Concerning decline in fish variety ???

[Oceanman5]

Is it just me or a lot of LFS and online stores are so limited with their fish stock nowadays. I swear 2-3 years ago we had too many options to choose from and now we have the same 12 species of fish. Royal gramma, clowns, hippos, fox faces, firefish etc. The only reason I was able to get a flame angel for a fair price was because I work at fish store and got first pick as well as a discount. Ik that Hawaii is closed but there's got to be more fish out there. Could it be a South Florida thing or are other states experiencing this?

anybody noticed this ?

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

It's that time of year... You don't see as much from the Pacific until fall (or much of the southern hemisphere for that matter).

 

[Oceanman5]

It's that time of year... You don't see as much from the Pacific until fall (or much of the southern hemisphere for that matter).

any specific reason why?

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

any specific reason why?

Weather and collection rules from certain countries.

 

[UGASealDawg]

More and more places are limiting or eliminating harvesting and export. The common ones you see all the time are well established farm raised species that reproduce easily and quickly.

IMHO, this is a good thing for the ecosystems of the world. Fish have been over harvested for years and there is a severe decline in fish populations the world over. I love my reef tank but I understand the greater good and limit myself to farm raised or aquacultured species. It's not worth the negative impacts to the reefs and oceans of the world. I am not a tree hugger or an extremist. I just have seen the declines as an avid outdoorsman and SCUBA diver. The reefs all over the world are in decline. Fact. Maybe not buying a live caught specimen doesn't make a difference. But maybe it does.

I am not asking that everyone agree. But I do want everyone to understand and realize the fact of the declining, reefs oceans and seas. Once educated to the facts, everyone is free to act as they deem appropriate. That is all I want to do; enlighten as many as possible to the facts. They are fairly easy to research for yourself.