Banggai Cardinalfish to be banned!? Even aquacultured ones!?

[Nutramar Foods]

Take action now- Submit your comments in opposition of the proposed 4(d) rule banning the import or export of Banggai Cardinalfish today! The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has proposed 4(d) rule NOAA–NMFS–2023–0099, which would ban the import or export of the Banggai Cardinalfish into and out of the United States regardless of its source, which would include aquaculture. The vast majority of documented Banggai Cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni) imports into the U.S. originate from aquaculture farms abroad and play a vital role in our hobby. Recognizing the challenges faced by Banggai Cardinalfish over a decade ago, the aquarium trade took proactive steps to establish sustainable aquaculture facilities both domestically and internationally. While aquaculture exists in the U.S. for this species, it’s only a very small fraction of the total volume. Domestic production is very difficult, and is space and labor intensive, and will therefore likely never grow cost effective to meet the demand here in the U.S. You can access this submission portal by visiting this link to fill out the form and to share your thoughts on why the proposed rule would not serve the best interests of this species or the aquarium hobby and trade! Click here to learn more

 

[thedon986]

No exception for captive bred? Wow

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

So we should stock up on these, at 12 a fish, wait from them to skyrocket to 400 a fish and make a fortune?

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Wow! Thanks for bringing awareness to this!

 

[blaxsun]

 

[jda]

Aquaculture is not captive bred. This said nothing about captive bred ones.

The inclusion of aquaculture is likely since it will be impossible to tell if the fish were wild caught or aqua cultured in a box coming from Indo.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

With how Easy these are to breed in a very simple system, I personally don't think we need to be importing them at all.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Aquaculture is not captive bred. This said nothing about captive bred ones.

The inclusion of aquaculture is likely since it will be impossible to tell if the fish were wild caught or aqua cultured in a box coming from Indo.

That was my bad on the title edit. Thanks for pointing that out. I have corrected it.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

So much fear mongering, so few reasons. They're only banning import/export. That would be a big deal for most fish, but over 95% of bangaiis are captive bred on American soil. NOAA is a very good organization, they aren't the "feds" coming to take away your stuff. That isn't really a thing anyways, but I digress.

There are about 2 million of these fish left in the wild. That seems like a lot, but the US alone imports 100,000 wild fish a year, and presumably buyers in the EU, the Arab world, and in Hong Kong/Taiwan are importing about as many combined. That's 1/10th of their population every year. I fully support NOAA here, they're in the right.

 

[thedon986]

but over 95% of bangaiis are captive bred on American soil.

Source?

 

[Northern Flicker]

They should ban imports on them. Why wouldn’t they?

One of the easiest to marine fish to breed, at risk in nature.

There would be no way for a customs agent to know if they were captive bred or not.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

Source?

No external source, but I've never seen a wild-caught one for sale in any of my LFS. Sorry, misleading phrasing based off of what I've seen, not hard data.

Not sure why anybody would prefer wild caught to captive bred in cases when the latter is cheaper and more sustainable. The only reason why I have some wild fish is because I can't find specimens for sale captive bred at a reasonable price. With the bangaii, the wild ones are about $40, and the captive bred are about $30.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

Here's the science and the report given by NOAA. A bunch of flailing and misinformed hippy reactionaries? Far from it, knowledgable people with the best of the best data, making decisions based on what would benefit wild fish and the economy. NOAA is an agency which I trust, making sound decisions.

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/s3/2023-08/DRAFT-EA-Banggai-cardinalfish.pdf

 

[Slocke]

I believe I accidentally bought wild caught ones when I was new in the hobby. They would not eat normal foods and one I never got to eat. I just assumed they would be captive bred. I felt really bad because I know their wild population was low.

I support an intelligent ban. Let some respected breeders have some occasionally to keep the gene pool healthy and maybe those breeders could send some spawn back to their natural habitat.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Fish Banning, IMO is a slippery slope, as we have already seen.
The "Smart" thing for distributors is to not buy any wild caught and stick to it. Once a law is passed it is hard to get overturned even if in the future the population is returned to normal.
Have every importer in the US sign a pledge.
The 100,000 of imported fish a year, I would like to see sources on that. Is that number wild caught? Aquaculture? or a mixture of both.
I don't want to see any fish, coral etc. fall below healthy numbers in any situation. But sometimes I feel every one has their own agenda.

