What year did Ascension Island stop all exports?

[Zionas]

I know Ascension and nearby islands have stopped exporting for well over a decade, but does anyone know what the precise year was when they banned all export? That means stuff like C. Resplendens and more. Do any of you still have fish (C. Resplendens or others) from there that are currently alive?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I didn't know they ever exported commercially from there. I recall helping put away a shipment from there in 1986, but those fish came from an air force officer (RAF?) who collected them and brought them out on his own. None of those fish are still alive (grin).

One of the biologists from the California Academy of Sciences is there now, not sure what his project is.


Jay

 

[argiBK]

Is Ascension avoided by the ornamental fish trade because of it’s remote location, or, are ornamental fish banned from being exported altogether?

If it’s the former, because of the transport times to deliver (for example) a resplendent angel to a wholesaler/distributor, just might not seem cost effective or profitable. Also, its isolation really doesn’t give folks in the collection industry other nearby options (like in the Western Pacific remotes like New Caledonia or Southern Japanese Islands).

That said, a resplendent angel would be on the top of my list of holy grail fish to have!

 

[argiBK]

Ah, so just did a little digging, and seems like a ban exists, but especially so for C. resplendens as they are on the Threatened Species list, since 1996.

Wonder if it’s similar to the ban on collecting Bangaii cardinals, the fact that both of these species are only found in extremely specific locations with just as limited geographic range. If so, seems like collection would have stopped around the same time as being placed on the endangered species list (and likely so for any ornamental fish found exclusively on Ascension or St. Helena).

From BlueZooAquatics:

Species Description
Rarely seen in the trade, the Resplendent Angelfish is one of the dwarf-dwarf or pygmy Angelfish. It is very hardy and adapts well to aquarium life. The main reason for the high price tag is the fact that they are only found around two extremely remote islands in the mid-Atlantic called St. Helena and the Ascension Islands. The Ascension government placed a ban on the collection of all marine life including this Angelfish. The Resplendent Angelfish now on the market are coming form various Aqua Culture facilities around the world and only a few at a time are being released. In 1996, The World Conservation Union placed this species of Angelfish on its Red List of Threatened Animals. It is currently the only Pomacanthidae species on this list. They are extremely aggressive towards their own kind and may pester fish of similar size or color. They are very well suited for a semi-aggressive community tank and can hold their own against larger fish. They do best in aquariums utilizing live rock for filtration or decoration. They are not known to pick at corals or clams but caution is still advised. They will completely ignore any non-sessile invertebrates such as shrimp or crabs

So, has anyone made any progress captive breeding these guys?!

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I'm gonna go with remoteness for the avoidance of the fish trade. IIRC there is no commercial air service (back in the day and now) as that islands population was purely military value for the US and the Brits (this was in the mid 90's when I worked for Uncle Sam).

We used to shuttle equipment down there to RAF Ascension Island from MacDill AFB and the transient facilities were non existent, along with much of everything else, lol. The island is a giant radar tracking station and that's it. Everything else is in support of that.

Edit: just saw above the ban on trade, figured purely remoteness. Learned something new!

 

[Zionas]

A Singaporean guy who used to contribute to Reef Builders fairly often posted a vid of a Resplendens in 2015, one of the oldest wild caught specimens in captivity at the time. Assuming a collection cut-off date of 1996, then it was 19+ in 2015.

 

[Zionas]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0yZsNak8xGbNdF3uPbGFznk28c9pZPKRdUsrssZPqvJVVUK2QiQCVoCNTwGvCbZvBl&id=100008618328504

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0yZsNak8xGbNdF3uPbGFznk28c9pZPKRdUsrssZPqvJVVUK2QiQCVoCNTwGvCbZvBl&id=100008618328504

Wow... Haven't seen one of those in a display since maybe mid 2000's

 

[Zionas]

Yeah it’s amazing. Wonder how old that fish was back in 2015.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

So, has anyone made any progress captive breeding these guys?!

Yeah, these guys have been captive bred (and hybridized) for years using copepods and BBS:

Resplendent Angelfish Culture - Fish Culture Research

First record of Resplendent angelfish culture. Resplendent angelfish larvae (Centropyge resplendens) were raised from captive-spawned eggs at 77-79F on wild copepods and artemia.The larval duration was 62 days.

www.frankbaensch.com

 

[Zionas]

I don’t know how long Frank made those hybrids but assuming he stopped in 2013, the fish would be about a decade old if any specimens are still alive. Believe Copps has one.

Would be really interested to see if anyone’s Resplendens is still alive at a grand old age.