FW: Every marine hobbyist should read this report

[cjdevito]

JC Delbeek has posted the following in a number of forums, but it doesn't look to have been forwarded here yet. Having read the document he refers to, I have to absolutely agree with him when he says every marine aquarist should read it.

"The International Working SubGroup of the US Coral Reef Task Force has just
released for public comment, the first draft of it recommendations. I urge any
of you who keep marine organisms to please read this report in its entirety.
There are many issues covered from cyanide fishing to live coral importation,
that you all need to be aware of. If you love marine animals, if you want your
children and their children to also be able to enjoy an aquarium in their
homes, then you should read this report. The state of the world's reefs are the
main concern, and our hobby is being brought to task and asked to be more
responsible. Myself and others have long called for this hobby to police
itself, its not happened, and as predicted, government intervention may not be
all that far off.
http://coralreef.gov/TRADE.REPORT.FINAL.pdf

You need Adove Acrobat installed in your browser in order to view this file.

J. Charles Delbeek"

[dragon0121]

It would appear, after reading the recommendations, that the writing is on the wall. I hope the Marine Fish and Coral distributors are paying attention and address these issues while there is time. When the government says we will give you X years to do this and you choose to ignore them, you are usually the one who regrets it. Ask gas stations who had ten years to install leak proof gas tanks and didn't. I bet I saw 30 stations go under or change hands last year when their 10 years was up. And I don't know how many more last year were tore up to install tanks at the last minute. :rolleyes: Is it just the good old U.S. of A. that thinks short term, max profits at the expense of long term prosperity?

[Bubafat]

Will someone please summarize this, i read it and all it said was that ya we're majorly F'ing up the reefs and so now it's time to ban more things. And why doesn't our government get their head out of their @$$'s and maybe try to support these fisheries and aquaculture programs instead of just doing what they always do, ban this, ban that. And then they use that wonderful word that just ****es the hell out of me because it's just a cop-out....Education.

We're gonna help ban the importation instead of doing the most democratic thing to do which would be to support the aquaculterers so that they can offer these animals cheaper then buying them wild caught. If i had the option to buy an animal cheaper and more healthy and i wasn't destroying the reef, hell yes i would. Yes, i believe the government should ban things that are either threatened or endangered but at the same time encourage them to be captive bred. I think they should even add gonipora to that list. Humph. Ok, enough bickering by me.
Buba

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Have fun and happy reefing. "The goal in life is to reach pure happieness." Aristotle

[cjdevito]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by billsreef:
I like how one SMALL paragraph mentions that around 90% of the imported coral is dead dried out coral for the curio trade<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

What about the charts on page six that show more live coral is imported then dead, either measured in total pieces or total volume?

I'm not sure where you get your '90% dead' statistic; the only place I can find that number is used in association with dead organisms is to mention the waste factor of the aquarium industry....IE, that 90% of the livestock collected for the trade perishes before it reaches the consumer.

Ah, wait, never mind, I found where you saw it...you just missed the context it's used in. From page 12:

"Stony corals traded as curios,jewelry, furniture or dead ornamentals .... accounted for more then 90% of the international trade in corals during the 1980s and early 1990s."

However, note the timeframe, then compare the dates and volume listed in the charts on page six and you'll see the reverse is now true. In 1997 (the most recent year they provide statistics on), three times more pieces of live coral were imported then dead coral.

[cjdevito]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bubafat:
Will someone please summarize this<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Basically, the pages most important to us, as aquarists, are 23 and 24...everything in section 7 of the paper's recommendations.

In short, at this time the trade subgroup does NOT recommend a complete restriction on all trade in marine aquarium organisms. However, it labels current practices as unsustainable. It recommends the development of a certification plan that would outlaw the importation of any corals that have not been certified to have been collected without "the use of destructive practices".

What it comes down to is that the recommendation for regulation (at least at the collection, holding and transport ends) is being made.

I don't, personally, consider this a bad thing at all. The trade has had years to police itself; it hasn't. The hobby has had years to vote with it's dollars, to choose to spend more money to support aquacultured organisms and responsible collectors and farmers; largely, it has not.

