is that, while there is probably some really good science being done, and the intention to protect animals is good...we are still an easy target as a hobby and industry. The whole point of this post was to give us a wake up call to get involved in fighting for the hobby. Thanks!

uniquecorals · Sep 4, 2014

MikeTucc said:
Hi all, I came across this post today and made an account just to say a few words. First off, thanks for taking your time to post and share this important info, Scott. I can't emphasize enough how every single hobbyist needs to be aware of what's going on legislatively with the marine aquarium trade and hobby right now.

I work for a large importer/wholesaler of fish and inverts, and by virtue of my job have witnessed the formation of the PIJAC marine subcommittee and its largely unpublicized activity over the last 2 years or so. This group of concerned folks, including my own boss, have spent countless nights and weekends reviewing dense petitions from groups of activist lawyers like CBD, monitoring up-and-coming legislation, crafting defense strategy and reaching out to scientific experts all over the world so that these obscure legal maneuvers don't get railroaded through NOAA and NMFS without our hobby and industry having a say. I don't exaggerate when I say this handful of people are the first (and sometimes only) line of defense the hobby and trade has against this sort of thing, and I shudder to think what NOAA's ruling could have been if they had not worked tirelessly to ensure that the process was at least partly based on the best science available, not a cursory review of outdated or flawed abundance data.

But the days of these unsung heroes working behind-the-scenes while we sit back complacently and drool over the latest rare cirrhilabrus are coming to an end. We all need to be active in the coming fight to ensure the hobby we share a mutual passion for doesn't disappear, and that means putting aside petty differences and rallying around a common cause. Reptile keepers have done this admirably- benefit auctions for their legislative defense funds regularly pull in thousands of dollars because everyone knows their contributions are necessary for them to keep their hobby.

I'm a lifelong aquarium hobbyist who happens to have gotten a dream job being a fish geek for a living. But I've been consistently dismayed at how divided and ambivalent us reefers have been about this stuff. Case in point (sorry to pick on someone here randomly- nothing personal), Scott's talking about the END of the reef hobby and the first thing some of us can think about is whether this will affect the purchase price of their next frogspawn (!!) I regularly talk to people in the hobby who actually favor trade bans of all kinds or ESA listing, without realizing that these bans make NO allowance for a frag 20 generations removed from the wild or a fresh import. It's all the same in the eyes of the law. Please, get informed, and start thinking about what you as an aquarist can do to help the cause. It doesn't have to be much. I wrote an op-ed about this for CORAL magazine after last year's MACNA but it doesn't look like things have changed much. I urge everyone to do what they can, even to spread awareness. Post about this on your local reef club forum. Even better, start a discussion about it at your next meeting. The threats we all face (coral ESA listing is just the tip of the iceberg) require a united, active hobby community if we are to be successful. We can't just keep our heads down and assume people better informed than we are going to make sure everything is ok. It might not be.

Mike

Outstanding points, Mike. Although the tone of my rant might interpreted as a bit "alarmist" by some, I think we need to look at the realities that you have pointed out, and wake up from our collective slumber...We are in sort of a (forgive the analogy- it came to mind quickly...) "Post 911" world in the hobby now...We can't afford to sit around and wait for the next attack on the industry- we need to be proactive and support the small group of people that are fighting for us...and we need to be "loud and proud" to the detractors of our hobby and trade...Not all that hard to do, but super necessary. The thousands of people who attended the MACNA conference would be a good starting group to spread the word, right? Each one of us can help, literally.

iiluisii · Sep 4, 2014

Got it Scott understood. Like I said I really don't know I'm just going by internet research which half of the time is inaccurate.

revhtree · Sep 4, 2014

Thank you Scott for the eye opening article. We at Reef2Reef are going to commit to getting the word out and raising funds for the groups that fight these types of legislation. I will be emailing our entire membership base and featuring this on or various social media outlets as a starter. I am committing to keeping this topic in the forefront of our forums on a day to day basis as well as doing a better job. Thank you once again.

