As someone who has been importing corals for many years and has access and is privy to aquarium industry info that many of you are not I can say first hand that this is a very serious issue.
We donate monthly to several organizations that help protect our worlds reefs (check out our website for more info) and have been for years. As an aquarium store owner and an avid scuba diver I constantly battle with the issues of importing wild caught fish and corals. I always import Tank Bred fish (you'll never see wild caught clowns in my store) and sustainably collected fish whenever possible.
Lots of people blame the aquarium industry for destroying reefs, over collecting etc. and scientists/researchers blame pollution run off, tourism, climate etc. the truth in my opinion lies somewhere in the middle. I see how many marine fish and corals are picked up at the airport (some nights there are 8 to 10 stores picking up orders when I'm there). When I think of all the fish/corals imported just into Toronto every week and then think of the number imported worldwide there is no way that it cannot have an effect on wild populations.
I've even noticed the amount of fish on my suppliers lists has dramatically diminished over the last several years. This is why I've recently made the move to MAC certified fish through Quality Marine. MAC certified means the fish have all been sustainably caught and importers who offer MAC certified fish have to pass through strict collecting guidelines.
It is true that for now it's actually easier to get many types of corals into Canada then it is in the U.S. However that is starting to change as I get emails every few months from Import regulations Canada with new species being added to the restricted list. As we all know whatever happens in the U.S. will almost certainly be followed in Canada eventually. This is why we must keep a close eye on the situation in Hawaii, if banning fish collection in Hawaii is passed which it is very close to happening then that will have a snowball affect and other areas will surely follow.
I have however talked to many collectors in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Bali and they all tell me at least that the numbers of fish and corals are still very plentiful and that their collecting has had no impact at all (I'm skeptical of this).
It's ironic though how we hobbyists have been painted as the villains in some way because our very hobby is based on taking wild animals out of their natural habitat and many of these animals don't last more than a few weeks after collecting. The truth is we're all really conservationists or at least we're trying to be. As much as we are robbing from the worlds reef we are also trying hard to protect them. Many of you may not even realize it but I see on these forums and in talking to my customers how many of you are fragging corals and trading those frags with other hobbyists who will in turn grow that frag into a mother colony and frag it again for someone else.
This process obviously in many ways hurts guys like me who rely on the sale of corals for business but many stores also now keep a stash of mother colony corals and frag them for sale. You all are the future of the reef hobby whether you realize it or not!
Just read through these posts and see the dedication to providing these amazing creatures of the sea the best homes that you can. The knowledge and thirst for knowledge that you all share with each other so that everyone can be successful reef keepers! It's Amazing how far this hobby has come!
Every last one of you on here is contributing to the sustainability of the reef aquarium hobby and that's the future, the only way this hobby survives. There will come a time and it probably won't be long from now that many corals are no longer legal to import but with the knowledge of the reef hobbyist growing like it is you all will be the coral suppliers of the future.
Stores like mine will have to adapt and embrace the new hobby and find ways that we can still sell cultured corals and profit from it but my orders will no longer be from Sri Lanka, Bali, Philippines, my orders will be from all of you.
This wonderful hobby will never die not with dedicated hobbyists like those I read about on this forum but it will change and you all are the reason for it.
Sorry for the long winded response but obviously this is an issue that I care very much about.
