[omard]

"Moved Thread" (OmarD)

Originally posted by:

Craig_Manoukian
3reef Moderator
Reno NV


Re: New "Book" Forum!!! *
« Reply #2 on: Today at 9:59am »


Johns Tullock's book "Natural Reef Aquariums: *Simplified Approaches to Creating Living Saltwater Microcosims" *is an absolute must.



John Tullock
*
Founder of the American Marinelife Dealers Association

The AMDA was founded in 1995 in response to a growing awareness that certain aspects of wild harvest of marine fish, invertebrates and live rock for home aquariums might be having detrimental effects on coral reef habitats. Believing as we do that conserving the resources that provide over 90 percent of the live specimens from which we derive our livelihood is essential to the future of our industry, our goal is to identify, to reduce, and eventually to eliminate, negative environmental impacts that could result from our collective business activities.

Approximately one million marine aquariums currently exist in the United States, constituting two-thirds of the world total. *The approximate retail value of annual sales of living marine organisms totals US $200,000,000. *Additional sales of non-living products for establishing and maintaining home marine aquariums totals US $300,000,000. *Thus, American hobbyists spend half a billion dollars annually in pursuit of their interest in coral reef denizens.

Over 90 percent of all live marine aquarium organisms are collected from coral reefs, with the remainder coming from various types of captive propagation. *While Florida and Hawaii are significant sources of specimens, most, including all stony corals, come from Indonesia, the Philippines, and elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific. *A small percentage of the trade originates in Africa and the Middle East.

Recent reports conclude that, in some locations, illegal practices by collectors are damaging reefs and placing undue pressure on populations of target species. *Further, our collective experience indicates that improper conditions of holding and handling of live inventories between collection and eventual retail sale are probably responsible for excessive mortalities. * Avoidable delayed post-collection mortalities increase our costs of doing business.

They also contribute to a high dropout rate among marine aquarium hobbyists our only market whose morale is lowered when specimens perish despite their best efforts. *In our view, making our industry more sustainable is both good for the reefs and good for business.

This is a sure fire 10 from a leader in conservation and helping the home aquariast!