Certainly Saltcreep knows more about this industry as a whole than I do. You may well know more also, although no one really knows much about you or your company so I will reserve judgement...
However, while some industry members may be more "in the know" about the industry itself, I would not be so quick to assert that they are more "in the know" on the subject of conservation, the true effect of the trade on wild populations, etc. As far as seahorses go, perhaps Bev knows more about these animals than both of you, even though you know more about the trade in these animals. And how many LFS employees and so on are there out there that don't even know how to differentiate between A. ocellaris and A. percula? I would speculate that a very small proportion of industry members truly know what they are talking about. It's absurd to suggest that industry members inherently know more about the hobby as a whole.
This is comparable to police, who think they are somehow more skilled at identifying criminals and understanding the phenomenon of crime than lawyers, judges and criminologists, who have in fact made the police.