I was invited as media to cover this event. All opinions are my own.

Saving Our Reefs: Rising Tide Conservation

Over the weekend my family and I had the amazing opportunity to visit Discovery Cove and SeaWorld to learn about Rising Tide Conservation. This program focuses on the protection of our coral reefs through sustainable aquaculture. At this time up to 90 percent of saltwater aquarium fish are wild caught, so only 10 percent would be considered sustainable aquaculture.

Rising Tide Conservation is teaming up with over 48 facilities, which include public aquaria, research universities, marine fish producers, and aquarium wholesalers and retailers to get the word out about increasing the amount of captive-breed marine aquarium fish.  This initiative is trying to discover methods to captive-breed saltwater aquarium fish to help reduce the need to take these amazing aquatic species away from the reefs. Through this initiative Rising Tide Conservation has successfully reared over 16 species of marine aquarium fish including: yellow tang, jackknife fish, porkfish, lancer dragonet, silver moony, and semicircle angelfish. By purchasing captive-breed aquatic fish rather than fish that are taken from the coral reef, we as consumers can help limit the negative impact on our coral reefs. [Read more…]