I have gotten an incredible amount of feedback on my follow up to Richard Ross and Nathan Hill’s conversation about the aquarium hobby and morality. What shocked me, is that many advanced aquarists agreed with me 100%, and felt that both the hobby and industry have a lot of work to do, when it comes to morality and our tanks. I also got feedback from those outside of the hobby or industry, whom feel that removing animals from their habitat constitutes environmental abuse, and that individual animals suffering along the chain of custody on up to our aquariums is unacceptable. Those on the outside looking in, seem to think a zero tolerance policy regarding wild caught livestock needs implemented. It’s encouraging to know that aquarists, and those who simply appreciate the planet, are thinking about these issues. The first step to making a change is acknowledging there is a problem. It would seem that those of us who’ve been in the hobby for a while, are clearly aware that issues are present. In dialogue with fellow aquarists, I have learned that many feel rather helpless. They detest the fact that many fish, corals and other animals die during collection and shipping. Furthermore they hate that wholesalers and retailers often put animals in crammed conditions, where parasites and stress can easily pick them off. The degree of suffering that each individual animal undergoes, during their journey to our aquariums does weigh heavily on many aquarist’s minds. Like me, several aquarists pointed out that they are always on the verge of throwing in the towel, not because they are struggling to keep their tanks healthy, but because they are struggling with their conscious. As more and more pictures of massive amounts of fish become public, dead and thrown away by the livestock industry, even hardcore aquarists are becoming squeamish. Seemingly nowhere to go:
Many aquarists feel that the trade has wrapped itself up in abuse. It’s become so common, that it’s impossible to procure a marine fish without contributing to it. As I pointed out last time, fish are collected on one side of the world and hustled to the other. Collectors are paid chump change for newly collected specimens, and what cost an exporter $ 5.00 turns into hundreds by the time it’s advertised for sale online. You would assume with such a mark-up that shipping the fish would employ some advanced method that nearly guarantees a live, healthy arrival.… More:
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