Saltwater Aquarium Ethics
By Jonathan Mast
11/5/07
·
History
·
Factors
o
Climate Change and Coral Bleaching
o
Fishing Industry and Boat Anchors
Many people have seen salt water
aquaria in their friends’ homes, work spaces, and have been amazed by the
stunning beauty and color before them.
It is sometimes hard to believe that the creatures seen in these aquaria
are actually from our planet because they are so unlike the animals in people’s
back yards.
There has been a growing interest in
salt water aquaria and more specifically coral reefs aquaria over the last
couple decades. Part of the reason for this is because scuba diving has
becoming safer and more common. Many
film and TV series, such as Blue Planet, and Planet Earth from the BBC, and
many other National Geographic media publications have perked many people’s
attention in the health of the world’s shallow seas.
Scuba diving has also become much
less expensive and one only needs about four days to become a certified
diver. Thousands of tourists travel to
equatorial countries every year to vacation, partially because this is where most
explorable coral reefs are located. This has enabled many people to view coral
reefs in their natural glory, and through this experience develop and acute
interest in these ecosystems, and the species that live there.
Humans have begun to realize that the
reefs of our world are disappearing very rapidly; according to Zadie Neufville(1998),
at the current rate of global extinction present in these shallow oceanic
environments, 70 percent of the coral reefs will be dead within the next 20 to
40 years. This paper will examine many
different aspects that are suspected of being major contributors of global reef
degradation, and try to determine whether the ornamental fish industry plays a
significant role, and there for
unethical.Back to Top
The ornamental fish industry started
in Shi Lanka on a very small scale in the 1930’s, and by the 1950’s it had
expanded to other places including Hawaii and the Philippines
Much needed information
has helped to better understand the true effects of this industry. The saltwater portion of the industry only
accounts for around 10 percent of the industry’s’ net income, compared to the
freshwater portion of the industry which accounts for around 90 percent. Also to keep in mind is that on average
saltwater animals are individually more valuable than freshwater species. So for the same amount of money, there are
comparatively less saltwater fish are taken from the wild then freshwater fish,
though the saltwater industry alone is still a 200 to 330 million dollar
industry a year. It is also monetarily
the most profitably commodity that can be provided from the reef ecosystem, as
it is a low volume, high values, per unit, commodity
According to GMAD, 7.7
million fish were imported, and 9.4 million fish exported in the world, between
1988 and 2003. These sales covered in
total 2,393 different species of fish, invertebrates, and coral
Some of these
activities include the use of sodium cyanide as a harvesting technique, over
harvesting of a target species, and poor husbandry techniques while
shipping. Sodium cyanide has detrimental
effects on all marine life, and can kill many non-target species. Some species are in higher demand than other
species, so collectors can easily over harvest one species. Many of their customers are willing to pay a
very good price for these species. The
most widely traded fish are damsel fish, which account for almost half of the
total number fish traded. The majority
of the other fish traded are composed of a bout fifteen different species, most
of which are angelfish, butterfly fish, and wrasse, and gobies, ass well as
clown fish. Unfortunately these are
often the most brilliantly colored species, and are more often than not the
species that have the hardest time acclimating to aquarium life. Fish changing hands many times before
reaching its final destination is often the largest factor in the preventably
high mortality rate recorded during shipment
There exists much speculation about
what is causing the reefs of this world to disappear. As of yet, the sum total of the affecting
factors remains unknown, but it is know this destruction is attributed to
multiple sources. There are a multitude
of recognized factors which contribute to the degradation of reefs on earth;
some of the most accepted include human overpopulation, over fishing, and
global climate change. One other factor
that is also thought by many people to have a largely negative impact on reef
ecosystems is the ornamental marine fish trade.
