Voluntarily certification will not work, no matter where we impose it in the chain of custody. Those willing to subscribe are already responsible. We'd be basically teaching Spanish to a bunch of Spainards.
And even responsible, educated reefkeepers kill, directly and indirectly. It's undeniable. For every one specimen that lives, at least 2 have died. We may think we're masters of the universe. We may shrug off death as a learning experience or public awareness. We may think we're resonsible enough to police ourselves. But history says we clearly aren't.
What we need is something mandatory - something that completely sweeps the board.
Seeing that we agree that we can't please all parties, how about we ban the import of all wild-caught cnidarians, period? The United States is the biggest consumer of marine ornamental organisms. Even if we don't have direct authority to control international collectors, we'd make a HUGE impact on the global community if we voluntarily imposed a mandatory, well-versed, federal legislation outlining the outright ban of all wild-caught cnidarians by the year 20XX. This will force everyone involved in the hobby to revisit the issue of conservation, propagation, and responsibility. Because the only real way to stop raping our reefs is to stop taking from it to fulfill our selfish desires. I've had my fair share of contribution to the problem, but slowly, as I peruse my principles and see all the corals/fishes come through LA (and I know 90% of them will die prematurely), I can't help but think that we're slowly killing what we love.
I would think that at this point in our hobby, we have enough broodstock, understanding, and capability to develop a workable captive breeding program in the next 10 years.
Reefs.org memebers seem to take more responsible positions on this subject then another unnamed board.
And even responsible, educated reefkeepers kill, directly and indirectly. It's undeniable. For every one specimen that lives, at least 2 have died. We may think we're masters of the universe. We may shrug off death as a learning experience or public awareness. We may think we're resonsible enough to police ourselves. But history says we clearly aren't.
What we need is something mandatory - something that completely sweeps the board.
Seeing that we agree that we can't please all parties, how about we ban the import of all wild-caught cnidarians, period? The United States is the biggest consumer of marine ornamental organisms. Even if we don't have direct authority to control international collectors, we'd make a HUGE impact on the global community if we voluntarily imposed a mandatory, well-versed, federal legislation outlining the outright ban of all wild-caught cnidarians by the year 20XX. This will force everyone involved in the hobby to revisit the issue of conservation, propagation, and responsibility. Because the only real way to stop raping our reefs is to stop taking from it to fulfill our selfish desires. I've had my fair share of contribution to the problem, but slowly, as I peruse my principles and see all the corals/fishes come through LA (and I know 90% of them will die prematurely), I can't help but think that we're slowly killing what we love.
I would think that at this point in our hobby, we have enough broodstock, understanding, and capability to develop a workable captive breeding program in the next 10 years.
Reefs.org memebers seem to take more responsible positions on this subject then another unnamed board.
