A Topic to Think About

I live in South Florida, where we dive and snorkel among the warm waters of the Atlantic. The Florida reefs (once upon a time) were among the best in the world, from Daytona all the way to Key West. Unfortunately, they have been destroyed and overharvested for a few decades ...particularly the past 10-15 years. Development plays a large role, but moreso, overharvesting from aquarium-popularity growth. (I wont surpass hurricanes here).

I am not a person to point fingers, however, a forum on this site drew my concern. In my area, an aquarium store was shut down a year ago due to illegal local harvesting. Several months ago, they re-opened in a different part of our county, under the past owners "in-laws" name. Fortunately for our local sparse reefs, they were recently caught, again, doing the same.

A friend of mine recently bragged about the Queen Angel he caught near a local port for his 500-some gallon system. She was a true beauty. After getting an earful from his aquarist friends, he put his tail between his legs and donated her to a local aquarium primarily used for rehabbing and reproduction.

I think (hope) that most aquarists are concerned as much about our worlds reefs as we are about our own "in-home reef systems". I think its a great idea to research and be concerned about where our sources harvest corals, rock and livestock. Ive done my research and found the best LFS in south Florida! Perhaps theyre overpriced, but they care just as much about conservation as they do, the mighty dollar. They post shipment labels for proof of origin, where reefs arent as threatened ...or from tank raised vendors ...pretty awesome for those of us concerned about the conservation of endangered reefs and their inhabitants.

 

Very good thread, we need to buy aquacultured whenever possible and responsible catch when we can not get aquacultured.

 

You didn't mention the name of the other store, and I understand why, but what's the name of this store? Do they have a website?