Why do people use cyanide?
In the South Pacific and the Southeast Asia market demand for live reef fish has created incentives for local fishers to turn to modern fishing techniques, such as cyanide fishing, to support themselves and their families. The profits from live fish, such as grouper, wrasse, rock cod and snapper are many times higher than that of dead fish. Exporters demand much more money for live fish than dead fish at luxury fish markets in Asia. While most nations have decided that the profits from cyanide fishing are not worth its destructive cost, many governments do not have the resources to monitor and enforce laws against cyanide use. What can you do to stop cyanide fishing? • Don’t purchase live reef fish at a restaurant or only purchase it if you are certain it was caught in a sustainable way. • If you own an aquarium, make sure you have reef fish that were caught without cyanide. • Encourage your aquarium shop retailer to purchase fish that are caught by fishers who use nets instead of cyan
