Cyanide And Dynamite Fishing - Who's really responsible?

[Paul A. Blanchon]

Just to clear up the confusion for those of you who obviously did  
not read Michaels commentary, here is the part I was referring to: 

>During the first eight months of 1995, a total catch of 2.3 million kg of  
>live groupers and humped wrasse worth over US$180 million was exported to  
>Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. Another 1.9 million kg of decorative fishes 
>worth US$800,000 was shipped to Europe and North America. 
(ie nearly 50% of the fish taken from reefs are for the aquarium trade) 

The point here is that whether you destroy a reef quickly by dumping  
cyanide over it, or destroy it slowly be removing the fish so that they  
can adorn your living room, the effect is the same...a dead reef. 

Cheers, Paul. 

       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
	Paul Blanchon | Research Associate 
	Department of Geological Sciences 
	Indiana University, Bloomington, 
	IN 47405-1403 | Tel:(812) 855-9729 Fax:0646 
	http://www.indiana.edu/~reefpage/ 
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