Bernie21 · Sep 4, 2014

Great article Scott. Normally, I'm a lurker, I hardly post on these forums. Mainly, I just read but I have been in this hobby for a short 10 years, about a 3rd of my life, but I have been passionate about fish, corals and the ocean my entire life! So I must say that I'm split on this topic. On one hand, I love my tank and I strive to provide it with the best care possible and the upmost attention. If I'm not attending to it, I'm reading about it. I'm sure I spend as much money on information as I do on my tank with magazine subscriptions, books, forums and time spent reading (maybe not... but the point is made). On the other, I have seen so many people get in to it because it is cool, or the latest fad. However, few people care to invest the time to learn to care for it and treat it like furniture, with out realizing that every fail is a precious life lost and taken from a dying ecosystem. I've heard people get advice, ignore it and say "I'll just buy anther one". No, these type of people should be kept far away, world reefs are hurting. Even successful hobbyist have suffered losses from neglect, accidents, carelessness or due to the learning curve. That's not to say we don't do a lot of good either, but we cant say we don't have an adverse impact because 'Petco is lumped in w LiveAquaria' just like 'flavor of the month hobbyist are lumped in with successful, established and proactive hobbyist'. So I do believe stricter legislation can be good, so can higher prices (which hurts me as recent graduate), selective importation from places with good collection practices, etc. One thing I've noticed recently is that every fish is being described with the name of where it was collected from along with a price difference so we can make better educated decisions. The next thing that needs to happen is breeding practices need to improve and the prices need to catch up to wild caught to lower reef impact by newbies and veteran hobbyist. I really appreciate his article because at least we are discussing the issue. However, aside from supporting PIJAC, which I think we should support because they are our front lines. We also need to support organizations like Coral Restoration Foundation (Coral Restoration Foundation), that reestablish reefs with propagated corals, with either time and or money. Along with organizations like Deep Blue Seas Foundation (Deep Blue Seas Foundation) to help those areas that collect our fine specimens to continue to collect in a sustainable method because there is a benefit to them; and ORA (ORA | Oceans, Reefs & Aquariums) that breed and aquaculture our hobby so we don't have to remove from the reefs or oceans; or our Underwater national parks (Biscayne National Park (U.S. National Park Service)) that protect our natural resources and are the sources of our 'windows into the oceans'. Also, we need to support local science museums and aquariums so we can teach others about our hobby and world reefs, not only at the individual level, but at he commercial level and club level. PIJAC may be the one fighting the legislation, but all these organizations that are separate, are actually intertwined and together they may make for a better hobby and reef sustainability, but also bring more public attention, awareness and support to the benefit of the good hobbyist we have.

Sorry for the long winded post, just my $1 and .02 cents.
-Bernie

H2O · Sep 4, 2014

It's a sad reality the whole worlds sewer run into the bigger toilet some call it ocean they poop in it then they go fishing in it right after then they wonder why fish don't multiply in dirty water now the airplanes are making fake clouds to combat global warming some days its snowing black metal dust, when it rains its 50/50 metal /water at first with weird bacteria 80% of birds died from bird flu like disease I know they just choking on the airplane dust . All the nuclear waste from Japan went back in the ocean the PB oil spill is just some of the crap that helped us get to this point I call the white house 3 times a week because the min u stop complaining they start blaming crap on u .

MikeTucc · Sep 4, 2014

iiluisii said:
Here is the whole article.
New Threat to Coral Reefs: Trade in Coral Organisms | Issues in Science and Technology

Dollar figures, especially for the aquarium trade, are not really relevant to overall ecological impact. Here's some better and more recent data:

Revealing the Appetite of the Marine Aquarium Fish Trade: The Volume and Biodiversity of Fish Imported into the United States

Long-term trends of coral imports into the United States indicate future opportunities for ecosystem and societal benefit

CORAL coverage of above paper

uniquecorals · Sep 4, 2014

Bernie21 said:
Great article Scott. Normally, I'm a lurker, I hardly post on these forums. Mainly, I just read but I have been in this hobby for a short 10 years, about a 3rd of my life, but I have been passionate about fish, corals and the ocean my entire life! So I must say that I'm split on this topic. On one hand, I love my tank and I strive to provide it with the best care possible and the upmost attention. If I'm not attending to it, I'm reading about it. I'm sure I spend as much money on information as I do on my tank with magazine subscriptions, books, forums and time spent reading (maybe not... but the point is made). On the other, I have seen so many people get in to it because it is cool, or the latest fad. However, few people care to invest the time to learn to care for it and treat it like furniture, with out realizing that every fail is a precious life lost and taken from a dying ecosystem. I've heard people get advice, ignore it and say "I'll just buy anther one". No, these type of people should be kept far away, world reefs are hurting. Even successful hobbyist have suffered losses from neglect, accidents, carelessness or due to the learning curve. That's not to say we don't do a lot of good either, but we cant say we don't have an adverse impact because 'Petco is lumped in w LiveAquaria' just like 'flavor of the month hobbyist are lumped in with successful, established and proactive hobbyist'. So I do believe stricter legislation can be good, so can higher prices (which hurts me as recent graduate), selective importation from places with good collection practices, etc. One thing I've noticed recently is that every fish is being described with the name of where it was collected from along with a price difference so we can make better educated decisions. The next thing that needs to happen is breeding practices need to improve and the prices need to catch up to wild caught to lower reef impact by newbies and veteran hobbyist. I really appreciate his article because at least we are discussing the issue. However, aside from supporting PIJAC, which I think we should support because they are our front lines. We also need to support organizations like Coral Restoration Foundation (Coral Restoration Foundation), that reestablish reefs with propagated corals, with either time and or money. Along with organizations like Deep Blue Seas Foundation (Deep Blue Seas Foundation) to help those areas that collect our fine specimens to continue to collect in a sustainable method because there is a benefit to them; and ORA (ORA | Oceans, Reefs & Aquariums) that breed and aquaculture our hobby so we don't have to remove from the reefs or oceans; or our Underwater national parks (Biscayne National Park (U.S. National Park Service)) that protect our natural resources and are the sources of our 'windows into the oceans'. Also, we need to support local science museums and aquariums so we can teach others about our hobby and world reefs, not only at the individual level, but at he commercial level and club level. PIJAC may be the one fighting the legislation, but all these organizations that are separate, are actually intertwined and together they may make for a better hobby and reef sustainability, but also bring more public attention, awareness and support to the benefit of the good hobbyist we have.

