Ornamental Aquarium Trade Research Project

[Reef of Eden]

I'm doing a research project for my Marine Biology class on, "The Ornamental Aquarium Trade's Impact Upon Ecosystems".

I'm in the process of compiling information for the project.

I was wondering if any one here had some website, books, or any research material suggestions that would be helpful, as well as any specifically important issues or points that you think I should make sure to address in this project.

It's going to be about a 10 minute long PowerPoint presentation.


Thanks in advance for the your time and help.

[billsreef]

Don't have any specific articles on hand for you, but take a good look at South Florida. There are a lot of exotic tropical species running around done there. Mostly fresh water with South American Cichlids being a real problem. Water Hyacinth also, originally imported for water gardens. There are also salt water sightings of Indo Pacific species. We also have Volitan Lionfish reproducing quite successfully in the Atlantic, ranging from the Caribbean up to the NY during the summer months. Probably contacting Florida's department of natural resources would yield a ton of good reference sources.

[cortez marine]

[You could do a great service if you produced a grid on all the environmental groups who have been granted money to solve problems they claimed were serious in the aquarium trade.
The grid might look like this;

IMA 10 years active 4 millon spent nothing gained
MAC 9 years active 12 million spent nothing gained
CCIF 5 years active 3 millon spent nothing gained
MAMTI 4 years active 3 millon spent nothing gained
WWF 15 years active 8 million spent nothing gained
HARIBON 5 years active 2 million spent nothing gained


and so on.....
If you claim to care about the issues, you cannot ignore the fact that our trades problem issues have been a cash cow for money grubbing, sham environmental/research types for many years.

Steven Pro just adressed this alarming syndrome at IMAC recently. I think that this environmental "mal-practice" is th greatest threat to the aquarium trade there is....as nothing gets done or solved for the huge outlays of cash.
Steve

[GreshamH]

That was at Mid West Frag Fest in Rockford Steve, not IMAC :)