Cyanide and fish from the Philippines

[Humblefish]

I know it's supposed to be illegal for them to use cyanide nowadays, but the statement below is eye opening:

Of course, the very laws (or lack thereof) that govern the aquarium trade are part of the problem. Regulations and enforcement vary as widely as the geographic locales where fish are collected, says Rhyne.

"Some fisheries are really well managed," he says, "like Hawaii." Australia and Fiji also manage their aquarium trade activities fairly well. But the Philippines and Indonesia—which together account for about 86 percent of the fish imported into the U.S.—have some of the more poorly managed fisheries.

For instance, it's illegal to use cyanide—a poison that can stun fish and make them easier to catch—in the Philippines, says Brian Tissot, director of the marine laboratory at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. "But almost half the fish coming out of the Philippines [are] treated with cyanide."

Enforcement in the Philippines is left up to local municipalities, which usually lack the resources to police their waters.

"But almost half the fish coming out of the Philippines [are] treated with cyanide."

Source (PUBLISHED JULY 18, 2014): http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...-source-sustainability-animals-ocean-science/

 

[eatbreakfast]

No study is cited for that percentage. It s quoted from a professor, and I'm not sure where he has gotten that number since there hasn't been published numbers on that in over a decade.

In fact one organization test food and aquarium fish from the Philippines from 1991-2003 and in fish for the aquarium trade saw the numbers go from 43% to 8% to 29%.
https://books.google.com/books?hl=e...#v=onepage&q=cyanide Philippines fish&f=false

Also, I would be wary of the facts on an article that said that regal/hippo tangs significantly contributed to algae control nthe reefs,considering they are primarily a planktivore.

 

[4FordFamily]

I think that article came out a few weeks ago or at least another one on nat geo and the near consensus was that it was just drama and not substantiated. I won't pretend to have any idea though.

 

[Robthorn]

I am not sure of the cause but I do not have anywhere near the success with fish as I used to. Especially tangs. They just eat and continue to wither away and die over night. No spots or specs. Feed nori and meaty foods everyday.
I have suspected cyanide or dynomite but have no way to figure it out.

 

[4FordFamily]

I am not sure of the cause but I do not have anywhere near the success with fish as I used to. Especially tangs. They just eat and continue to wither away and die over night. No spots or specs. Feed nori and meaty foods everyday.
I have suspected cyanide or dynomite but have no way to figure it out.

With vicious strains of velvet that don't show spots this sounds like what both ich and velvet do, except that ich will almost always have spots. Perhaps you don't notice them?

This is what I've witnessed many tangs do in my tanks when I utilized ich management methods rather than treating and quarantining all incoming fish to prevent these parasites from entering again

 

[eatbreakfast]

With vicious strains of velvet that don't show spots this sounds like what both ich and velvet do, except that ich will almost always have spots. Perhaps you don't notice them?

This is what I've witnessed many tangs do in my tanks when I utilized ich management methods rather than treating and quarantining all incoming fish to prevent these parasites from entering again

Agreed. Without treating for parasites concluding that it is poor collection is premature.

 

[Humblefish]

Studies on illegal activity are useless without conviction statistics to back them up. Case in point:

A study of the sustainability of the live fish industry in the Calamianes in 2003 concluded that, due to overfishing and rampant cyanide use, the industry was “greatly compromising its present and future regenerative capacity” (Padilla et al. 2003, 98). There are signs that the recent push for effective management measures for the industry is gaining pace; nonetheless, illegal fishing is still considered as a large problem facing the Calamianes. Dalabajan, who has analyzed extensively the extent of cyanide fishing in the Calamianes, suggests that more than 250,000 cyanide fishing trips occurred in the islands between 1999 and 2002, but there was not a single conviction for cyanide fishing during this period (Dalabajan 2005, 6).

Source: http://www.philippinestudies.net/files/journals/1/articles/2908/public/2908-3200-1-PB.pdf

So, based upon the conviction percentage one can safely assume no fish were caught using cyanide around the Calamian Islands from 1999-2002. :p

 

[zoomonster]

Back in the 90's when cyanide was more prevalent a lot of fish could be bought that appeared healthy and did well. The catch is they seldom lived more than a year when liver damage from the cyanide caught up with them. Back in my early days in the hobby that was pretty common and there was almost no avoiding Philippine fish. There was no internet ordering and you were pretty much stuck with whatever showed up in LFS.

Now days I have not seen any evidence of cyanide fish. But probably 90%+ of my fish originated from quality marine. I'm sure there are some less than scrupulous importer/distributors that bring in questionable stock. I would be most wary of some LFS with connections in Philippines bringing in stuff direct from a shady collector.

 

[Humblefish]

I guess my point in posting this is while its hard to always know where LFS specimens originate from, this is not always the case with online vendors. Some online places (like Liveaquaria) will tell you and sometimes even let you decide where a fish you buy is sourced from (i.e. Philippines). For example, on Liveaquaria you sometimes have the option of buying a Copperband Butterfly from the following locations: Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines. Might be worth the extra $$$ to buy the fish that is less likely to have cyanide poisoning (i.e. the Australian specimen is almost guaranteed NOT TO have been collected using cyanide.)

