Lawsuit could ban nemo from LFS

There has been an assult on the marine aquarium trade in the last couple of years. First it was NOAA moving to put 68 corals on the endangered species act list. (ESA) Now the Center for biological diversity (CBD) is trying to “save Nemo”. One of the most commonly captive bred marine fish. Others include yellow tail damsels and blue/green chromis This spells trouble for reefkeepers in the coming years. You may be subject to a raid one day from the EPA for having endangered species “caged” in your home.

Link to CBD press release:

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2013/reef-fish-09-25-2013.html

Well I don’t think this will ever happen,“You may be subject to a raid one day from the EPA for having endangered species “caged” in your home.” And truthfully, I agree with the article. If this is what is needed to preserve a species of any kind, then I am all for it.
Most hobbyists would agree that if protecting fish from extinction means no more collection of these fish from their natural habitat is what is required, then it must be done. Surely the hobby could live on without a threatened
fish.
Unless of course you are of the thought that who cares what happens to these animals, just as long as I can buy them and keep them in my tank at home, until there are no more to buy.

i dont know where all the little nemos go. mine are over 10 years old now and still spawning. they live so long, i havent bought one in 10 years. come to think of it, all my fish are near that old. One dang hand biting yellow damsel is about 13-14 years old. it just wont die. It just keeps getting bigger and meaner.

[quote=“kaptken, post:3, topic:6907”]
i dont know where all the little nemos go. mine are over 10 years old now and still spawning. they live so long, i havent bought one in 10 years. come to think of it, all my fish are near that old. One dang hand biting yellow damsel is about 13-14 years old. it just wont die. It just keeps getting bigger and meaner.[/quote]

 ::rofl:: bites the hand that feeds it. I'm curious to see how long some of these live. My purple tang is over 12 years old and still kicking.

I was under the impression that “nemo” was the #1 captive bred fish. I didn’t realize there was that much of a demand on the wild caught clownfish. I feel like most stores sell the tank bred ones. They do live a long time and are pretty easy to keep.

If a animal is on the ESA list it is a felony crime to transport it over state lines, regardless of when you bought it or if it is captive bred. Hence you can’t buy a panda legally. The big problem I have is not protecting the animals, it is blind legislation. This will hurt more than help. What is the real issue? Pollution, farming, fishing (trolling by-catch) and environment. These laws do not address any of these.

A marine sanctuary is FAR more beneficial and will protect countless more animals than throwing a few onto the ESA list. One of the largest marine sanctuarys in the world, the Chagos Archipelago, has proven this.
http://www.chagos-trust.org/about/chagos-marine-reserve
It is almost 400,000 square miles of NO TAKE waters. The ecosystem is now begining to thrive like never seen before. The marine sanctuary of the Phoenix Islands is likewise. The income to these countries is now surpassing what they got from fishing, and exports.
The area surrounding these sanctuaries has recovered too, fishing is better than ever for the industry.
Protect the habitat and the species will thrive. We just need to manage our resources better.

A quote from the article I read…

‘Protection under the Endangered Species Act would provide habitat protections and recovery planning and minimize the impacts of federal actions that could harm these fish and their coral-reef habitat through, for instance, water pollution, dredging, commercial fishing or coastal construction. Protection under the Act could also help to spur reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from federal projects.’

The big problem here lies in jurisdictions. Indonesia, for example, has very very loose guides and rules about collecting, pollution and other factors. The rules they do have are not enforced well. International waters are better protected but have difficulties of enforcement. Federal regulation doesn’t do much in the case here. The Florida keys have the yellow tails and chromis, but the waters there are already a marine reserve sanctuary.

I’m all for protecting the animals, but if we enforced the current laws and created larger marine sanctuaries we would not need new laws. Putting Ocellaris clownfish on the ESA list would hamper or stop captive breeding.

A better Idea would be to pay breeders to re-stock the wild oceans. That will never happen though.

Think if every reefkeeper donated a few frags of something like Elkhorn, the Caribbean could be replenished rather quickly.

I am an Eco nerd hobbyist who dosent completely agree with all aspects of the trade as much as I love it but this is just plain STUPID !!! Are these the type of sceintist running these organizations Christ than our ocean is doomed!