Mission Statement For RVC

[Nonna58]

[h=2]Reef Vision Community (RVC) is a community of hobbyists from all levels of experiences, dedicated to the advancement of the marine reef keeping hobby through friendship, education, shared knowledge and support of the conservation efforts of our oceans, reefs and estuaries through our continued promotion of the benefits to aquaculture farming and captive breeding.[/h]

 

[iReef1234]

What conservation efforts can I get involved with? I hear there is a lot of things going on with clownfish and I want to help.

 

[Nonna58]

I would check with your local club in Texas. A good person to ask from Texas would be Marc Levenson in Ft. Worth. I am not sure what area of Texas you live in but you can always check with your local fish stores to try and fundraise for PIJAC which is the organization that needs the funding to fight NOAA from adding new additions to the endangered species act. Not only are certain corals listed but now they are trying to list the Percula Clownfish. Our club has raised funds from 2 raffles so far. You can always donate directly to PIAJC as well. Aquatic Defense Fund | PIJAC

 

[iReef1234]

Thanks for the response, Sue!

I'm not in a very aquarium-friendly area of Texas but will ask Marc. Thanks for the lead.

Also, I read the PIJAC website and I don't understand the conservation-status of the Aquatic Defense Fund. Can anyone explain it to me? It seems like it's fighting the Endangered Species Act which is, of course, not very conservation-oriented. I guess I'm just not understanding it. I know everyone here is on board with it, but how is this PIJAC thing helping wild clownfish/conservation?

 

[Mustang Man]

The most basic description is if those fish are placed on the Endangered Species list, under the current rules we would not be allowed to buy these fish, we would not be allowed to breed these fish. In other words fish that are for the most part being bred in captivity with very little wild specimens being brought in would now be illegal to purchase. Some major clownfish breeders like ORA, and the others would have a huge hit on their financial income because they would not be allowed to breed and sell the clowns they have even though they are not being collected from the wild.

 

[iReef1234]

If clownfish are endangered in the wild, isn't a good thing to have them listed? I thought the endangered species list was a good thing for conservation?

 

[jjtaylor62083]

They dont care where the species is from if its endangered its endangered thats one of the things that they need to make aware thats why we support pijac as they are this hobbies voice and are taking the lead on deffending it.

 

[Mustang Man]

If clownfish are endangered in the wild, isn't a good thing to have them listed? I thought the endangered species list was a good thing for conservation?

Yes if they are endangered I believe they need to be listed as such but with the current rules that would make it unlawful to breed and keep those species, only issue with that is almost none of the clownfish in the hobby right now are wild caught most are bred in captivity. Breeding them in captivity at facilities like ORA could also be the biggest conversation opportunity available since they could theoretically breed clowns in a safe environment to reintroduce into the wild. There is also the fact that these fish may be endangered and since we collect so few for the hobby that something else is the cause of their decline and hobbyist being not allowed to keep them will not help them at all since something else is causing the decline in population numbers.