Why are there less fish in coral reefs and what is being done about it.
Anyone that has lived in Hawaii or has been a long term visitor may be asking where all the tropical fish have gone. There is a noticeable change in the number of fish living in coral reefs.
These missing fish are called ornamental fish because of their fantastic variety of colors. Yellow Tangs and Clown Fish are very desirable for saltwater aquariums because of their cost and color. This is only an example of the many other marine fish being commercially collected.
Fish like the Cleaner Wrasse serve a function in a reef environment. They set up cleaning stations where they remove parasites and dead scales off of fish. This is called symbiosis. Without a sufficient supply of host fish, the Cleaner Wrasse population will decrease. With the absence of the Cleaner Wrasse, there is a higher mortality rate of ornamental fish due to parasitic disease.
The Moorish Idol and the Butterfly Fish both thrive on the alga produced from the live coral in coral reefs. If we strip the reefs of these fish, the coral will get overgrown with alga and die.
The Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources places the number of fish taken from their coral reefs to be as high as 15 million per year.
What can be done to slow this problem or even stop it?
- Put limitations on the number of species and the type that collectors can take.
- Salt water breeding programs to replace what has been taken.
- Collectors can get fines, imprisoned or put out of business.
The finger points to collectors that don’t care if they wipe out coral reefs and fish as long as they make the almighty dollar. When they’re finished with Hawaii, they will go to another tropical area of the world to rape the oceans.
