Weekly Discussion - How bad is coral collection

[Anonymous]

Weekly Discussion - How bad is coral collection

How much damage does coral collection do to wild reefs? Some say none, some say lots. What do you think, why, and do you have any evidence to back up your position?

About the RDO Weekly Discussion:
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[fishfanatic2]

I think that coral collection does some damage to the reef, but I think the aquarium hoby has been blamed for more than it needs to be. People kill coral and a whole lot more when pollution turns the water black and creates mass die-off, or when they blow through the reef with dynamite. The aquarium hobby should also be ethical in its collecting means, and we should try to wean ourselves off of wild coral and become a self-sustaining hobby. Then, as the coral reefs get destroyed one by one, everyone will look at us and say please, help propagating corals to return to the wild. And then we can all laugh. :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: It also depends how it's collected. If someone just rips acros right out of the reef and tosse them in a bag, then that is bad collecting. If someone frags a coral instead, and leaves part to grow, that is good collecting.

Just my 0.02$

 

[Anonymous]

How much damage do you think coral collecting does to wild reefs?

 

[Anonymous]

I think it can cause pretty serious damage. When whole colonies are removed, and there is continuous collection pressure on an area, I would worry about local extinctions. Even without continuous collection, removing whole colonies sets growth back years for the reef as a whole.

Then again it's hard to tell just how much damage collection does relative to agricultural runoff, cyanide, dynamite, etc. I would imagine on a pristine reef there is some sustainable collection rate. Unfortunately, with all the other problems facing reefs whatever might have been acceptable before wouldn't be now. So I consider collection one more serious pressure on wild reefs, and thus bad.

 

[Kalkbreath]

Coral collection for the hobby is so tiny that it is silly to think it has any lasting effect on the worlds reefs .....even on the few {ten percent} reefs worldwide that we collect from. The vast majority of small collected SPS colonies, would in short time naturally be over grown and killed off.by the larger dominant coral heads. Second,The few colonies collected for this hobby also give the natives that live on the islands a reason to protect these reefs from destructive fishing and agriculture. When reefs are farmed, the farmers have a vested interest in the well being of their farmland. Lastly keep in mind that one bumphead parrot fish eats several tons of live coral a year.....{CHOMP CHOMP}..This ONE fish kills the same as about four thousand SPS corals that you find for sale in American Aquarium stores {LFS}.......and it has been estimated that there are 200 million adult coral eating Parrot fish dining on the worlds reefs..........the small amount of coral we humans collect is the natural equivalent of about five adult parrot fish ! If we kill six parrot fish then the world reefs would {even with our hobby collection}Be actually better off :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Lets try not to talk about other things that hurt the reef. We all agree that there are things worse than coral collection for the aquarium trade. What I am interested in exploring is how much damage, if any, does our hobby do.

Kalk, interesting about the parrot fish! What about their impact combined with our hobby's impact?

 

[Kalkbreath]

There is no impact......99.98% of all coral on any reef is not suitable for collection.....(too large..... too brown ect.) For example; Even if coral collection was allowed in the state of Hawaii, there would be very little hobby collection because there are so few corals worth collection. Even in the Fla keys ,because most of the corals are brown in coloration the only collectors { if it was permitted to collect }would be a few hobbyists looking for free corals...... even in my store, its hard to sell any corals that are brown.................. Coral is such a renewable resource, that collection will never be able to out pace coral growth on a healthy reef and what better way of keeping a reef health and protected then to have the people in control of the reef making a living from it and its well being?.There are alternative uses for a reef like tourism......BUT ! Did you know that the airport built in the Maldives islands" Male Airport" {for tourism} use mostly live coral reef as the fill to make the new island? this is a jumbo jet airstrip.....and is almost one square mile in size. More coral was killed for this project then this hobby could collect {including liverock} then this hobby would collect in thousands of years. {Based on CITES coral collection data} Think about it , this hobby consumes about 200 tons of coral and liverock a year[twothirds being liverock} liverock ,from mostly one island in Fiji. 200 tons is one Walmart tractor trailer full of coral.......if someone was to hide bysinking this Walmart trailer in the ocean..........in the reefs off the island of Fiji......one would be hard pressed to even be able to find the sunken container......200 tons is a tiny some.....the aveage 1000 foot x 1000foot reef in Fiji would weigh several million tons. Does coral collection from the hobby have an impact on the reefs ?.....Yes, The collection of live coral has an impact on the native people that collect and farm the reef.....and this in turn has a huge impact on the health of those reefs that are farmed. Ever wonder why it is ....that the reefs in the most trouble are reefs where no coral collection takes place and yet other industries like agriculture and fishing are allowed? Try this next time your talking with a local farmer in your city or even an owner of a LFS....ask the farmer what he thinks about you dumping sewage on his farm land? Or how he would feel about you hunting in his crops with a blowtourch? He would most likely respond the same way the coral farmers of the reefs in The Islands of Tonga responded last time they found fishermen using poisons to catch food fish IN THEIR reefs..................They killed them {really}

