First, a bit more about Matt:
Matt Wittenrich is a marine biologist completing his doctorate at the Florida Institute of Technology, where he concentrates on fisheries biology and morphology. He is a very successful breeder of several species of fish, including the mandarin dragonet and marine betas (comets). Matt is also the author of aquarium books and articles, and is an incredibly talented marine life photographer. Due to Matt’s education and extensive experience in the field, I definitely wanted to hear what he had to say about some of the issues I’ve discussed in this article.
Mike: What is your opinion of current collection practices?
Matt: The aquarium industry, specifically the wild collection for the hobby, is largely without regulations in their country of export. Education has become the primary tool of conservation, forcing good catching and handling practices. Sick and dying fish imported and sold to hobbyists, especially new ones, has remained a large bottleneck to the expansion of the hobby. How many could-be hobbyists has the industry lost each year because they bought fish that died? Ultimately, I think the burden of obtaining quality fish is at the hands of the importer and the retail shop. At the end of the day, hobbyists want to know that their fish were sustainably collected with the best practices and ultimately that their fish will live and thrive and contribute to the education and passion of the next generation.
Wild capture fisheries offer a huge economic incentive to reef stewardship in foreign countries. Fisherfolk preserve their livelihood, and the reefs that offer it. If aquaculture was to replace all wild caught fish, locals would have little alternatives or options to feed their family, resulting in increased dynamite fishing, cyanide use pollution. Wild fisheries can be sustainable and the movement in the industry should be in education surrounding these social issues. The tools of aquaculture are important for research. We know very little of the complexities of larval fish development and it will be decades before aquaculturists can reliably secure most coral-reef species as captive bred. Until then, sustainable collection is paramount.”
Mike: Do you think the future of the hobby lies in aquaculture?
Matt: Aquaculture is a necessity; for food, for a sustainable ornamental trade and as a tool of biodiversity conservation and transplantation to depleted environments.
While aquaculture will play an important role in the future of the aquarium industry it will never wholly replace wild capture fisheries and in fact, it never should. Aquaculture should be used as a tool to help preserve those populations or species under high levels of exploitation. Under this context we would concentrate our efforts on those species most exploited for the aquarium trade. Looking at imported species numbers this will inevitably lead us to think that the blue damselfish (Chrysiptera cyanea) was among the most exploited. Ironically, very little advancement has been achieved with damselfish aquaculture.
Mike: Are your findings assisting aquaculture facilities produce animals for the hobby?
Matt: In years past, research and development was the major hurdle limiting the expansion of new aquacultured species in the trade. In modern days, however, a significant contribution of research and development comes from hobbyists. Hobbyist contributions were once rare, but now contribute significantly to the commercialization of new species. MOFIB is an amazing testament to this fact. A number of species have been spawned and reared for the first time and debuted on MOFIB. Once these techniques are fine tuned they can be ramped up to commercial scale production. Integrating commercial, scientific and hobbyist level aquaculture is the only way to advance this field in a timely manner.
My work integrates the sciences of functional morphology, fisheries biology and aquaculture to help answer common problems in aquaculture, such as the mass mortality events observed early in larval development. In the wild, less than 0.012% of larval fish survive the larval phase and recruit to benthic populations. By understanding the underlying mechanisms of morality in aquaculture we stand to become more proficient at rearing marine fishes and answering why these mortality events occur in the wild.
For more information about Matt, or to view some of his stunning photographs, visit http://www.aquaticpixels.net
Matt Wittenrich is a marine biologist completing his doctorate at the Florida Institute of Technology, where he concentrates on fisheries biology and morphology. He is a very successful breeder of several species of fish, including the mandarin dragonet and marine betas (comets). Matt is also the author of aquarium books and articles, and is an incredibly talented marine life photographer. Due to Matt’s education and extensive experience in the field, I definitely wanted to hear what he had to say about some of the issues I’ve discussed in this article.
Mike: What is your opinion of current collection practices?
Matt: The aquarium industry, specifically the wild collection for the hobby, is largely without regulations in their country of export. Education has become the primary tool of conservation, forcing good catching and handling practices. Sick and dying fish imported and sold to hobbyists, especially new ones, has remained a large bottleneck to the expansion of the hobby. How many could-be hobbyists has the industry lost each year because they bought fish that died? Ultimately, I think the burden of obtaining quality fish is at the hands of the importer and the retail shop. At the end of the day, hobbyists want to know that their fish were sustainably collected with the best practices and ultimately that their fish will live and thrive and contribute to the education and passion of the next generation.
Wild capture fisheries offer a huge economic incentive to reef stewardship in foreign countries. Fisherfolk preserve their livelihood, and the reefs that offer it. If aquaculture was to replace all wild caught fish, locals would have little alternatives or options to feed their family, resulting in increased dynamite fishing, cyanide use pollution. Wild fisheries can be sustainable and the movement in the industry should be in education surrounding these social issues. The tools of aquaculture are important for research. We know very little of the complexities of larval fish development and it will be decades before aquaculturists can reliably secure most coral-reef species as captive bred. Until then, sustainable collection is paramount.”
Mike: Do you think the future of the hobby lies in aquaculture?
Matt: Aquaculture is a necessity; for food, for a sustainable ornamental trade and as a tool of biodiversity conservation and transplantation to depleted environments.
While aquaculture will play an important role in the future of the aquarium industry it will never wholly replace wild capture fisheries and in fact, it never should. Aquaculture should be used as a tool to help preserve those populations or species under high levels of exploitation. Under this context we would concentrate our efforts on those species most exploited for the aquarium trade. Looking at imported species numbers this will inevitably lead us to think that the blue damselfish (Chrysiptera cyanea) was among the most exploited. Ironically, very little advancement has been achieved with damselfish aquaculture.
Mike: Are your findings assisting aquaculture facilities produce animals for the hobby?
Matt: In years past, research and development was the major hurdle limiting the expansion of new aquacultured species in the trade. In modern days, however, a significant contribution of research and development comes from hobbyists. Hobbyist contributions were once rare, but now contribute significantly to the commercialization of new species. MOFIB is an amazing testament to this fact. A number of species have been spawned and reared for the first time and debuted on MOFIB. Once these techniques are fine tuned they can be ramped up to commercial scale production. Integrating commercial, scientific and hobbyist level aquaculture is the only way to advance this field in a timely manner.
My work integrates the sciences of functional morphology, fisheries biology and aquaculture to help answer common problems in aquaculture, such as the mass mortality events observed early in larval development. In the wild, less than 0.012% of larval fish survive the larval phase and recruit to benthic populations. By understanding the underlying mechanisms of morality in aquaculture we stand to become more proficient at rearing marine fishes and answering why these mortality events occur in the wild.
For more information about Matt, or to view some of his stunning photographs, visit http://www.aquaticpixels.net
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