Is your aquarium fish cyanide-caught?
By Terrie B. Fucanan
The Manila Times
November 23, 2003
You went home one day from the aquarium shop feeling giddy about a new purchase: Three beautiful tropical fishes. You hurriedly put them out of the bag onto your tank, give them food and closely watch. But instead of a graceful swim, you notice them circle the tank hurriedly, making erratic looping movements. They refuse to eat any food. And after a few days, they die.
You could point your finger at a handful of culprits. Or you could blame it on cyanide fishing.
Cyanide fishing is a popular method of capturing live reef fish for aquarium and food purposes. Widely practiced in Southeast Asia (particularly the Philippines) and the South Pacific, this “modern” method of fishing makes use of the neurotoxin cyanide, squirted into the holes and crevices of a reef to easily catch fish. Cyanide stuns the fish without killing it, making it easy to take out hiding fish by hand or net.
“Since cyanide poisons all reef animals, the practice of cyanide fishing is disastrous to the health of coral ecosystems. Cyanide fishing is also inefficient because less than half of the fish poisoned with cyanide survive long enough to reach pet shops, and cyanide-caught fish have a reputation for surviving poorly in home aquariums,” states the International Coral Reef Information Network.
How can you tell?
Generally, fish caught with cyanide look as normal as the others. But try to look closer and observe their movement. Perthaquarium.com names two signs:
“Erratic looping movements or continuous, repetitive nervous circling and secondly, a suppressed appetite. This is in fact their temporary reprieve; which is why it is important to only purchase full-bellied fish which are accepting food. Often it is the cyanide caught fish’s first meal that triggers their ultimate demise. Their damaged kidneys and liver are unable to perform detoxification and the fish is poisoned by it’s own wastes.”
Another sign would be the surprisingly low price of the fish. “If a fish is being sold at a bargain price, and the store isn’t running a sale, then the fish probably isn’t a bargain at all,” warns Aquariumpros.com. Because a diver who uses drugs to catch fish can catch more per hour, cyanide and drug-caught fish will always be cheaper (and die sooner) than hand-caught fish. So it pays to always question the health of an unusually inexpensive specimen.
A life threatening industry
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), cyanide fishing began in the 1960s in the Philippines to supply the international aquarium trade. Twenty years later, the practice has expanded to catching live reef fish for local restaurants, as well as those in Hong Kong, Singapore and, increasingly, mainland China.
This highly dangerous fishing method continues to gain following among fishermen worldwide for the higher demand on live fish, and of course, the high profit that comes with it. As WWF reports, “A Filipino fisherman can get between P300 and P1,100 (US$22) for a top-price live coral trout, five times the price of a dead fish. This makes live reef fishing very attractive.”
With an estimate of more than 1,000 tons of cyanide used in the Philippine seas, WWF fears it may soon wipe out our aquatic resources. “Cyanide kills coral polyps and algae, turning many coral reefs—the rainforests of the oceans—into marine deserts. A square meter of reef is destroyed for every live fish caught using cyanide,” it stated.
What you can do
In some countries, marine fish undergo weeks of quarantine period that could prevent some cyanide-caught fish to penetrate the market, since in all likelihood, Perthaquarium states that “a percentage will not survive that long.” The aquarium website suggests to have the fish held—upon deposit—for another two weeks. This should flush out any remaining cyanide-caught fish.
You may also inquire from the aquarium shop owner as to the source of their fish. If you have experienced buying a fish from a shop that you suspect died of cyanide causes, then inquire further from environmental groups (listed below) to verify your suspicions. If they are correct, then you can warn other buyers, or bring the matter to authorities.
By Terrie B. Fucanan with reference from The International Coral Reef Information Network (http://www.coralreef.org), World Wildlife Fund (http://www.wwf.org), Perthaquarium (http://www.perthaquarium.com), and Aquariumpros (http://www.aquariumpros.com). You may also log on to the Marine Aquarium Council (http://www.aquariumcouncil.org) for more information.
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2003/nov/23/yehey/weekend/20031123wek3.html