Just something to think about.

 

[eatbreakfast]

The resources I provided weren't using conviction statistics, but were based on random samples taken at point of export, not on 'catching someone in the act'.

The numbers had been decreasing, though, 2003 seems to be one of the last years with numbers provided. Couple that with very obvious pushes both locally and abroad, and 13years passing it is hard to believe that the statistics in the National Geographic article are close to being accurate.

 

[eatbreakfast]

I guess my point in posting this is while its hard to always know where LFS specimens originate from, this is not always the case with online vendors. Some online places (like Liveaquaria) will tell you and sometimes even let you decide where a fish you buy is sourced from (i.e. Philippines). For example, on Liveaquaria you sometimes have the option of buying a Copperband Butterfly from the following locations: Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines. Might be worth the extra $$$ to buy the fish that is less likely to have cyanide poisoning (i.e. the Australian specimen is almost guaranteed NOT TO have been collected using cyanide.)

Just something to think about.

While it decreases the liklihood of acquiring a specimen that was captured by cyanide, though not sure how significant of a number that is, there are plenty of other factors that affect fish acclimation to captivity and subsequent longevity.

Australin fish are captured more ethically, but getting Australian fish direct compared to comparable Philippines fish direct, and I have personally found Philippines fish have been hardier.

All too often information that is outdated keeps getting passed around as current fact, though in 13yrs a lot can change. While I'm sure cyanide use hasn't been eliminated in the Philippines, based on the fish I have been coming across it has been severely curtailed.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Ugh.

"Of the 229 Karanrang fishers who took part in the 2010 ethnography, 194 (65%) use bombs and/or cyanide in their fishing. Of these, 133 (69%) use bombs, 52 (27%) use cyanide, and 9 (5%) use both bombs and cyanide."

One of the fishers said "We know the impact of fishing and bombs. Actually, many of our friends have lost their arms when a bomb has exploded before it was thrown. We also know the environmental impact, such as the destruction of coral reefs, but because of our economy, we need to keep catching fish bu using bombs and stunning [cyanide]."

Grydehøj, A., & Nurdin, N. (2016). Politics of technology in the informal governance of destructive fishing in Spermonde, Indonesia. GeoJournal, 81(2), 281-292.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Ugh.

"Of the 229 Karanrang fishers who took part in the 2010 ethnography, 194 (65%) use bombs and/or cyanide in their fishing. Of these, 133 (69%) use bombs, 52 (27%) use cyanide, and 9 (5%) use both bombs and cyanide."

One of the fishers said "We know the impact of fishing and bombs. Actually, many of our friends have lost their arms when a bomb has exploded before it was thrown. We also know the environmental impact, such as the destruction of coral reefs, but because of our economy, we need to keep catching fish bu using bombs and stunning [cyanide]."

Grydehøj, A., & Nurdin, N. (2016). Politics of technology in the informal governance of destructive fishing in Spermonde, Indonesia. GeoJournal, 81(2), 281-292.

That's Indonesia. It has gotten far worse there than the Philippines. In fact, as restrictions got stronger in the Philippines, many Filipino cyanide fishermen migrated to Indonesia.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Oh yes, it was just something I ran across while I was looking through some journals, not Phillipines specific. This was about just a particular pocket of fishers..... but that's a lot of fishers......

We certainly can't say the practice is dead.

 

[Humblefish]

The resources I provided weren't using conviction statistics, but were based on random samples taken at point of export, not on 'catching someone in the act'.

The numbers had been decreasing, though, 2003 seems to be one of the last years with numbers provided. Couple that with very obvious pushes both locally and abroad, and 13years passing it is hard to believe that the statistics in the National Geographic article are close to being accurate.

Wikipedia states: "Estimates suggest 70 to 90% of aquarium fish exported from the Philippines are caught with cyanide."

I'm trying to look up the 3 citations they list to back up the statement.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Wikipedia states: "Estimates suggest 70 to 90% of aquarium fish exported from the Philippines are caught with cyanide."

I'm trying to look up the 3 citations they list to back up the statement.

Of the 3 citations given for that particular statistic the most recent one was in 2003, and that wasn't peer reviewed. The other 2, '97 and '98

Wikipedia states: "Estimates suggest 70 to 90% of aquarium fish exported from the Philippines are caught with cyanide."

I'm trying to look up the 3 citations they list to back up the statement.

That figure of 70-90% pops up on a few different pages on Wikipedia, with different references given as to where the source for it is. It actually comes from the National Geographic article from a month and a half ago, which is quite inaccurate.

However, the highest figure given in any of the peer reviewed literature is from Poison and Profits by Barbour and Pratt which lists a high of 75%. However, throughout subsequent papers by them they report a sharp drop in cyanide use, in just a couple of years in the Philippines. And all of these figures are pretty old.