Article Summary:

NOAA and the US Coral Reef Task Force have announced new conservation inniciatives aiming to reduce illegal trade of aquarium reef fishes:

“The resolution calls on the task force to examine the use of cyanide and other poisons in the collection of reef fish on the global market. Although illegal in most countries, the use of cyanide to capture reef fish alive is widespread. The U.S. is the number one market for coral reef fish for the aquarium trade. Previous studies estimate that most live reef fish entering into international trade and imported into the U.S. are collected with the use of cyanide, and thus are illegal.”

The agencies plan on developing detection tests to determine if the fish were collected with cyanide. In addition, NOAA announced that it supports the declaration of 2008 as the “International Year of the Reef”.