Moral to collect Live Rock in S'pore Waters?

[Kaohsiungans]

I have a friend that own a 22-feet power boat which he goes out reguarly to Singapore southern islands for spearfishing (it's legally allow in S'pore). And i can always tag along and i was thinking about going to collect live rock for a new tank i plan to set-up.

Because of the convenient, i can actually take my time to choose the live rock i need by snorkling or even renting a tank from some dive schools.

Question is, Singapore does have blurr law againt reef preservation in different islands and is it morally OK to do so?

I have seen many local fisherman placing fish traps (bu-bu cage) regularly and noone seems to do anything about it.

What would you do? To go for a trip to collect and choose what you need or not?

[DeepBlue]

There will be a lot of guys who will tell you not to... you probably will have to break off the rocks in the reef.

I have never seen how rocks are harvested in our neighbouring countries so cant say whether you will actually cause any more damage to the reef than those guys there.

Interesting...maybe guys who have greater insights of LR collection in the trade can share with everyone about this.

I have seen a lot of guys make a big issue about the corals...interestingly..not much on the rocks or sand....yet.

[Kaohsiungans]

So where does the moral stands? While we buy LR locally, we don't ask where these LR comes from and feels no guilt about it. Whether they are cultured or harvested from the seas in neighbouring countries.

While i was living in Taiwan, i do go collect LR from the seas. While on rare occasion i do have to break it off from a large ones, most are scattered rocks on the seabed already broken away due to tidal waves crushing or weather.

I have seen many coral seabed being reclaimed over the years in Singapore. Those of you who dive regularly in Singapore will know that while the consvervative society try to save as much corals, most are still destroy when the island were reclaimed to for a larger to dump our garbage offshore.

So if collecting LR from our own waters and culturing them in our tank, would this also consider saving our seas?

[Creetin]

dude, i am quite confused when u mentioned bubu and conservation of reefs. They seem to be 2 different issues leh... in any case the bubu might be considered illegal fishing, tat i am not sure.

But i think to remove LR from the sea for watever purpose is illegal in most countries. i believe this has something to do with LR being the base of most reefs...i could be wrong tho but obviously when u know u have to smuggle it thru, den obviously its not allowed lor.

[Kaohsiungans]

Indonesia prohibits removal of any coral in some of their marine which are sanctions. But most other places, like the Riau island that comprises more than several hundred islands, there isn't define law against coral harvesting and policing is always impossible.

Nevertheless, it really doesn't matter if the LR is remove from which country because it's still one less in the ocean. We may all feel that buying from local LFS take away this moral issue and never question the process how these LR reaches our shores.

I'm not a great environmental activitist nor i condem marine hobbyist. Just want to know how everyone feel about such issue. While islands neighbouring Pulau Hantu were reclaimed to form a bigger dumping ground for our rubbish, we spare no thought about hundred and thousand of tons of LR and coral being reclaimed.

However, i like to withdraw my post here regarding going out to collect LR. Let this posting ends here and i reserved my comment further on this issue.

Cheers!

[flubberina13]

A strategist to the belt.

To each his own...to each his own...