In any case, regardless of our individual opinions on the subject, the recommendations outlined above are being made.

[Frisco]

I'm actually happy that some attention is finally being directed at this problem. Nothing I read sounds unreasonable; in fact, everything that was presented in this particular report sounds totally logical and well structured to me. How these recommendations get interpreted and instituted by others certainly remains to be seen though...

[billsreef]

I like how one SMALL paragraph mentions that around 90% of the imported coral is dead dried out coral for the curio trade but most of this document only talks about regulating the live trade. What's wrong with that picture?

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Bill

If damsels grew as big as sharks, the sharks would run in fear!
My dive photos (http://hometown.aol.com/billsreef/)
ICQ 56222784

[billsreef]

Charles, I should have had another cup of coffee before looking at those charts. Of course now that I am trying to take another look at that document for a reread I can't get it to load.

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Bill

If damsels grew as big as sharks, the sharks would run in fear!
My dive photos (http://hometown.aol.com/billsreef/)
ICQ 56222784

[horge]

This document simply imparts a USCRTF seal of acceptance on reparses of prior research.

The end report looks to be an exceedingly useful document for decision makers. It does a fantastic job of condensing a very intricate situation into terms that are easily and quickly read by VIPs with little time to spare. Those decision makers will have other influences working on them even as they read the report. One of those influences should be you.

The problem of reef deterioration is much bigger than those decision-makers can ever address. And it does not help if we view it solely in terms of how it relates to our hobby.

The danger is that, though Charles correctly observes an lack of initiative on the part of US dealers/importers and on (appalingly)US hobbyists, you would be tempted to say 'screw individual activism' and abdicate the initiative to whatever agency seeks to pick up USCRTF's report and run with it.

You do the reefs no favor thereby:
The problem is, has, and always will be unsustainable demand on the reefs, whether it be unsustainable for volume or for method of draw. Even if the US were to ban coral/fish/LR imports outright, and rely on mariculture, many of the illegal practices described: sodium cyanide, dynamite, (muro-ami wasn't even mentioned) --are currently applied towards capture of commercial foodfishes and would certainly continue.

If your objective is to make sure that US hobbyists be absolved of any blame in Indo-Pacific reef destruction, then go for a ban/restriction or other unilateral monitoring/enforcement option you wish. But if your objective is to save the reefs, then I'm afraid those with weary ears will be disappointed to hear the E word used repeatedly.

All white-man's-burden connotations aside, many Philippine fishing communities here are deeply grateful for the interventions of organizations like OVI (heck even IMA makes itself useful once in a while) with the help of local groups (Haribon for one).

It might be refreshing to hear of a document that recounts the progress made, so decision makers know what DOES work, rather than merely finding out what DOESN'T.

Thanks for the news, cjdv.

[cjdevito]

Hiya Jorge.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by horge:
The danger is that, though Charles correctly observes an lack of initiative on the part of US dealers/importers and on (appalingly)US hobbyists, you would be tempted to say 'screw individual activism' and abdicate the initiative to whatever agency seeks to pick up USCRTF's report and run with it. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think I'm probably the most vocal proponent in favour of government regulation on this board. Having said that, I have to add that by no means do I think hobbyists should cease to take an active role in providing input, guidance and information in the formation of whatever policies are developed. By all means, if we can have any kind of positive impact, we owe it to ourselves and the hobby to follow through. Even now, it's not too late to make a difference.

The whole reason why I support the idea of regulation, however, is because I just don't see that many hobbyists taking the initiative, or an active role. I frankly wish it were otherwise. It -could- be otherwise, could have been otherwise for years now, which is the really damning aspect.

[horge]

I hear you Charles :) Man, it just burns me the way the largest group of supposedly better-informed individuals is a factor solely by way of exacerbating the problem.

I refuse to believe we're THAT ill-informed. Egads, anyone with access to pop founts like Discovery Channel or National Geographic knows enough!

