About This Project

The United States is the world’s largest consumer of coral reef fishes for public and private saltwater aquariums, importing upwards of 11 million wild fish annually. The illegal and deadly use of cyanide, a stunning agent for easy fish capture, is widespread in major source countries. We are assessing the prevalence of cyanide exposure in the most popular species sold in the U.S. Gauging the magnitude of this illegal wildlife trade is a crucial first step toward effectively addressing it.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Cyanide fishing is one of the most destructive fishing practices in the world. It is used throughout much of the Indo-Pacific to stun and capture coral reef fish for saltwater aquariums that are kept in homes, businesses, and by many public aquariums around the world. Cyanide fishing indiscriminately poisons and kills both target and non-target wildlife and destroys thousands of acres of coral reefs each year. About 50% of the fish we’ve surveyed to date have tested positive for cyanide exposure, confirming reports that a substantial number of fish sold for U.S. saltwater aquariums are exposed to this deadly poison in capture. Cyanide fishing mortality estimates combined with our initial results suggest at least 30 million fish may be exposed to cyanide in capture for aquariums each year.

What is the significance of this project?

In a number of countries, destructive fishing practices, like cyanide use, pose an immediate threat to the continued existence of coral reef ecosystems—even surpassing threats from climate change, overfishing and pollution. As the world’s largest consumer of coral reef wildlife, the U.S. can play a key role in reducing this harmful practice, particularly because the federal Lacey Act prohibits the import of illegally sourced fish and wildlife. Our project is the first to assess the prevalence of cyanide-caught fish in the U.S. marine pet fish supply chain. It is also the first U.S. study to show that high-performance liquid chromatography with a UV detector (HPLC-UV) is an effective, non-invasive and non-destructive analytical technique for detecting cyanide-caught fish.

What are the goals of the project?

The funds will be used to purchase fish and supplies for sample acquisition in addition to paying for sample analysis by an independent lab.

As with our prior three surveys, we will purchase fish from various U.S. retailers and wholesalers in a number of states. We will hold the fish for 24 hours in individual containers of clean artificial seawater, after which time we will collect samples of the holding water and freeze them. Once the target number of test subjects has been reached – approximately 4 weeks from funding success – we will ship the survey batch to the lab for analysis using HPLC-UV. Upon receipt of the lab report (about one week later) we will analyze and incorporate the results, draft the manuscript and submit for publication (fall 2016).