 

[Northern Flicker]

Fish Banning, IMO is a slippery slope, as we have already seen.
The "Smart" thing for distributors is to not buy any wild caught and stick to it. Once a law is passed it is hard to get overturned even if in the future the population is returned to normal.
Have every importer in the US sign a pledge.
The 100,000 of imported fish a year, I would like to see sources on that. Is that number wild caught? Aquaculture? or a mixture of both.
I don't want to see any fish, coral etc. fall below healthy numbers in any situation. But sometimes I feel every one has their own agenda.

What agenda?

 

[Nutramar Foods]

Good evening,

Thank you for the dialog surrounding the Banggai Cardinalfish and proposed ban on import and export of Banggai cardinalfish into and out of the U.S. regardless of the source, which includes aquacultured (farmed or captive bred) fish.

The trade recognized the need well over a decade ago, and worked to establish large, commercial aquaculture farms overseas to reduce the pressure on this species which has a very restricted range in Indonesia.

The vast majority of Banggai Cardinalfish available in the U.S. are from overseas aquaculture farms, the largest of which is located in Thailand, and produces thousands of aquacultured Banggai per month.

While aquaculture does in fact exists in the U.S. for the species, it is only a very small fraction of total volume. Domestic production at scale is very difficult, being labor and space intensive, and will therefore likely never grow cost effectively to meet demand.

I hope this adds a bit more clarity to this discussion, and for additional insight on this topic I encourage interested individuals to read a recent article by Vincent Chalias who lives in Indonesia and has extensive knowledge about this species and the plight of the Banggai Cardinalfish. https://www.reef2rainforest.com/2023/08/22/are-banggai-cardinals-depleted-in-the-wild/

Kevin Kohen
Quality Marine
Los Angeles, CA

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

Good evening,

Thank you for the dialog surrounding the Banggai Cardinalfish and proposed ban on import and export of Banggai cardinalfish into and out of the U.S. regardless of the source, which includes aquacultured (farmed or captive bred) fish.

The trade recognized the need well over a decade ago, and worked to establish large, commercial aquaculture farms overseas to reduce the pressure on this species which has a very restricted range in Indonesia.

The vast majority of Banggai Cardinalfish available in the U.S. are from overseas aquaculture farms, the largest of which is located in Taiwan, and produces thousands of aquacultured Banggai per month.

While aquaculture does in fact exists in the U.S. for the species, it is only a very small fraction of total volume. Domestic production at scale is very difficult, being labor and space intensive, and will therefore likely never grow cost effectively to meet demand.

I hope this adds a bit more clarity to this discussion, and for additional insight on this topic I encourage interested individuals to read a recent article by Vincent Chalias who lives in Indonesia and has extensive knowledge about this species and the plight of the Banggai Cardinalfish. https://www.reef2rainforest.com/2023/08/22/are-banggai-cardinals-depleted-in-the-wild/

Kevin Kohen
Quality Marine
Los Angeles, CA

How do you suggest allowing the import of captive bred ones without letting some wild ones into the country? Lots of people would take the opportunity to sneak wild specimens in among captive ones to smuggle them into the country.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

What agenda?

There are organizations that want bans of this species of fish and others. There are also others that do not. Every side is going to have a reason, statistics etc. to try to convince the majority to follow their view.
That is what I meant by agenda.
An agenda lists the items of business to be taken up during a meeting or session

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Take action now- Submit your comments in opposition of the proposed 4(d) rule banning the import or export of Banggai Cardinalfish today! The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has proposed 4(d) rule NOAA–NMFS–2023–0099, which would ban the import or export of the Banggai Cardinalfish into and out of the United States regardless of its source, which would include aquaculture. The vast majority of documented Banggai Cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni) imports into the U.S. originate from aquaculture farms abroad and play a vital role in our hobby. Recognizing the challenges faced by Banggai Cardinalfish over a decade ago, the aquarium trade took proactive steps to establish sustainable aquaculture facilities both domestically and internationally. While aquaculture exists in the U.S. for this species, it’s only a very small fraction of the total volume. Domestic production is very difficult, and is space and labor intensive, and will therefore likely never grow cost effective to meet the demand here in the U.S. You can access this submission portal by visiting this link to fill out the form and to share your thoughts on why the proposed rule would not serve the best interests of this species or the aquarium hobby and trade! Click here to learn more

They are going.to take all of your freedom and liberty, one piece at a time. Quit installing pols who defer to bureaucrats to write code and enforce it.

Nobody ever voted for a soul at the NOAA to come and decide what fish you can keep. In fact, the Constitution prohibits it.