Someone here suggested it was a selective blindspot, to evade contradictions between the effects of our hobby and the love for environment that brought many of us to the hobby in the first place.

To the USCRTF, again, my congratulations on a compact and yet inclusive distillation of the problem. To hobbyists in general, time is sadly NOT on our side.

[Gus Paz]

I believe everyone one is headed in the right direction in that we need to get "Political" power on our side. The big question is were to begin. I've only been a member of Reef Central for a couple of months, but I see postings for all over the US. Who do we contact to start with, Congressmen from my state of FL, or will any Congressman(women)do? Or are there larger organizations that we can partner up to give us strength?
I've been looking around, but so far I've come up empty handed. If anyone would like to help me out that would be great. Two or twenty heads are better than one.
Sooner or later limitations will be laid down, the important question is, did we have a say on what the limitaions are? Did we get a chance to argue our point?



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Gusto

[jameso]

Of course we got ample chance to argue our point! Egads, there must have been a dozen emails from MaryHM alone alerting us to the USCRTF meetings and urging our participation, and that was just one person. This information was posted here, on aqualink, reefs.org, the newsgroups, the reef-l mailing list, and the reefkeepers mailing list....just to name a few...:-)

We have also had plenty of chances to "vote with our dollars" yet sadly, the dollars have always seemed to win, at the expense of the organisms.

I think Charles and Horge have summed it up beautifully: This report is the most comprehensive and concise description of the problem to date.

Cheers and hope you all have a GREAT weekend,
James Wiseman

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James Wiseman
www.reefs.org

[Bubafat]

I think that the reason why we haven't voted with our dollars has something to do with the culture that we live in. We want it now, we don't want to wait, we don't think we should wait, why do you think there are so many dogs in shelters, because people think that if they want it, they DESERVE it. Now taking this thought to Reefing, people don't want to wait 6 months for this little piece of acropora to grow into a nice big head or one mushroom to spread, why, because we want instatanious gratification. The people that practice these things are the type that set-up a reef because "they're pretty" not because they like playing god like many of us do. One gets more satisfaction i think if they start small with a frag and see it develope then BOOM, insto reef. Another thing is that if we could convince our idiot LPS's to push aquacultured stuff, it would also work (i do work at a LPS and i sell stuff from my tank and it's not hard to convince people to buy aquacultured stuff). Much of this blame should be put on the hobbiests part but i believe that even more should be put on the wholesalers part because they care about nothing but profit. My tank has 2 pieces of coral that have been taken from the wild, that's it. I strictly buy aquacultured fish, coral, and i made my own LR. If some people on this board would get their head out of their ___'s and give fake LR a chance instead of saying "oh, it looks bad, or oh, it's too heavy, or oh, it's not as good." Of course it's not gonna be as good right away. I've seen much LR that was taken from the wild that looks CRAPPY compaired to mine (oh ya, i should mention that i do have 5 pounds (1 piece) of wild caught to seed my tank, but the rest i made). It took 4 months for the rock to look like wild grabbed stuff, really, can some of you people take 4 months out of your life. For those of you on this board that deal mainly with aquacultured stuff, i applaud you and those of you who don't, figure it out, they're gonna ban much of this %#@! in the future and unless we start supporting aquacultured now, the price for aquacultured coral will be so high that many of us will have to quit this hobby.

One thing you may want to ponder is what is going to happen to many of these people that do the collecting of corals, that's a major industry for them, that's how they support themselves, what's gonna happen then?! I'm not for goverment regulation at all but would love to see them tell us that in 10 years they are gonna ban ALL importations of coral, maybe then we think about maybe supporting aquaculturing?! People on this board flame companies like garf so bad it's scary (don't start!! :( ) but we don't see many flames for places like ffexpress who, although they do sell aquacultured stuff, they promo the wild caught stuff at such cheap prices compaired to the aquacultured stuff that one wouldn't even consider buying the aquacultured stuff. Wake up and smell the salt water, times are changen, let's make sure they end up good.

Buba

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Have fun and happy reefing. "The goal in life is to reach pure happieness." Aristotle