Loading ...A study has been making the rounds saying that Finding Nemo has pushed clownfish to the edge of extinction. Of course, it’s a splashy enough headline that news agencies have sounded the alarm.
From the article:
Dr Sinclair said the film – the best-selling DVD of all time at over 40 million copies – had done much to educate children about marine life. But as the tiny, brightly-coloured creature had since become a “must-have” pet, captive breeding programmes could now only meet about 50 per cent of demand. The rest are captured from the wild.
Half of all clownfish are wild caught! Where is the data coming from? In my area, wild caught clownfish are the exception, not the rule.
Even the guy who authored the study isn’t all that convinced:
“I am not saying it is solely down to over-harvesting as climate change is clearly having an impact on the coral reefs and anemones on which the clownfish live,” Dr Sinclair says.
None the less, he still pounds the environmental drum:
“But existing harvesting programmes will have to be reviewed in the light of what is happening to the reefs or we could see local extinctions in the near future.”
In the hobby since 2001, and has seen all kinds of fads come and go. As he gets older, Jeff is developing more and more of a conscience towards environmental concerns, especially towards reefs. Currently, he writes from Ontario, Canada, but would rather be snorkeling on a reef.
Hi Jeff
In our country, Italy, wild caught clownfish are the rule, not the exception.
Danilo
http://www.DaniReef.com
I’m sure that there are places where wild caught is the exception. I think some better statistics are in order. The articles are very fluffy and are pointing fingers at a movie.
It’s unfortunate that there are places where wild caught is the rule and not the exception. There are two breeders that I know about within a two hour drive of me. Most stores here offer tank raised fish over wild caught. I would hope that consumers start asking for tank raised clownfish. There are only so many fish that we can breed and we might as well take advantage of the species who are.
The only exception to that “Wild caught are the rule” is at my facility. ….. of course being the largest clownfish collection in Canada does help the effort.
But in the industry as a whole, wild caught is the rule, I would even estimate that > 85% of all clownfish sold in Canada is wild caught at the moment. Maybe a bit less for US due to the numerous captive breeding facilities.
Hubert – Do you have any stats to back that up? At most of the big chain stores, the majority of clownfish have been tank raised.
I do not, just from my observation and my knowledge of the industry.
I would be interested to hear where your “big chains”, the majority of the clownfish have been tank raised. Go to Big Al’s and check how many species are tank raised. If the arguement is, at all the big chain stores, there are some tank raised clownfish, then yes; majority, it is just not there yet.
I’ll do some research and see if I can get some hard numbers. I’d be curious to see some data on this.