[New post] Cyanide Fishing – Poisoning the Coral Triangle
Hasmukh Chand posted: " The Coral Triangle (the stretch of ocean between Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Singapore and Malaysia) is considered to be the most important coral reef system in the world. This region is home to 30% of the world's c" Conservation, Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development
The Coral Triangle (the stretch of ocean between Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Singapore and Malaysia) is considered to be the most important coral reef system in the world. This region is home to 30% of the world's coral reefs and over two thousand species of reef fish and is believed to be the epicentre of marine biodiversity. Many coastal communities that live in this area rely on fishing to provide for their families (food and income), primarily through fishing. According to a 2020 Food and Agricultural Organisation estimate, close to 60 million people work in the capture fisheries and aquaculture industries. A majority of them - 85% are in Asia.
One of the ways that locals make a living is by collecting ornamental reef fish for the aquarium trade. This is a lucrative industry estimated to be worth $15 billion per annum. Reef fish caught here make their way to places like the US, Europe and China. Indeed, 85% of the fish imported into the US comes from the Coral Triangle. While many fishermen collect colourful fish from the reefs using fine mesh nets, it's the use of cyanide that is causing significant concerns about conservationists and scientists.
Cyanide fishing has been around since the 1970s and has slowly spread its way across the Indo-Pacific and other areas where coral reefs grow. Fishermen crush sodium cyanide tablets and mix them into a solution which they use on the fish while diving amongst the reef. Once a fish is doused with cyanide, it becomes slow which makes it easier to catch. Sometimes, the fish can hide in the reef crevice which the fishermen pry and damage. Once the fish has been collected, they are placed in clean seawater to help them recover and then they are transported to warehouses. From there, they are sent to their final destinations to be sold in pet shops to aquarium enthusiasts. Some species of reef fish such as Groupers also make it to restaurants where they are kept in glass tanks until a customer selects them to be cooked and served.
Cyanide is a neurotoxin.
Half of the fish that are caught using cyanide end up dying and discarded on the reef. The fish that survive and make it to pet shops and then living room aquariums can also die weeks later as the cyanide toxicity slowly works its way through the fish.
The cyanide also kills the coral polyps. These are the small organisms that give the coral its life and colour. The death of coral polyps can occur even if they are exposed to small concentrations of cyanide solution. Dead coral reefs mean that the overall productivity of the waters decreases which then has disastrous flow on effects on other marine animals and the livelihoods of coastal communities. It can take many hundreds of years for dead coral to recover.
Cyanide is also poisonous for the divers who can become sick if they swim through the cyanide solutions they squirt from their bottles. Family members have also become ill after eating fish that had been brought home after being doused with cyanide.
While countries like Indonesia have banned the practice of using cyanide to collect ornamental reef fish, the large area that makes up the Coral Triangle, the many islands, beaches and coastal communities makes the ban hard to monitor and enforce. Plus, the fact that fishermen can earn a good income (up to four times compared to dead fish) collecting and selling these colourful fish makes it difficult for them to give up the trade.
Even countries like the US that have strict border controls through legislations such as the Lacey Act (first introduced in 1900) which makes it a federal crime to "import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase in interstate or foreign commerce any wildlife that was taken, possessed, transported, or sold in violation of any law or regulation of any State or in violation of any foreign law", finds it difficult to monitor and enforce the amount of ornamental fish entering their country from the Coral Triangle region as authorities are unable to tell where the fish were initially caught (ie, the species of fish is permitted into the US but authorities can't tell if it was caught using cyanide).
And while there are some ways to identify fish that have been caught using cyanide, these tests often have a wide margin of error. As fish metabolise the cyanide and excrete it via urine and faeces, any fish that was doused with the neurotoxin can contaminate other fish (caught without the use of cyanide) in a container during transport.
In an effort to protect reef fish, coral reefs and the health of local fishermen, programs are now encouraging fishermen to switch from using cyanide to using fine mesh nets to collect the fish. In some places, this alternative has been adopted but the attraction of using cyanide still remains.
The ornamental fish trade is a lucrative business. Many fishermen earn a decent wage from collecting reef fish from places like the Coral Triangle that are destined for sale in countries like the United States. However, the method of using cyanide to collect these fish can severely undermine the health and wellbeing of the local marine ecosystems and the communities that rely on them.
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