 

[John_Brandt]

We all agree that there are things worse than coral collection for the aquarium trade. What I am interested in exploring is how much damage, if any, does our hobby do.

This is certainly a worthy topic, but how are hobbyists sitting in front of a keyboard supposed to realistically debate (or even contribute) this question? You pose a quantitative question to the masses, but what sort of an answer could be expected?

Certainly not all coral collection is carried out the same way. One could simply say that sustainable proper collection isn't harmful, and unsustainable improper collection is harmful. Then the question immediately jumps to - what does sustainable proper coral collection look like?

The only people fully qualified (whatever that means, given the lack of historical context for this activity) to answer the question are field researchers and others who are making direct observations and evaluations.

 

[John_Brandt]

An Indonesian coral harvest report (of sorts) has been done. This is a brief synopsis of a lecture Andrew Bruckner gave at MACNA-Baltimore 2 years ago.


"The Stony Coral Trade in Indonesia: An Assessment of Sustainability"

Andrew W. Bruckner
NOAA Fisheries

Abstract:

Indonesia is currently the world's largest exporter of stony corals for ornamental markets, with an annual trade of about 2 million colonies of stony coral and live rock. To date, Indonesia is the only country that has developed management mechanisms for stony coral resources that includes a quota for the annual harvest of corals, established for each taxa for each of the 10 provinces where harvest is permitted. The management plan for Indonesia has general guidelines for the sustainable utilization of coral resources. However, concerns have been raised that the export quotas established by Indonesia are not based on available scientific information on the biology, distribution and abundance of the taxa, or the amount of harvest that the resource can support.

NOAA Fisheries in collaboration with TRAFFIC Europe is conducting an analysis of the stony coral trade in Indonesia, to provide guidance in the development of complementary management approaches. The initial component of this project is focusing on specific taxa of corals that are currently under trade suspension in the EU , which make up close to 50% of the total annual quota allocated by the CITES Authorities of Indonesia.

In this study, we assessed the distribution, abundance, population demography, habitat requirements and life history characteristics of the taxa in trade. We also examined the patterns of coral utilization, including the numbers of collectors, locations of collection and the amount and type of harvest. The goals are to map the distribution of the harvested taxa and describe the condition of the resource, to determine ecologically sustainable collection guidelines. Preliminary information from the Spermonde Archipelago, South Sulawesi, and recommendations on possible constraints that should be placed on current harvest levels is presented.

Full 172 page report worth reading... Proceedings of the International Workshop on the Trade in Stony Corals: Development of Sustainable Management Guidelines , April 9-12 Jakarta, Indonesia - Andrew Bruckner NOAA Fisheries: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/ecosystem/ecosysdocs/indonesiaproceedingsfinal.pdf

 

[Anonymous]

This is certainly a worthy topic, but how are hobbyists sitting in front of a keyboard supposed to realistically debate (or even contribute) this question? You pose a quantitative question to the masses, but what sort of an answer could be expected?

All kinds of answers, links, first hand experience, references and opinions are welcome. Hobbyists have access to all of these.

