The Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i county councils recently passed nonbinding resolutions supporting a statewide ban on aquarium fish collecting, while the state Division of Aquatic Resources is considering less restrictive regulations that would still limit the kinds of reef fish that could be collected. Now Petco is currently in the crosshairs, after a supporter of Wintner’s For the Fishes advocacy group spotted a dead baby yellow tang in a tank at its Kahului store.
After a demonstration last month, a store representative announced it would first no longer sell yellow tang, then that it would no longer offer fish from Hawaiian reefs in its two Hawai‘i locations — but activists note that leaves the chain’s Mainland locations unaddressed, as well as the larger issue of trafficking in wildlife from any coral reef worldwide. Another protest is scheduled at 11 a.m. local time in front of the Maui Petco.
According to a Petco representative whose comments were aired on KNUI-FM this morning, “We do sell captive bred animals whenever and wherever possible. When they are not available, we do partner with people who are practicing corporate and sustainable methods” in collecting reef fish.
“Petco knows what the right thing is — they know that taking fish off the coral reefs is wrong and that captive breeding is the answer. There simply is no reason to take wildlife from the reefs,” responded For the Fishes activist and dive instructor Rene Umberger, who with Wintner was featured on the Maui radio station’s morning call-in show.
According to Umberger, over 30 species of reef fish are routinely taken from Hawai‘i and sold at Petco — and collectors can catch unlimited numbers of fish, in contrast to the total ban on live coral extraction. Although state aquatic specialists have reported growth in the number of yellow tang, callers from the Kona Coast and South Maui, as well as Wintner and Umberger, spoke of drastic reductions in the variety and number of reef fish in their favorite snorkeling spots over the last several decades. “I have been at the beach and seen collectors come with buckets and it’s just heartbreaking,” said one Maui resident.
Aquarium collectors, represented by Coral Magazine, Reefbuilders.com and other blogs, dispute the activists’ statistics on the size of the catch and mortality rates, and point to other significant threats to reef life — from runoff pollution and global warming to damage from visitors who step on coral — as worthier causes of concern. “Because they’re not the cause of these problems, (aquarium collectors think) they should be given carte blanche extraction privileges,” Wintner told the KNUI interviewers, in response to one critical call. He also observed that the sale of other kinds of wildlife is much more heavily regulated, if not outright banned, worldwide.
“We have no problems with taking reef fish for food, or a reef fish for a pet, but we’re opposed to the massive extraction for profit,” said Wintner, who earlier noted on the radio show that his dive shops stopped selling fish food years ago because “it was the right thing to do.”
by Jeanne Cooper, San Francisco Chronicle | Read more:
