Article:Don’t let your tanks kill our reefs

Saturday April 25, 2009

Illegal fishing is booming. Scientists estimate that poaching is a US$10-US$23.5bil (RM36.5-RM85.5bil) business that's killing between 11 and 26 million tonnes of fish every year. Strip-mining of coral reefs is particularly rampant.

A common technique in South-East Asia is to dump cyanide in the water. This kills two thirds of the fish, but makes it simple for fishermen to bag the rest. Of the third that survive the poisoning, another third die while being transported. The cyanide also kills some of the live coral. But the fishermen don't care because they can hack the reefs into chunks and sell it off alive or dead.

A Foxface and Hawaiian Yellow Tang co-habitating in a tank with artificial coral. — MARIA DANIEL

Cyanide fishing began in the 1960s in the Philippines and is now a global pest. Cyanide fishing yields fish for the marine tank hobbyist market as well as lobsters, grouper and other fish sold in restaurants that allow diners to pick live fish from tanks.

"The problem is lack of law enforcement," Hasrizal Shaari from the Department of Marine Studies at the University Malaysia Terengganu points out.

"There are officers in gazetted marine parks but the rest of our reefs have little protection. This is not just a Malaysian problem but a regional one."

Hasrizal recommends checking the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) list to see what fish and corals are protected before buying fish and coral for your marine tank.

Zaa Z-Young points out that respectable dealers supply proper documents.

"I don't buy locally," she says, "Because I can't find out what's proper and what's trafficked. I buy from trusted foreign sources that sell fish and coral bred especially for this market or who use sustainable practices. If you are buying, every bit of coral must come with CITES-approved paperwork while fish need a health certificate from the country's Department of Fisheries."

Find out more

Coral Malaysia

http://www.coralmalaysia.com

Learn about local coral and how you can help preserve our natural heritage.

Aquarists On-line

http://www.aquaristsonline.com

A huge and rich compendium of how-to articles and information.

RTAW Reefpedia

http://www.masa.asn.au/masawiki

An on-line encyclopaedia run by the Marine Aquarium Societies of Australia (MASA).

FreshMarine.com

http://www.freshmarine.com

It's meant as a sales site but this resource offers tonnes of great info for marine tank fans.

This article was taken from: The Star Online: Lifestyle: Living 25 April 2009