coralite
05/28/2003, 11:24 AM
As reef aquarium keepers, most of us intend to do what is best for the reefs we demand corals from. Most of us living in the US have very little opportunity to have a direct effect besides purchasing livestock that is from environmentaly friendly sources. Reef aquariums are very complex and most of us know that a subtle change to one characteristic of the reef can make or break a reef. Although the ocean is a tad more resilient, the demand society has placed on the marine environment in the form of food and pollution solution is taking a noticeable toll on the ocean. It is kind of foolish to picture relatively wealthy Americans, spending a considerable amount of energy and resources to safeguard environments that are thousands of miles away when our own coasts and nearby ocean conditions are deteriorating at an alarming rate.
Please do not take this the wrong way, I am all for teaching sustainable techniques and providing the necessary resources such as netting for islanders and teaching them to value and benefit from the resources that they have. Coral and rock farming is also a great step in safeguarding the reefs we all love. I am saying that the coastal and deepwater ecosystems of the US are equally unique and deserving of our attention and preservation
efforts. The main point that I want to get across is that we might often think that exotic faraway environments are the only ones in peril and neglect and that we need to preserve tham because the foreigners who live there don't value what they have when in fact, most of us are hardly aware of the abundant diversity of animals and ecosysems in the US and the alarming problems that threaten them.
One example is the massive assault that has been made on ocean fish for food purposes. We reap nearly 80 million tons of food from the ocean without ever sowing anything. It's not like we throw out baby fish and come back later to see how big they are later, except for salmon. We have become so used to thinking that seafood is a "rich" food because it is from the ocean but what about all you can eat shrimp and crab legs? where is the delicacy? For every pound of shrimp trawled, there is 9 pounds of bycatch that is thrown out dead. That is not very sustainable. Groundfish are caught with bottom trawls and otter trawls which use a "tickler chain" to spook the fish out of the sediment and into the net. Some tickler chains have links a foot long (one link, a foot long!!) which travel a foot under the sediment. That is one devastating fishing practice.
I could go on but it only gets worse and You must be saying what can I do but its simple. People fish for money because you will buy their fish. It is unreasonable to ask someone or anyone to quit eating fish altogether but imagine if we all ate fish half as much, that would equate to roughly half as much harvest and twice as many fish in the ocean. Imagine if all the RC members and their families fasted seafood one month a year, that would be a pile of fish huh?
The cell phones you use and throw away have toxic metals, anything you pour in a freshwater drain ends up draining downslope to the ocean. The seafood you buy determines what and how much more will be harvested.
I just want to get across to people that the things they do individually, everyday, collectively have a greater effect on the marine environment than most any kind of direct rehabilitation is going to correct. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Not trying to take away from any of the urgencies of marine conservation, I simply want to correlate the actions we do everyday are indicative of our attitude of conserving. Are we really concerned with the marine environment or are we trying to make up for selfish practices by helping exotic environments a world away? Sorry this turned into a soap box but this is an issue I feel strongly about.
Please do not take this the wrong way, I am all for teaching sustainable techniques and providing the necessary resources such as netting for islanders and teaching them to value and benefit from the resources that they have. Coral and rock farming is also a great step in safeguarding the reefs we all love. I am saying that the coastal and deepwater ecosystems of the US are equally unique and deserving of our attention and preservation
efforts. The main point that I want to get across is that we might often think that exotic faraway environments are the only ones in peril and neglect and that we need to preserve tham because the foreigners who live there don't value what they have when in fact, most of us are hardly aware of the abundant diversity of animals and ecosysems in the US and the alarming problems that threaten them.
One example is the massive assault that has been made on ocean fish for food purposes. We reap nearly 80 million tons of food from the ocean without ever sowing anything. It's not like we throw out baby fish and come back later to see how big they are later, except for salmon. We have become so used to thinking that seafood is a "rich" food because it is from the ocean but what about all you can eat shrimp and crab legs? where is the delicacy? For every pound of shrimp trawled, there is 9 pounds of bycatch that is thrown out dead. That is not very sustainable. Groundfish are caught with bottom trawls and otter trawls which use a "tickler chain" to spook the fish out of the sediment and into the net. Some tickler chains have links a foot long (one link, a foot long!!) which travel a foot under the sediment. That is one devastating fishing practice.
I could go on but it only gets worse and You must be saying what can I do but its simple. People fish for money because you will buy their fish. It is unreasonable to ask someone or anyone to quit eating fish altogether but imagine if we all ate fish half as much, that would equate to roughly half as much harvest and twice as many fish in the ocean. Imagine if all the RC members and their families fasted seafood one month a year, that would be a pile of fish huh?
The cell phones you use and throw away have toxic metals, anything you pour in a freshwater drain ends up draining downslope to the ocean. The seafood you buy determines what and how much more will be harvested.
I just want to get across to people that the things they do individually, everyday, collectively have a greater effect on the marine environment than most any kind of direct rehabilitation is going to correct. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Not trying to take away from any of the urgencies of marine conservation, I simply want to correlate the actions we do everyday are indicative of our attitude of conserving. Are we really concerned with the marine environment or are we trying to make up for selfish practices by helping exotic environments a world away? Sorry this turned into a soap box but this is an issue I feel strongly about.