I think detailed ecolabels are a good idea. I believe that "the more you know" the better your experience will be. I would buy products with ecolabels as long as I felt it was detailed enough to truly show that the organism (or rock) was sustainably caught from a legal location.
So many eco friendly labels out there are quite misleading. In terms of the aquatics industry, how would I know if the fish was caught in location X or location A off of the same island, where location X was deemed an illegal capture zone? Once again I have to trust that the companies endorsing the label are legitimate.
This is a good point. Unfortunately, I suspect we are in a place in the marine aquarium trade where point-of-origin--even if only island specific (e.g., Fiji, Hawai'i)--is still a sustainably-minded aquarists best bet in terms of using his or her purchasing power to support sustainability. Can I be 100% sure that a fish harvested from an island with a sustainable marine aquarium fishery was not poached from an illegal area? No. Poaching occurs in all fisheries around the globe, and there are always people who will break the law if they think the rewards outweigh the risks. Having said that, I believe it's fair to say at this point that a fish reaching your LFS with an ecolabel identifying the point-of-origin of the animal as Fiji, PNG, Hawai'i, or Solomon Islands has a better chance of being sustainably collected than fishes from unknown "Indo-Pacific" points-of-origin. Unfortunately, the vast majority of marine aquarium animals are harvested in fisheries managed by countries with very poor track records when it comes to sustainability. That is changing, but it will take time, and hopefully ecolabels can help motivate said change.
I've seen more of this type of thing around the agriculture industry. Everyone has 'certified organic' in some variation on their fruit and veggie stand (and products on shelves) and I'm sure many of them are not actually organic. I actually know many that are not worthy of the label yet still get the extra $$ because of the higher costs of growing and maintaining organic and environmentally friendly produce.
Without research and education, the consumer will be duped time and time again.
Again, a good point. This is why, as
the article alludes, we will, I suspect, eventually need a third-party ecolabelling scheme. As can be seen in the seafood industry and the "organics" industry, a profusion of privately-branded ecolabels led to consumer confusion and fatigue, as well as straight-up greenwashing. In the case of both of those industries, outside regulation and oversight has been essential to getting ecolabelling back on track.
That unfortunately is the most difficult part, as Randy has already mentioned- figuring out how to educate the folks that have never considered how the fish/invert arrived in their LFS or buddies tank, what it means to collect sustainably also requires one to know the 'inhumane' practices. It always comes down to money and education.
I mean...as it is many people I know in the hobby, are in it because "the fish are pretty" or they saw Finding Nemo and their 5 year old wants Nemo. They will go to Petco, overlook potential ich and signs of body deterioration in addition to the care requirements (if provided) and buy a trigger, a tang, 2 clowns, a lionfish, shrimp and an anemone for a 30 gallon tank (the prices for these organisms at Petco are considerably lower than any brick and mortar LFS I've seen in NYC, NJ, or ME).
Petco actually provides caresheets, and has a website that gives similar details to Liveaquaria on care. However, the family/person that puts all of those fish into that 30g tank...chooses not to know.
Now, when it comes to pricing (which leads us into socio-economic inequality issues)...I think that the people that can afford the price increases in general, will buy for a few reasons (also similar to the increase in sustainability/eco labels on food)
1) because they can afford it and do not mind buying the eco brand as opposed to...the unmarked fish
2) they KNOW and care about marine sustainability issues and can afford the increase in price when they know the lower price of the unmarked fish
3) it is the 'new thing to do' (regardless of whether you have a history of caring about the world, it's posh to buy eco friendly products and it becomes a status symbo).
4) they do not know that there is a difference, the are first timers and the first livestock they became aware of are fish with eco labels. They do not know of an alternative and can pay the ecofriendly asking price.
As an aside, I wonder how the trend towards ecolabels for the hobby will impact for sale threads on forums!
You are again correct that, in the absence of third-party certification, oversight and/or regulation, education becomes the most important part of this discussion. I think we need to expect more from the retailer in this regard, and I think we also need to expect more from the trade/hobby media. Obviously the local club and club-sponsored events are critical as well when it comes to education.
Most importantly, we need to be proactive. Let's remember that, as you point out, many (most?) first-time marine aquarium animal purchasers don't think the animal came anywhere but the fish store. If they do happen to know most marine aquarium animals are harvested from the wild, then they often assume the trade must be regulated. They certainly don't think by default that purchasing a given animal could contribute to reef degradation and social-economic inequity.
Discussions like this are, I think, very important. Thanks for taking the time.