Sorry for the long winded post, just my $1 and .02 cents.
-Bernie

Excellent points, and you are 100% correct that we need to support all of those in the hobby and industry who are doing their part daily to help create a sustainable industry. The protections NOAA put in place are not a bad thing...it's the implications for the overall aquarium trade. We just flat out don't do enough to communicate to the outside world how caring and concerned this hobby really is. I don't portend to be an expert on the legislation, or even the problem, but I can see part of it that is caused by anti-industry groups literally "picking on" the industry/hobby because we are a hapless, easy target. It needs to stop.

Thanks!

Scott

franciscosalazar · Sep 4, 2014

Aside from PIJAC, who else is actually lobbying and how can we support them?

Battlecorals · Sep 4, 2014

Agree with you man. this has been a looming threat for a long time. I think the industry clearly has more at stake than even the most die hard hobbyist and i too am guilty of while being utterly terrified by the end game of decisions like this have managed to do absolutely nothing to help the cause.

Even after i saw that this decision came through a couple weeks ago i just kind of pondered it as some intangible "way it works". and " "i may be screwed at some point" but ultimately in some form of denial that it would and could ACTUALLY happen.

TILL TODAY!

Thanks Scott for the much needed kick in the shins on this. I am going to be a little selfish here but i have to apply this to my own personal future to put in in perspective.

If this is how things are moving today, then in another 10-15 years when i would otherwise like to see myself having made at least a modest living doing something that I am actually good at and passionate about, might I be scrambling as the rug is pulled out from under me in 10 years or so and what are my options at that point??

.....I am all in man. this is a fight worth fighting and i plan to get involved immediately. Information should be the key i I would think that the more people are informed the more the opinion could swing our way.

uniquecorals · Sep 4, 2014

Battlecorals said:
Agree with you man. this has been a looming threat for a long time. I think the industry clearly has more at stake than even the most die hard hobbyist and i too am guilty of while being utterly terrified by the end game of decisions like this have managed to do absolutely nothing to help the cause.

Even after i saw that this decision came through a couple weeks ago i just kind of pondered it as some intangible "way it works". and " "i may be screwed at some point" but ultimately in some form of denial that it would and could ACTUALLY happen.

TILL TODAY!

Thanks Scott for the much needed kick in the shins on this. I am going to be a little selfish here but i have to apply this to my own personal future to put in in perspective.

If this is how things are moving today, then in another 10-15 years when i would otherwise like to see myself having made at least a modest living doing something that I am actually good at and passionate about, might I be scrambling as the rug is pulled out from under me in 10 years or so and what are my options at that point??

.....I am all in man. this is a fight worth fighting and i plan to get involved immediately. Information should be the key i I would think that the more people are informed the more the opinion could swing our way.

Right there with you...I've been told by some people in the know that the legislation won't result in immediate bans, but that this may come later. When "later" is, we don't have assurances...The important thing is that we need to wake up and support those who are fighting on our behalf...We can't keep worrying about "later", as the time to act is NOW! Well, franciscosalazar, I believe the best voice that we have taking up the fight right now is PIJAC. They need funding to support the legal expenses that come in to fight these things, and they are probably our loudest voice in DC right now. I know that there are other individuals and perhaps even some organizations working to achieve similar goals of defending our industry, but quite frankly, I'm not entirely aware of who and where they are...again, one of the problems that we face- we need to all be really well informed and really on top of what's going on. If anyone can provide this information, that would be great. Having a unified voice of our own is important!

-Scott

franciscosalazar · Sep 4, 2014

Scott,
I look forward to hearing who else we can support.
I donated today to PIJAC and requested my local club members, Atlanta Reef Club, do the same