It's not a matter or arguing, people either support the collection f wild animals or they support tank breds. The only difference between collecting a few fish or inverts once in a while for a thriving reef tank and being legally able to do it is a 50,000$ license. And if you paid for that license, your going to be collecting a lot more then someone looking for a few snails/hermits for they're CUC. What hurts the biodiversity and
Ecosystem more? 1-2 fish every few years for personal viewing, or someone collecting species to near extinction on a scuba, then selling them to lfs for ridiculous prices.
You cannot get Perth local species any way other then catching them yourself, what would you propose to do, to go about collecting them legally? Cause I'm sure as hell not planning on buying a license for the three fish I have successfully caught in the last 10years.
In regards to the industry, it is not about the wildlife preservation, you take it upon yourselves to go that far. A pet store/aquarium is still and always will be foremost a business. And as such, quality, knowledgeable staff with sales exp is all that's needed. The persons personal preferences to where his fish come from has no relevance or correlation to his work ethic and personal nature.
Edit- agreed with rig, however if someone wishes to enlighten me on how to collect fish and hermits/snails legally then by all means do so via pm. As far as I was aware, any form of collection required a commercial license which is quite frankly ridiculous.
Edited by Clownman, 23 February 2012 - 05:00 PM.