chc
02-06-2011, 11:38 AM
It seems like a simple question, but when you think of it more closely it becomes less clear.
What exactly does constitute a "wild" fish? Obviously something you net out of its native waters is wild, but are all the fish we buy as wild actually being collected in such a manner?
For example, if a handful of a given species are netted and then brought to a nearby hatchery (i.e. one that is in the same country as the fish's wild habitat) for the purpose of breeding, are the resulting fry wild?
In a second example, if those same wild collected fish are bred on farms outside their native country it seems we would refer to the fry as F-1 (the commonly used term for first generation from the wild).
We all know many ACA members who collect their own fry or young specimens, take them back home, end up with a pair of two of breeders, and then sell the resulting offspring correctly (it seems) as F-1's.
In either case, the effects of natural selection are not being allowed to play out. That's a fine point and perhaps irrelevant, surely, but why would fish that are farm raised "in-country" be considered wild (if they are indeed being considered as such) while those raised in another country are being called F-1's?
This question always come up for me whenever I ship a large fish (which I'm preparing to do right now). The shipping costs for animals over a certain size can be prohibitive to some buyers, so it seems that the importation of dozens of large specimens wouldn't be economically viable to most wholesalers/dealers. To make it viable, they'd have to be able to sell large specimens for a price that includes collection costs, international travel costs, receiving and turnover costs, and the cost for the animal itself. Add to that the final consumer's requirement to pay another shipping cost (if bought directly from the distributor) or a healthy profit margin PLUS a portion of an additional shipping cost (if from a LFS) and the economics just don't make sense to me. I'm paying $70 for ten pounds of wings for the Super Bowl party tonight, but I can get a foot long animal from another part of the world for roughly the same money?
On the other hand, shipping dozens to hundreds of fry and small specimens is comparatively inexpensive. Understanding that the genetic makeup of a wild fish is the same whether it's big or small, there'd be a huge economic advantage to a distributor to do the bulk their importing while the fish are quite small. Yet, it seems there is an endless supply of large wild fish available nowadays. Are these fish being imported as small animals that are subsequently raised to large size? I'm not talking about the odd lunker that was imported last week and carries a $200, $300, $400, $500+ price tag, I'm talking about the fact that my LFS can order a host of wild-caught species at any time for less than the price of a tank of gas.
Case in point, I recently purchased a 17" cichlid and had it delivered to my door for around $200. That INCLUDED about $50 shipping, a healthy profit for the seller, and all his related importation and housing costs. I was told the fish was wild and caught a "couple of weeks ago" (though no specific answers were available to my questions). I don't really care if the fish is wild or not, I was looking for a specifically sized specimen of a given species, and I'm under no illusions that I'm protecting some bloodline or holding the future preservation of the species in my tanks. The cost for the animal was worth it to me as opposed to the time invloved in raising one up from just a few inches. But, if I HAD been interested in obtaining a giant wild-caught animal, I'd have been suspicious of what I considered to be too low of a price for all that was involved.
Those of us who've been deeply involved in the hobby for a decade or two (or three, or...) know the basics of farm propagation, pond raising, wholesaling and distribution, etc. It's the specifics of the importation of large wild animals for seemingly little money that begs some questions...
So, what exactly IS a wild fish? Any constructive input would be welcomed!
What exactly does constitute a "wild" fish? Obviously something you net out of its native waters is wild, but are all the fish we buy as wild actually being collected in such a manner?
For example, if a handful of a given species are netted and then brought to a nearby hatchery (i.e. one that is in the same country as the fish's wild habitat) for the purpose of breeding, are the resulting fry wild?
In a second example, if those same wild collected fish are bred on farms outside their native country it seems we would refer to the fry as F-1 (the commonly used term for first generation from the wild).
We all know many ACA members who collect their own fry or young specimens, take them back home, end up with a pair of two of breeders, and then sell the resulting offspring correctly (it seems) as F-1's.
In either case, the effects of natural selection are not being allowed to play out. That's a fine point and perhaps irrelevant, surely, but why would fish that are farm raised "in-country" be considered wild (if they are indeed being considered as such) while those raised in another country are being called F-1's?
This question always come up for me whenever I ship a large fish (which I'm preparing to do right now). The shipping costs for animals over a certain size can be prohibitive to some buyers, so it seems that the importation of dozens of large specimens wouldn't be economically viable to most wholesalers/dealers. To make it viable, they'd have to be able to sell large specimens for a price that includes collection costs, international travel costs, receiving and turnover costs, and the cost for the animal itself. Add to that the final consumer's requirement to pay another shipping cost (if bought directly from the distributor) or a healthy profit margin PLUS a portion of an additional shipping cost (if from a LFS) and the economics just don't make sense to me. I'm paying $70 for ten pounds of wings for the Super Bowl party tonight, but I can get a foot long animal from another part of the world for roughly the same money?
On the other hand, shipping dozens to hundreds of fry and small specimens is comparatively inexpensive. Understanding that the genetic makeup of a wild fish is the same whether it's big or small, there'd be a huge economic advantage to a distributor to do the bulk their importing while the fish are quite small. Yet, it seems there is an endless supply of large wild fish available nowadays. Are these fish being imported as small animals that are subsequently raised to large size? I'm not talking about the odd lunker that was imported last week and carries a $200, $300, $400, $500+ price tag, I'm talking about the fact that my LFS can order a host of wild-caught species at any time for less than the price of a tank of gas.
Case in point, I recently purchased a 17" cichlid and had it delivered to my door for around $200. That INCLUDED about $50 shipping, a healthy profit for the seller, and all his related importation and housing costs. I was told the fish was wild and caught a "couple of weeks ago" (though no specific answers were available to my questions). I don't really care if the fish is wild or not, I was looking for a specifically sized specimen of a given species, and I'm under no illusions that I'm protecting some bloodline or holding the future preservation of the species in my tanks. The cost for the animal was worth it to me as opposed to the time invloved in raising one up from just a few inches. But, if I HAD been interested in obtaining a giant wild-caught animal, I'd have been suspicious of what I considered to be too low of a price for all that was involved.
Those of us who've been deeply involved in the hobby for a decade or two (or three, or...) know the basics of farm propagation, pond raising, wholesaling and distribution, etc. It's the specifics of the importation of large wild animals for seemingly little money that begs some questions...
So, what exactly IS a wild fish? Any constructive input would be welcomed!