Scientist warns that demand for home aquarium trade may endanger Florida reefs. Dr. Andrew L. Rhyne to speak at Aquarium June 1, 2010

In his lecture, “Crawling to Collapse: Ecologically Unsound Ornamental Invertebrate Fisheries,” Dr. Andrew L. Rhyne will talk about how fishermen in Florida are increasingly catching a more diverse array of species for the home aquarium business, but at this rate, there is a risk of the fishery collapsing. Home hobbyists are moving more from fish-only tanks to miniature reef ecosystems. There is an estimated 700,000 saltwater aquariums in the US.

Rhyne cautions in a recent New York Times article on the front of ScienceTimes (March 22, 2010) that: “We’re not saying it’s going to collapse tomorrow or next year. But we need to do due diligence, so all of a sudden we don’t say, ‘Oops, we just caught the last one.’ ”

Dr. Andrew L. Rhyne is a research scientist at the New England Aquarium and an assistant professor in the Roger Williams University’s Department of Biology and Marine Biology.

Aquarium keeping is among the world’s most popular of hobbies with millions of enthusiasts across the globe. The value of the ornamental fish and invertebrate trade is approximately $278 million each year. The New England Aquarium engages in science and market-based efforts to affect a substantial shift in the way that the global trade in ornamental fish is conducted, working to make it more sustainable and a vehicle for aquatic conservation, poverty alleviation, education, and ecosystem stability.