One reason people may think this is because there are 1.5 to 2 million
people in the world who own marine aquariums
For some valid reasons further
explained in this paper the saltwater ornamental fish industry has been pegged
by some people as the single most contributing factor to reef degradation. However, when considering the factors in the
overall trend of global reef decline, the decorative fish industry plays an
insignificant role in comparison to most other contributors.Back to Top
Many other factors, most of which are
still under investigation, have become accepted by many as the main contributor
to reef degradation. There is a lot of good evidence to supports the extreme
growth of the human population to be one of the main contributors of reef
degradation. In a United Nations
Environment Programme news release Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General
and UNEP Executive Director, said: “The world-wide bleaching of tropical corals
in the late 1990s foreshadow likely impacts to come as a result of increases in
greenhouse gases. The new studies indicate that healthy ecosystems exposed to
minimal contamination are likely to recover and survive better than those
stressed by pollution, dredging and other human-made impacts”
One adverse affect of human pollution
is red tide; the seasonal algal blooms that continue to increase in size and
last for longer periods of time each year.
Increase in water temperature and nutrient levels are the two key
contributors to algal blooms. It was
thought until recently that increased global temperature was the main factor,
which would result in larger blooms where they existed previously. Recently there have been algal blooms
happening around the world in places where they have never happened before.
Data has been collected to support the theory that nutrient overflow into the
oceans is also a key player. The nutrient overflow of the Mississippi river
manifests in large blooms on Florida’s west coast
Algal blooms are potentially
extremely lethal to reef ecosystems.
When conditions are just right large nutrient spike cause algal blooms
that can shade coral for days, or even weeks at a time. If the coral is shaded it is not allowed to
collect adequate sunlight, and their for must rely explicitly on filter feeding
which is much more difficult to sustain.
After the particular nutrient the algae need to survive is depleted the
alga will die leaving a huge amount of organic mater. As it decomposes it sucks huge amounts of
oxygen from the water, and sends the nitrate levels through the roof. These are referred to as hypoxic
conditions. Nitrates are the main cause
of dead fish in beginner’s aquariums.
The alga is part of the oceans cleaning system, but it is also potentially
lethal to many reef systems. There will
continue to be problems until humans stop forcing the oceans to extreme clean
themselves
Algal blooms are just one effect of
what happens when humans allow there waste to flow into the marine water
systems. Tanker spills and river runoff
over reef sights can also destroy ecosystems, even though there is no algal
bloom. In fact the second largest
oceanic dead zone in the world is in the northern Golf of Mexico where the
Mississippi river dumps into the ocean.
This dead zone started about a century ago, and has become much more
prevalent within the last fifty years.
Before the 1980’s the dead zones were no more than small patchy near the
cost. They only appeared in the summer
for short periods of time, and then disappeared, like a summer rash. After the great Midwest flood of 1993 the
dead zone doubled in size, and by this point it was one large expanse that
lasted most of the summer. Today it is
larger than the state of Connecticut.
The nutrients that flowed from the Mississippi river once were a welcome
meal to many of the organisms in the golf.
Now the Mississippi watershed which is home to the vast majority of
farms in the United States is depositing such large amounts of nutrients and
biomass into the golf that it is chocking the life out of most organisms that
live there. Considering this is a
seasonal phenomenon and much of the life recovers each year, it seems that with
some regulation and care, this should be one of the more easily fixed oceanic
environment problems
Climate Change and Coral Bleaching
Another
contributor to the degradation of the reefs is global climate change, or global
warming. There is evidence that links
this to human overpopulation, but for the purposes of this paper, these two
ideas will be examined individually, though they are almost inextricably
linked. According to the study done my
Normile warmer water is more detrimental to coral than pollution
Fishing Industry and Boat Anchors
The fishing industry has played a
part in the degradation of marine ecosystems as well. The growing commercial fishing industry is
taking, and has taken entire species out of the food chain. There are many places that can’t be fished
any more, because there are not fish there to be caught because in the middle
decades of this century there was a growing crisis on the beef and pork
industry that there was a large push for the fishing industry to pick up the
slack, and now we are paying for it
In many costal low income areas the
locals are making their livelihood on catching fish for the commercial food
market, instead of only for the food that they need in their own village. Many of these people don’t realize that the
fish population in there aria is decreasing; they only see that their
traditional fishing practices are not up to capacity, and therefore they are
not able to keep up with the outside demand.
