Quote:
Originally Posted by markitekt
I know this post is old, but some people are just suckers. So if you buy the fish "illegally", for $500 (gem tang), then it's bad, but if you pay someone $2000 legally, it's OK? What is legal or not in this hobby is open to interpretation. As far as I'm concerned, I should be locked up cause I have a mini-ocean in my house and I didn't pay anybody too much money for it. Who is to say that owning a gem tang for $5 is illegal? NOBODY!!! But if you wanna feel "legal" about it, you can give me $5000 and I can get you the most legal gem tang in the world! I take Paypal.
"The beauty is in the eye of the beholder". That is true, but the rarity and the price of the black tang, for example, distort the vision of beauty. If all black tangs were as common as the yellow tang, then all yellow tangs would be worth $500 if they were as rare as the black tangs are now. It's what you can't have that you love the most.
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I think the issue of legality stems from having the appropriate CITES and permits to collect and import into the market where you live. Also, as certain locals are becoming less open to having collectors come in and take fish from their waters to be exported for the marine trade, I don't think it's unreasonable to charge a good deal of money for these permits. It's simple supply and demand, and the more they charge, the less fish will be taken.
Additionally, many of these rare fish (not so sure if Black or Gem Tangs are included in this category) are found in areas that are difficult and/or expensive to access and sometimes at depths that are very dangerous for the diver.
Personally, I think it's perfectly acceptable for these "rare" fish to cost upwards of $500-1K. When you think about it, someone is diving to great depths, at their own risk, to collect a fish somewhere in the middle of the ocean and then is being shipped and imported into the US (or other country) generally via overnight shipping. I think that's pretty incredible.....
Lastly, no one said you had to have a Black Tang, or a Gem, or that deepwater Butterfly. If you're put off by the price, don't buy it, someone else will.