Hobbyists swap fish tales at conference
Marine enthusiasts meet in Clarksville for annual gathering
By CHRISTOPHER HALL
Special to The Louisville Courier-Journal
September 8, 2003
Photos BY MARY ANN GERTH, THE C-J.
There were sea horses in Clarksville this weekend.
At the 15th annual Marine Aquarium Conference of North America, held at the Holiday Inn Lakeview, saltwater aquariums filled with brilliantly hued varieties of marine life were sprinkled through an area of the hotel dedicated to vendor showcases.
A captive-raised seahorse wrapped its tail around a soft coral in a tank on display at the 15th annual Marine Aquarium Conference of North America in Clarksville. More than 400 enthusiasts turned out for the event.
In one aquarium that at first glance appeared to be filled solely with bits of coral and other marine growth, small sea horses could be spotted, tranquilly floating in the clear water.
The fantastic and surreal creatures were just one of the many beautiful species of marine life on display. From fish — like bright yellow tangs from Hawaii, crimson flame angels from the Marshall Islands and curiously spotted clown triggers from the Philippines — to sea horses, corals and strange marine worms — with plumes of waving cilia, giving them the name feather dusters — the downstairs room at the Holiday Inn was transformed into a zoological wonderland.
The Marine Aquarium Conference of North America is an annual event held by local clubs and sanctioned by the Marine Aquarium Societies of North America. The host of this year's event was the Louisville Marine Aquarium Society.
Louisville's club is the only three-time host of the event, according to its president, Morris Spillman of Hillview, Ky.
Clown fish were among the aquatic life on display at the conference. Speakers from Europe, Canada and Hawaii were in attendance to share research.
More than 400 hobbyists attended this year's conference and were treated to a roster of presentations on topics from "The World's Coral Reefs in Distress" to "Fascinating Reproductive Modes of Reef Invertebrates." The conference drew its audience from as far away as California — and its speakers from even more distant locales, such as Fiji.
"We're really just a collection of dedicated hobbyists to the marine aquariums," Spillman said. "The conference focuses on new information. ... (Speakers) present new research, new developments, new techniques on keeping and raising marine fish."
Topics of interest at this year's conference, Spillman said, seemed to focus on a move toward the captive raising of marine life instead of collecting from the wild. A group called the Marine Aquarium Council is leading an industrywide reform in collecting practices, he said.
Chicago's Nancy Swart, a past president of the Marine Aquarium Societies of North America, attended the event, which ran from Friday through yesterday.
"It was a wonderful learning experience," Swart said of the conference. "It also gave us an opportunity to make hobbyists more aware of the cyanide problems that are still existent in the Philippines and Indonesia."
Many collectors still use cyanide to stun the fish and make them easier to catch, she said, and the Marine Aquarium Council is attempting to stop the practice.
Walt Smith, one of the speakers at the conference, splits his time between Los Angeles and Fiji, where he grows and harvests coral. He exports marine life and marine products, like live rock, fish and coral, and is growing a coral walkway for tourists at a hotel in Fiji.
Smith, who spoke about coral farming and growth, said this year's conference went well. "It's a very nice conference. It always is. Louisville always does a real good job with their conference," he said.
Smith was only one of the guests who traveled a long way for the conference, with other speakers being flown in from Europe, Canada and Hawaii.
"One of the nice things about conferences like this is you get to meet people you only see once a year or twice a year," Smith said. "People from all over the world come in for a conference like this."
Richard Hilgers of Wisconsin looked at a clam he bought yesterday. This year's conference focused on a move toward the captive raising of marine life instead of collecting them from the wild.
The conference seems to grow every year, said Smith, who attends each year, and its theme always seems to address environmental concerns and ways to make it more possible for the hobbyist to breed and raise tropical fish — something that would have been unheard of 20 years ago.
"Hobbyists are always enthusiastic about improving their hobby or being able to do something that hasn't been done before," he said. "And that's what conferences like this are all about, to share all of that information."
For more information about the Marine Aquarium Societies of North America, visit http://www.masna.org, and for the Louisville Marine Aquarium Society, go to http://www.lmas.org.
Link to the article: http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2003/09/08in/met-front-fish0908-7261.html
