by AquaNerd | Oct 2, 2013 | Conservation, Corals
Here’s a bit of good news for the aquarium industry. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has decided to postpone listing 66 coral species under the Endangered Species Act by six months. After hearing extensive comments on the matter, NOAA determined that they needed to gather more information before making a final decision. They will complete their data solicitation by October 2013 and expect to make a decision on the information no later than June 2014. If NOAA finds sufficient reason to list the proposed corals, then each species will then become illegal to own or even propagate. And just taking a quick glance at the list, passage of the proposal would affect each and every one of us, tremendously. That announcement out of the way, here’s a little background on the story. The listing of these corals under the ESA stemmed from a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity to list a total 83 coral species. That petition was originally filed in 2009, but inactivity on NOAA’s part prompted legal action by the CBD. After some initial back and forth, an agreement was eventually constructed in which the National Marine Fisheries Service would conduct a year-long study of the proposed coral species in order to determine if their listing under the ESA was necessary by AquaNerd | Sep 22, 2013 | Conservation, Corals, Fish, Industry
Here is some troubling news. According to a recent article on KeysNet, a news organization that focuses on the Florida Keys, the owner of Tropicorium Inc. and one of his employees have been indicted on felony charges of illegally taking livestock from Florida waters. The article states that the owner, Richard Perrin, and an employee, Joseph Franko, made two separate trips to the Florida Keys back in 2011. On these trips, they brought a customized van and a boat to collect saltwater fish and corals. Where the two men tripped up is that they did not have the proper permits to collect in Florida and they collected a slew of protected species. by AquaNerd | Jul 24, 2013 | Conservation, Fish, Industry, Sustainability
At the end of June, the Hawaiian Board of Land and Natural Resources, with a 4-2 vote, passed new laws limiting collecting of fish for the aquarium trade to a 40 species “white list” for the Big Island. In addition to the creation of a white list, three of the species found on that list will also have specific bag limits, which are detailed below. Along with the white list, the vote also puts an outright ban on spear fishing with SCUBA gear for West Hawaiian waters. This list and its bag limits are a bit confusing and seem incomplete. Regardless, they may not even have an impact on the number of fish being imported into the hobby. This white list is for the Big Island of Hawaii only, including West Hawaii, but other areas won’t share the same legislation, at least for now. Other counties may adopt a similar set of rules and regulations, which could really handcuff the trade throughout the state. All that said, I do not see any big issues with a white list or bag limits, to be quite honest. The white list is what bothers me the most, as it prevents certain species that could be eventually aquacultured from ever reaching that status, and it excludes other fish that might be in an extreme abundance, but merely left out. Below are bag limits and the 40-species white list, both taken from Fish Channel. Bag Limits Yellow Tangs: no more than five larger than 4.5 inches or five smaller than 2 inches Gldring Surgeonfish (Kole Tang): no more than five per person per day larger than 4 inches Achilles Tang: limit of 10 per person per day The West Hawaii White List The following list represents the fish species that may still be taken for the aquarium trade in Hawaii. Fish not on the list are protected. Yellow tang Chevron tang Goldring surgeonfish Achilles tang Tinker’s butterflyfish Orangespine Unicornfish Forecepfish Goldrim surgeonfish Potter’s angelfish Fourspot butterflyfish Yellowtail Coris Ornate Wrasse Orangeband surgeonfish Bird wrasse Eyestripe Surgeonfish Multiband butterflyfish Saddle wrasse Brown surgeonfish Flame wrasse Thompson’s surgeonfish Peacock grouper Bluestripe snapper Redbarred hawkfish Psychedelic wrasse Hawaiian Whitespotted toby Fisher’s angelfish Hawaii Dascyllus Milletseed butterflyfish Blacklip butterflyfish Pyramid butterflyfish Shortnose wrasse Black durgon Spotted boxfish Blackside hawkfish Hawaii longfin anthias Eightline wrasse Fourline wrasse Smalltail wrasse Lei triggerfish Gilded triggerfish by AquaNerd | Apr 8, 2013 | Conservation, Fish, Invertebrates
The aquarium trade is often the target for invasive species chatter, but it looks like the US has another potential source, debris from the 2011 Japan tsunami. Since the disaster, pieces of debris have washed up on US shorelines and still continue to do so. Some of this debris has contained marine life from Japan, but those organisms were either plants or invertebrates that were physcially attached to a structure, like a dock for example. But a recent discovery has just changed all of that. For the first time, it is believed that live fish have made the trans-oceanic journey stowed away in a small boat that was set adrift during the tsunami. The fish, which have been identified as striped beakfish (Oplegnathus fasciatus) were found on March 22nd in an 18-foot skiff that had beached itself in Long Beach, Washington by a local resident. They were located in a rear compartment of the small fiberglass boat, which had was partially submerged and was missing its lid. The resident took the fish to the local city hall, who eventually contacted Washington Fish and Wildlife biologists. The fish were all euthanized to be studied, but one was spared and sent to the Seaside Aquarium in Oregon. Scientists will use data collected from the euthanized fish to determine if they rode in the partially submerged boat the entire way from Japan, or if they got on board someone along the way, in say Hawaii. Along with the five fish, officials discovered all sorts of marine organisms living in the boat, including crabs, marine worms, a sea cucumber, scallops and blue mussels. Biologists doubt the fish could survive the cold waters of the Washington coastline, but had the boat landed farther south, the animals could have escaped into an area that they could have easily taken advantage of, possibly leading to a breeding population of the non-native fish.
