collecting reef creatures

I keep a reef tank in my house. In order to stock it I have to go to the fish store and buy fish that were caught on reefs around the world, these fish usually have a 90% fatality rate before they even reach the consumer and during the take they usually use cyanide or other nasty methods that aren't good for our reefs. Does anybody have any experience either in the states or internationally with collecting small reef fish or inverts and bringing them home. I have heard about special permits in hawaii, but does anybody else have additional info.

A Much less harfull and easier technique is to take a cast net and cut out the lines that make it close up so that the only thing you have left is the net and the weights around the edge.
When you find a fish you'd like swim above him so he doesn't start running away and then drape the net over him/or her and then usually they willl run in the rock. Just keep the net over the rock and poke under the rock with a stick and he will more than likely pop out the opposite side and into your net that is covering the rock. You should quickly transfer the fish into your waiting holding container so as to keep the trauma to the fish low.
This way to have a relatively low impact to the reef and the fish has a better chance of surviving and reducing the "need" to get more fish to replace the ones that die.
I have seen many of my local reefs go from fish EVERY WHERE to where you have to go looking hard for them. It is important to also know the area and not take EVERYTHING that we see. Let the reef continue to LIVE while taking and sharing the reef to thoes who don't dive or get to see these beautiful fish all the time.

There are also collecting nets made out of clear pvc sheeting that alot of folks use. Slurp guns too, but they strike me as being a little violent. I don't know alot about it. Anyway, I do know that alot of the tropical collectors have to bring their fish up so slow that they end up way into deco.
Again I'm not sure, but I think that you only need a permit here to sell tropicals that you collect.

thanks for the feedback, i was a bit afraid that this thread might lead to flame wars about taking from the reefs, but if done responsibly, collecting for personal use is much more efficient and less wasteful than buying from a store that has 90% mortality rate (9 animals die for every one you see behind the glass)

Justin,

Not all fish in stores are wild-caught - enquire about captive bred fish. It's a growing trend in the industry.

cheers

You will very often need a fishing license, and in some cases special permits. Always check your state regulations very carefully before going out collecting. They're usually more stringent than the federal regs, and its the state enforcement folks that usually catch people. There's more of them on the ground.

Scubaroo:

Justin,

Not all fish in stores are wild-caught - enquire about captive bred fish. It's a growing trend in the industry.

cheers

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This is very true, but still on certain species they just won't breed in captivity. Here in the states it seems to be more rare to get wild caught than captive bred fish. 99% of the fish I have in my aquariums were captive bred.

My best luck with collecting was at night, dazzle the critters with a light (no light cannons, don't wanna cook 'em) & then catch them between 2 little nets, sometimes I'd haul one of those floating bait buckets along.
Be sure to keep a screen over your tank, some of the new arrivals try to escape.

yeah, i am familiar with captive bred SW fish, one of the more prominent breeders is www.orafarm.com that also propagate corals. one thing in particular is that we can buy coral rock (live rock) from fiji, once it comes in you can see that many of the life is dead and you can never know for sure if it was actually hacked off the reef or really the broken off pieces they claim it is. I know that if I collect live rock myself, it is truly broken off reef pieces and again, better for the reef, better for the ocean. I did this once with a small piece that i found when I was in cabo san lucas

Justin699:

... one thing in particular is that we can buy coral rock (live rock) from fiji, once it comes in you can see that many of the life is dead and you can never know for sure if it was actually hacked off the reef or really the broken off pieces they claim it is. I know that if I collect live rock myself, it is truly broken off reef pieces and again, better for the reef, better for the ocean. I did this once with a small piece that i found when I was in cabo san lucas

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Live rock "farming" in FL is still one of the last ways a guy can make some bucks "collecting". You have to bring the "seed rock" down & allow it to sprout like a chia pet.