Environmental Impact of our Hobby.

[Aquattro]

Ya, and that's the thing, This isn't a question looking for a yes or no. It's just a thought process. We all do what we do, for various reasons we do it. But do we ever consider how we impact what we love, doing what we love?
Rock. I think they use it to build roads. Thousands of tons of it. So does our hobby then have any appreciable impact?? Dunno. Likely not. ORr does it? So many factors to consider, so many degrees of separation and different ripple effects.

All I'm doing is giving it more thought today than I did last week. Will that change anything I do? Dunno..

[somafish]

I guess that's all you can do is be thoughtful in your decisions. Humans will always be detrimental to their environmentsl, but as a personal consumer I try to do it in the most efficient way.

In the grand scheme of things I don't think my grandkids will blame me and my fish tank for destroying the oceans, so I don't think it's a huge impact and the more we push for sustainable caught fish/corals or even better bred fish/corals, properly mined rock, more power efficient equipment the less impact we will have. Also frag swaps and buying locally have got to be more utilized, why don't we have a Canadian MACNA!!!

[rsisvixen]

On the rock topic, I think that there is less and less of the 'live rock" taken out of the wild so to speak. We now have tons of other options available, aquacultured rock, man made rock etc. As hobbyists become more aware and educated wild rock will probably become a thing of the past in the hobby.
I myself do not have wild live rock in my tank.

My biggest pet peeve of the industry as a whole is the insistence of lfs's to keep getting in known hard to keep alive fish, moorish idols, orange spotted file fish etc. I don't mind if an expert reefer has done their research and wants to special order something, but getting in 10 or more in a shipment just to sell something "rare" is not right.

[Aquattro]

I still have all real rock in my tank

Keep in mind, often the LFS simply gets what is sent. I've seen stuff come in where the LFS is p'ed because it won't live. They order 50 fish, 30 are available on day of shipping, the supplier fills the rest of the box with whatever they have on hand.

[Baker]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Ya, and that's the thing, This isn't a question looking for a yes or no. It's just a thought process.

I strongly disagree. It is very cut and dry. We are having discussion because we try to justify our hobby and our burden on the environment. It's not good what ever way you slice it.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Baker

I strongly disagree. It is very cut and dry. We are having discussion because we try to justify our hobby and our burden on the environment. It's not good what ever way you slice it.

Ok, I stated it wrong. Yes, I believe there is a cut and dry answer. We take, we give nothing back. But I don't think we're going to get consensus on that among hobbyists, for varying reasons

[Sixpack]

Who wouldn't want cheaper fish and corals and so becaus we consumers demand that stores import more in order to make up that loss margins therefore taking more and more livestock out of the oceans because we have devalued their lives.

[kien]

Hey, I just want to add to this discussion, Merry Christmas everyone ! *runs and hides*

[WarDog]

Originally Posted by kien

Hey, I just want to add to this discussion, Merry Christmas everyone ! *runs and hides*

May the Force be with you!

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by WarDog

May the Force be with you!

I don't think he's into Star Trek..