To meet this demand some people have opted to implement some unethical
techniques such as dynamite fishing.
This allows them to gather large numbers of fish, but it also kills many
more fragile forms of life such as coral and many invertebrates. This method of fishing also kills many other
non-target fish. This practice leaves
many dead organisms on the ocean bed with no crustacean cleanup crew to take
care of it, because they have been killed also.
In turn as these carcasses decompose they release many nitrates into the
water and cause more harm to many other forms of life. Though this is not one of the largest
detrimental factors, it exemplifies how industrialized nations put pressure on
less developed countries to harvest more than possible while maintaining
ethical practices
Another cause of damage to the reefs
is boat anchors, though in total it is not as detrimental as many other
factors. In locations where people are
not as concerned about the coral some fishing boats just drop anchor where ever
they think the fishing will be the best.
Many times this ends up being over the reefs because this is where many
species like to spend their time. The
anchors slide along the sea floor destroying the coral until it caches on
something strong enough to hold the boat against the current
This paper has mainly focused on the
small scale hobbyist saltwater aquaria, but there are also large public aquaria
that may have more redemptive qualities.
The first of which is that they get people interested in the amazing and
beautiful life in the oceans which the hobbyist aquaria does as well. Many people visit public aquaria, and while
they are there they hear that a particular species may be endangered of
becoming extinct. If people are allowed
to take and up close and personal look that this species and grow appreciate it
for whatever reason, this is the first step in saving this species, and the
rest of the reef.
Public aquaria also serve as an
information stations to the public. If
the general public was not presented with this kind of interactive and
extremely captivating type of learning, far fewer people would have an
appreciation for the reefs and the ecosystem they provide. Also because most public aquaria have
conservation as a priority, the collection of admission fees is a way in which
money can be collected to start new and advance existing projects that could
help save the marine ecosystems.
Scientists have also gained a lot of knowledge about different species
of aquatic life such as dolphins and other marine mammals through the research
that can only be done at these large facilities. Though some of the things they have learned
have really begged us to reconsider whether any animals should be kept in the
confined space of an aquarium, which in comparison is much smaller than their
natural habitat. For example though it
is an extreme one, the longest period of time that a great white shark was held
in captivity was around 10 days, until the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California
was able to keep a young great white in 2004
As was stated before hobbyist
ornamental marine aquaria are less justifiable than large public aquaria, and
this is mainly because of the mortality rate due to uneducated hobbyists, and
the lake of redemptive qualities associated with the hobbyist aquaria. Though there is still a great amount of
knowledge to be gained in trying to maintain a saltwater aquarium. Personally I can say that I have gained a
great appreciation for how incredibly diverse, sensitive, and interrelated this
type of ecosystem really is.Back to Top
There are many things that contribute
to the destruction of the reefs in our world, the main factors of which are
global warming, pollution, and human overpopulation, which are all undeniably
intertwined. The largest factors all
coincide and are dependent on each other, but the ornamental fish industry is a
separate entity. It still plays a part
in the problem, but it also can be part of the solution. Some reasons healthily continue to promote
the ornamental fish industry are economic, some scientific, and some
psychological, but nonetheless there are some good reasons to keep saltwater
aquaria around.
So finally one must ask when
considering the debate of whether the ornamental saltwater fish is justifiable;
when considering the primary factors for which this industry is being accused
of, is the ornamental fish industry really doing more harm than good. If one decides that this industry is not
ethical on the basis that it is contributing to marine ecosystem
degradation. Is there really any point
in trying to change the industry more than just demanding that better practices
be implemented, while there are so many, much more detrimental factors to take
care of first. The most important
concern that this debate puts forth, is not whether, and how to prevent the
ornamental fish industry from destroying the marine ecosystems on this planet,
but to take a broader look and find out what the factors are that are causing
the largest amount of damage to the marine ecosystems, and how to prevent these
problems.Back to Top
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