Best ethical collection areas?

[JennM]

We talk a lot about places to avoid: Phillipines, Bali, Indonesia, etc. We talk about things that have a "Hawaii" label having this because they stopped over in Hawaii but maybe came from Indonesia etc.

What areas should we look FOR? Seems every time I turn around I should be avoiding this one and that one.

Am I correct in assuming that much of the Fiji collected specimens are OK?

Jenn

 

[MaryHM]

Hawaii is ok as long as you are buying Hawaiian fish (Yellow Tangs, Nasos, etc...). Know which fish are indigenous and which aren't and you're ok. Actually, very few Hawaiian suppliers mix Indo with their stuff. Other good places are Fiji, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands, Australia, and Vanuatu. Questionable are Red Sea and Sri Lanka.

 

[SPC]

Mary, is the reason we don't see many (actually I haven't seen any :wink: ) Australian fish is that they go to other countries?
Steve

 

[Rich-n-poor]

Captive Propagation and Tank raised fish.

I propagate almost everything I have in my tank, If we really want to be morally responsible we should try to fill our tanks without emptying the oceans IMO

rich
_________________
Mercedes Benz C111

 

[JennM]

Propagation is definitely a growth area in the hobby but I believe that conservation will be more effective if there is an economic incentive for these countries to preserve their reefs and collect responsibly from it.

It's easy to say "tank raised only" but at some point, broodstock had to originate in the wild, and preserving genetic diversity often means introducing new wild-caught stock.

To halt all wild harvest from the reef would be devastating to some communities' economies. I fail to see how that would benefit the reef in any way.

Jenn

 

[Louis Z]

Rich n poor what have you propagated in your tank- I know this may not be the place for the question yet you can post your answers in the Captive breeding section moderated by F Marini.

 

[Anemone]

Questionable are Red Sea and Sri Lanka.

Mary,

Why is Red Sea questionable? The fish I've bought from that area (fridmani, Sohal Tang, Purple Tang) have been some of my most hardy fish.

Kevin

 

[MaryHM]

Concerning Australia- It does come in, although quite rarely. One problem is the lack of variety and the high freight costs. You have to bring in practically 30 of everything they can get to meet freight requirements. Also, from talking to an exporter friend of mine in Australia they don't like to sell to the United States because they have a hard time getting paid.

Concerning Red Sea- It's questionable because I have heard quite a few reports of cyanide use there. Philippino divers have been sent to that area to collect for some of the major exporters.

 

[JeremyR]

I have seen somewhat of a degradation in red sea quality, and heard the cyanide rumors.. but the quality issues I've seen I attribute to poor holding practices.. IE purple tangs that cost 20 dollars less than 5 years ago and can come in with some hlle and parasite issues.. but I never lose them like you would the cyanide special from indo or phil.. so I don't know if cyanide is playing a role or not, and I'm not sure why they would need to use cyanide to catch tangs anyways.. there has never been a huge variety of red sea fish imported.

 

[Rich-n-poor]

Rich n poor what have you propagated in your tank- I know this may not be the place for the question yet you can post your answers in the Captive breeding section moderated by F Marini.

about 8 variety of shrooms
green star, yellow, brown zoo polyups (2 types)
sarcophagan leather
finger leather
yellow sponge
cabbage leather

_________________
og kush marijuana

 

[dizzy]

Mary: Hawaii is ok as long as you are buying Hawaiian fish.

I was over in Hawaii a few years ago and I was disappointed to learn that some of the divers use bleach to catch fish over there. I don't suppose that bleach is as bad as cyanide, but I can't imagine it doesn't have some negative consequences. A lot of the Potters angels used to have decompression problems too from being jerked up too fast. A needle is used to expell the gas bubbles.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the Tonga, Marshall Island, and Fiji divers know about the Hawaiian use of bleach and use it on occasion as well.

I have heard that Naso tangs from Bali sometimes get mixed in with the Hawaiian ones, so maybe that Naso is not as clean as you think.

Does anyone know much about the fish from Brazil? How about East Africa? I love Radiant wrasses, are they caught dirty too?

Florida divers use Quinaldine. Is there any place that really stands up to intense scrutiny?

My guess is that there are probably good and bad collectors almost everwhere there are fish to be collected. The bad guys are probably the ones who come in with the bigger catches. It is probably better to buy fish from reputable wholesalers than to use geography as your moral compass.

 

[JeremyR]

Quinaldine is used all over the carib, not just florida. I've been told by some fl wholesalers that the majority of carib fish are caught this way now. You can see it in some peoples grammas and such.. quality has really slipped. I've been paying xtra for mine for a while now to avoid this kind of issue.