Based on the responses I got (see below), those conclusions may or may not
still be warranted, but a few people indicate that technical literature
exists in apposition to these conclusions. I'll review them when I see them,
and if this has changed then I'll propose doing an update in Pet Age. For
those unaware, Pet Age is the major magazine of the pet industry, and I write
for them regularly.
Some time after my conclusions, PIJAC reversed course and supported Steve
Robinson's (at that time) embryonic net collecting program. That's all to the
good, and there was never any doubt that cyanide collecting could produce
localized damage to nontarget sedentary invertebrates. What was at issue was
the culprit in delayed deaths of marine fishes entering the market from the
Philippines.
John Volpe asked my qualifications. They include a PhD in microbiology
(specialty in parasitology) and 6 years teaching (medical oriented) micro and
a short course in biochemistry at Emory University where I was on the biology
dept faculty. My own training for the PhD at a Texas medical school included
pathology, biochemistry, immunology, built on the MSc basis of parasitology
and cytology at Florida State and BS in at CUNY. He also asked my
documentation, which is partially answered above, but also based on recent
discussions with a currently active PhD at NCSU Vet School, Ed Noga, who
agrees with my conclusions re the non-chronic effects of cyanide, that gut
epithelial paper, and the attribution of delayed mortality to ammonia
poisoning. He's copied on this e-mail, so jump in anytime, Ed. If there are
other people in this audience with comparable qualifications, I'd like to
hear your views. The problem is and has been all through this issue that it
has been dominated by views coming from people without any qualifications to
discuss physiological effects.
Jay Hemdal reported that Earl Kennedy was the first to note widespread
cyanide use in Indonesia, and that the use for food collection came later.
Benjamin Vallejo Jr confirms that information, and he's in the Philippines
with first-hand knowledge.
Sodium cyanide has been used for more than a hundred years for gold
extraction in mining operations and I presumed (wrongly it appears from Jay's
information, and from the response by Benjamin Valejo Jr) that fishermen
discovered and then applied it to food fish collection long before there was
a marine fish market. Today, many aquarium species of marine fishes continue
to be provided to oriental restaurants alive (although larger than useful in
the aquarium hobby). I saw panther and other types of groupers, several
attractive wrasses I could not identify, and other tropical reef fishes (plus
rocky bottom fishes), in addition to largemouth bass and other (apparently
farmed species) swimming in tanks in windows of restaurants in Hong Kong two
years ago. I have no way to know how these fish were collected, but cyanide
is a possibility as are traps and hook-and-line.
Marcy at Coral Forest sent me articles from their newsletter on quinaldine
and cyanide as damaging to coral reef ecosystems, but I could not read them
in that format, and hope she'll be able to send them in WordPerfect rather
than as Word attachments, or just mail them if that's the only alternative.
I'm not a great believer in anecdotal "evidence" unless it's direct (not
attributed to others) from someone who is there or has been there. Like.....
Benjamin Vallejo Jr., who is on the ground in the Philippines, verified that
live fish exporters shipping to the food market began as aquarium collectors.
He was unaware of bleach being used in the Philippines and said that it is
generally unavailable. I talked to a couple of amateur collectors in the
Florida Keys years ago who used it to chase fish out of hiding places, and
never considered that it would be hard to find, but apparently it is in the
Pacific. I think bleach as a collecting tool was also described in some 1950s
issues of The Aquarium. I don't know if it's now or previously used by
commercial collectors. Bemjamin Vallejo Jr also referred to papers on cyanide
use in peer-reviewed journals. I have not seen anything in peer-reviewed
journals on chronic effects of cyanide, and would be pleased to be educated
with reprints or citations and addresses of authors.
He and others (and I think anyone who has looked at algal overgrowth
literature) is aware that the principal threats to nearshore reefs are
nutrient enrichment and sedimentation from coastal construction and
wastewater disposal. And that morality is interesting, but it doesn't put
food on the table. People who collect by whatever means they have available
will do so to maximize income. He refers to blast fishing (dynamiting is a
traditional way to collect food fish, but some stunned fish recover), and
muro-ami, with which I am not familiar. Again, reef damage is not in
contention. The contentious disagreement was (and the one I'm concerned with)
chronic effects of cyanide as a cause of delayed mortality.
I stand corrected that cyanide is today a significant problem to the reef
communities.
I note that not all poisoning is third world or chemical related. I visited
one commercial collector in Hawaii with a holding facility and home right on
the beach. The tanks were filthy, and probably hadn't had a water change in
weeks, if ever. No fish, no matter whether net collected or otherwise, would
come out of that environment without gill damage and starvation resulting in
irreversible damage. Joshua Levy also alluded to bad holding facilities, but
didn't clarify whether they were the holding facilities of cyanide collectors
or others.
Regarding "ten labs who test for cyanide", I recall reports one or two years
ago that the tests gave false negatives and/or false positives, and were
utterly unreliable. There is nothing acceptable for cyanide in living tissues
in Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater (18th ed),
which should be the basis of a test in live fishes. Nor am I aware of studies
in legitimate journals describing chronic cyanide poisoning, and would be
pleased to see references and the papers regarding both (separate) issues..
Re quinaldine. I know from first-hand experience that its effects are varied,
working great on some fishes, not at all on others, and killing some other
fishes even when used in light doses. That's from days when it was dissolved
in acetone, and I don't know if current uses of absolute alcohol as a solvent
have eliminated those problems. In any case, the first time it kills a
species will probably be the last time a collector uses it on that particular
species, it is useless when spread over an area, and I cannot see it as
having significant effects on a reef community. Perhaps it is used to chase
symbionts out of cnidarians, but I'm unaware of that happening.
As to "vested interests" in the forwarded message from Don McAllister, I'm
not sure who other than Eastman Kodak is a vested interest, and they couldn't
care less. Any collector will use what works cheaply and effectively, so long
as the product (fish) sells. He goes on to say that he has no information on
damaging effects of quinaldine, but is sure there are some if for no other
reason than the myriad species on the reef and their varying sensitivies. I
don't think that's a good enough basis to reject quinaldine as a collecting
tool. Let me also clarify that I don't represent anyone on its behalf, only
my own use of the stuff the one or two days every few years that I go
collecting in the Caribbean with snorkel. Frankly, I don't catch much anyway
even with quinaldine's help.
Jamie Baquero provided more information on net training and holding
facilities. I think it's great that some 1000 people are trained in net use
and holding, and more will be, and that product quality will increase. I
think it's not so great that cyanide is blamed for delayed deaths that are
most logically attributable to ammonia poisoning and/or starvation.
So far, I've learned that people did and do collect with cyanide. I've not
yet seen papers on chronic toxicity or evidence that delayed deaths in the
hobby are attributable to cyanide. I'll be happy to learn if I've got
something new to read.
I punched up the Coral Health and Monitoring Program Home Page, then went to
Literature Abstracts hypertext. Under the category of Human Impacts, there
are no titles listed which refer to cyanide or quinaldine.For more
information on this page, contact hendee at coral.aoml.erl.gov.
Rob Huntley noted that Don McAllister's bibliography was extensive but
through 1988 only. Through this general e-mail I hope Don will provide me
with references to technical literature on chronic effects of cyanide, lethal
effects of quinaldine, and anything else pertinent to this discussion. Don,
if you have my address (8480 Garvey Drive, Raleigh NC 27604), you know I'm
good for the five bucks. - Bob Goldstein