Quote:
Originally Posted by rsisvixen
I think environmental impact, overfishing,pollution, tourists breaking things off the reef for a souvenir and introduced species ( such as the lionfish and the crown of thorns starfish ) are probably far greater threats than our hobby will ever be.
I think most hobbyists are probably more aware of the reefs predicament than anyone else out there.
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This sums up my thoughts pretty well. There is no doubt that the aquarium trade has a negative impact on our environment (reefs) but it's a probably a very small percentage of hectares destroyed in other ways. That video posted earlier about dragging nets through reefs to collect giant clams was gross. Also that video about the South China Sea off Palawan dredging reefs to reclaim land ugh... Being a hobbiest now has opened my eyes to how sensitive these creatures are that we put into our tanks, I'm also amazed at times how resilient they can be. I made a choice last year to no longer buy wild caught fish or wild corals, not sure if one person has much of an effect but I feel better about it
Global warming will progressively have more of an impact as every year goes by
These videos don't exactly relate to the title of this thread but there's a couple things we can do differently to have a positive, or not so negative impact on reefs.
Super corals...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DtCDquEYzPE
Reef safe sunscreen
http://www.padi.com/blog/2013/06/27/...-scuba-diving/