March 10, - Week 10
1997 International Year of the Reef

Poisonous substances (eg. sodium cyanide, bleach, liquid dish soap) are being used throughout the world to capture tropical reef fish for the marine aquarium trade, the live reef food fish trade, and for domestic consumption. Although ‘cyanide fishing’ is an extremely efficient fish catching method in the short-term, it inflicts tremendous medium-term and long-term damage to the coral reef habitat upon which the target fish species rely for food and shelter. Because this reef-destructive fishing method is relatively efficient, it increases the likelihood that target fish species, and other species, will be overfished. Thus ‘cyanide fishing’ threatens -- directly through overfishing and indirectly through habitat destruction -- the viability of the coral reef fisheries upon which hundreds of thousands of small-scale fishermen around the world depend for animal protein and economic livelihood.

Poisonous substances are usually sprayed at individual fish or small schools of fish by divers with quart-sized plastic squirt bottles. In the Caribbean, liquid dish soap is used by divers to flush out spiny lobster from their hiding places in the reef. In the Asia-Pacific region, sodium cyanide is used to stun target fish, thereby making them easier to capture. It does not take much sodium cyanide to stun a large grouper or wrasse, and because a live fish is worth at least ten times as much as a dead fish on the international market, sodium cyanide is usually used sparingly. However, there have been reports of fishermen dumping large quantities of this poison onto a section of reef, scooping up the dead and disoriented fish, and then moving on to the next section of reef. Although fishing with poisonous substances does not have a direct impact on the physical structure of the reef, only a small amount will kill the living coral, thus precluding further reef formation, and disrupting the delicate balance of the coral reef ecosystem.

In the Philippines, the country most devastated by ‘cyanide fishing’, the International Marinelife Alliance has teamed up with the Philippines’ Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in an effort to train cyanide fishermen to use nets instead of poison to capture their valuable prey.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE CORAL REEF OR THIS SUBJECT, PLEASE CONTACT MATT STOUT AT: 202-482-6090 OR coralreef@www.rdc.noaa.gov

OR CHECK-OUT THE NOAA CORAL REEF WEBSITES AT: http://www.noaa.gov/public-affairs/coral-reef.html
Coral Health and Monitoring Program (CHAMP)http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov

OR contact:
Dr. Vaughan R. Pratt
International Marinelife Alliance - Philippines
Street address:
36 Sta. Catalina St., cor Stella Marris St.
Bp. Kapitolyo, Pasig City
Metro Manila

Philippines 1600
Mailing address:
P.O.Box 12648
Ortigas Center Post Office
Pasig City, Metro Manila
Philippines 1600
Tel: (632) 631-4940, 633-5687
Fax: 631-9251
E-mail: imaphil@mnl.sequel.net

Dr. Chuck Cook
The Nature Conservancy
1 Sutter St., Suite 308
San Francisco, CA 94104 USA
Tel: 1 (415) 362-2011
Fax: 1 (415) 362-3199
E-mail: 103615.2302@compuserve.com

Dr. Don McAllister
Ocean Voice International
2883 Otterson Dr.
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1V 7B2
Tel: (613) 992-0499 or 990-8819
Fax: (613) 996-9915
E-mail: mcall@superaje.com

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