 

[Anonymous]

I think this might be better focused to differentiate between live coral collection, and that collected for the ornamental trade, which includes coral strictly for decorative purposes. This would include coral collected, to then be killed, which might then be sold to an interior designer, or anyone who simply likes the skeletal form of the coral in question. I also believe that we might see few LPS corals collected, killed, and sold for this type of trade, but many more SPS as their skeletal forms generally tend to be more attractive.

I also believe that this type of distinction, if it's not already, could and should be made for seahorses, sea stars, and.. <gasp!> puffers. 8O

 

[Anonymous]

Kalkbreath,

Where did the 200 tons a year number come from?

 

[Kalkbreath]

CITES.org has the data......I think the link John just provided has the yearly total as well..............To come up with a total pounds though, one must estimate the average weight of the average coral {because CITES keeps track of how many pieces are exported...

 

[Kalkbreath]

CITES.org has the data......I think the link John just provided has the yearly total as well..............To come up with a total pounds though, one must estimate the average weight of the average coral {because CITES keeps track of how many pieces are exported...

 

[loosbrew]

I cannot agree with any collection, as unreasonable it sounds to people. I started a very heated thread a few years back based on a report that Eric Borneman did about the collection of Yellow Tangs in Hawaii amongst other issues. It wasn't very promising! wish I could find it....maybe someone else has the link...

loosbrew

 

[Anonymous]

Anyone have any more info on coral collection?
So far we have one view of coral collection that says there is no harm done, and another that says there might be harm done.

 

[reefann]

The reefs are dying it's gona happen sonner or later. I say lets enjoy it.

 

[Anonymous]

The difficulty in addressing this topic is in accurately assessing the damage done specifically by the hobby. However, the hobby is, at this point, the only real chance in hell WE will have of ensuring future generations might see what we get to see. How's this? Propagation, at the very least. And, in my own assessment, the more we learn about what helps and hinders in our decidedly more hostile little environments, the better we might be able to extrapolate that information to the macrocosm.

Also, those who keep up with our Industry forum know that fishing and collection for other than hobby interests takes a huge toll, as do upstream mining, deforestation, and poor farming practices.

Heh, talk about muddying up the waters a bit, eh?

 

[Kalkbreath]

I cannot agree with any collection, as unreasonable it sounds to people. I started a very heated thread a few years back based on a report that Eric Borneman did about the collection of Yellow Tangs in Hawaii amongst other issues. It wasn't very promising! wish I could find it....maybe someone else has the link...

loosbrew

This is a good example of mis information......Yellow tangs are only collected in a small section of coastline {the Kona coast} Yellow tangs have been heavily collected in this area for twenty years. This collection area is a about 2% of the Hawaiian islands coastline and cannot have any impact on the remaining 98% of Hawaiian waters.........Even if we collected every last tang in the collection zones.....The population of yellow tangs in the collection areas has remained somewhat decreased ..but stable for twenty years,dispite twenty years of scientists stating that it cant...Perspective is needed to keep scientific reports in focus...........if I collect one yellow tang in one square foot of water ........yes there will be a drastic decrease in the number of fish in that one cubic foot of water:wink:

 

[loosbrew]

either way it's wrong. in the same way it's wrong to take monkey's from the wild, reptiles from the wild, dolphins, lobsters, tuna etc...very rarely do I see someone finding a completely new coral at a LFS that hasn't been propagated. there's no need for idiots to purchase goni's anymore, or even collect them! there's no need for people to purchase 300 lbs of wild LR when aquacultured rock is available. you have to understand that the majority of the hobby don't hop online and learn what you know, they just throw fish and coral in a tank based on petco's advise, and kill everything, and try again, then change LFS's and try again based on thier overpriced way of doing things just to kill more corals, then they hop online and find reefs.org and #reefs and get pissed when i yell at them for killing goni's, mandarin's, and even hammer and brain corals. and yes, we need a world of scientists running thier extensive research as an excuse to keep the export of live corals to populate thier living room novelties. no one "needs" to purchase wild animals anymore, you have a plethora of proped corals etc...

malinformed I may be, but passionate I am more and I can't wait till the day people are lined up around the block somewhere in idaho waiting for thier 1/4" frag from GARF!

loosbrew