The Marine Aquarium Hobby in Retrospect: 2009

After a hectic "holiday season", I/we are back (trying to be back?) at penning for the CA blog. I wanted to write a brief opinion piece of the hobby in 2009.

As a marine aquarium hobbyist since 1993, a marine aquatics author since 2001, and a "professional" for a year, I've seen a lot of things come, go, stay, and change in our hobby, for better or for worse. For better or for worse, this is the first year I felt that the beginning of the end was palpable for the marine and reef aquarium hobby in it's current state.

When I say "beginning of the end", I don't mean an end to the hobby. I mean an end to the practices that are currently considered common among the hobby. I mean that over the next few years to a decade, drastic changes in many areas of the hobby can be expected because business (read: money) is everything, let's look at the financial changes (and changes based on finances) that 2009 brought us.

This hobby overall is not becoming more responsible, ethical, and is only just starting to consider the possibility of sustainability. Evidence of this is widespread, from the proposed H.R. 669 bill to outlaw all non-endemic species in an effort to prevent invasive species nationwide (notably the Volitans Lionfish in Florida coastal waters, among many, many others), to Indonesia limiting coral export, to the proof provided in journal articles such as this one.

This lack of responsibility is partly the reason for the increased tariffs by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, as well as those charged by CITES. These fees are leveraged on any live animal imported into our nation, are likely never to decrease, and will probably increase in the future. Invasive species, and the destruction wrought by them not only alters (for the worse) natural habitats and endemic species permanently, but is felt financially in many ways. Removal efforts are costly, but the real monetary impact is usually felt elsewhere, often at the local or state government level, due to the impact on tourism, local citizens, possibly human foodstuffs, and much more. The best way to prevent this problem from ever occurring is to eliminate the importation of non-native species (As HR 669 wanted to do), and the second-best way is to increase the cost of importing said species, so that fewer are purchased, lessening the risk of willfully ignorant or irresponsible people introducing them to the wild.

Another financial inevitability is the rise of our #1 source of (non-renewable) energy: oil. Something in the range of 94-97% of marine organisms purchased are imported from thousands of miles away via air freight, at great cost (I can tell you first hand that at least half of the purchase price of an animal goes towards freight costs). Yes, the price of oil (and subsequently jet fuel) fluctuates, but over the long term (years) there is only one way for the price to go: up. This fuel price directly affects the price of livestock for the hobby, thus animals will continue to cost more.

The economic "downturn" has adversely affected everyone, especially the non-essential luxury market in which our hobby resides. Less expenditure, combined with rising costs, doesn't bode well for the hobby's financial sustainability or growth, especially when coupled with the economic factors I've already listed.

When the above combination of factors are taken into account, one can begin to see how the current practices of our hobby will change under the face of this financial pressure. In my opinion, the contraction of our hobby (in terms of the number of hobbyists and the number of animals available) is inevitable, as is the price increase of animals that are/will be available.

The flipside of these changes (for those that see them as a bad thing, which I do not) is the ever-growing number of captive bred and propagated species. Lots of progress has been made in the captive breeding of marine fish by those such as Matt Wittenrich and participants of MOFIB. Companies and organizations dedicated to this practice (Sustainable Aquatics, ORA, SECORE) are not only making headway, but also supplying or helping to supply hobbyists with sustainable, raised-in-the-US options. Last year I wouldn't have been able to get my hands on captive bred mandarin dragonets (thanks, Matt!), but in 2009, that became a reality. I believe that captive bred/raised coral and fish will provide the bulk of animals for our trade in a not-so-distant future, albeit a limited one compared to our current options.
Captive bred animals can still make their way into the local environment via irresponsible aquarists, but at the least prosecution becomes a real possibility as these animals are easier to track from supplier to consumer, and the threat of prosecution will hopefully lessen these occurrences.

If we aren't willing to practice responsibility (by providing proper homes for our charges, by not buying species known to fare poorly in captivity, not frequenting the many disgraceful LFS, etc), and continuing to release non-native animals, then we are going to lose many of the privileges we have today, annulled by future legislation. It is up to the consumer (hobbyist) to spend money wisely, sending a message of profits or lack thereof to the rest of the supply chain.

However, the sad truth is that hobbyists have had plenty of time to make a difference with their dollars, and have so far chosen not to. I used to feel that the hobby had a net benefit on the ocean, reefs, and ecology, because I felt that if one cared enough about ocean life to aspire to maintain it at home, that would prompt one to not only become more educated about marine life and ecology, but educate others as well, thus providing a net benefit (via education) in what is otherwise a hobby causing mortality of marine organisms. Unfortunately, this is not what I see among the majority of hobbyists anymore. What I see is a momentary obsession with this week's most expensive fad coral, obsession with this or that "ultra-rare" coral (so rare, it usually has a common name that everyone knows) and the overall treatment of living animals as though they were a collectible card game of superiority, not living, growing organisms.

I feel it is inevitable at this point that our hobby will be legislated (and/or price-driven) into what most hobbyists would consider to be a shadow of its former self - and given the life expectancy, ridiculous mortality rates/low life spans among captive marine organisms, an overall lack of responsibility or ethics among hobbyists, and horrendous local fish stores, is that a bad thing?