Originally Posted by
Saltwaterfish.com
http:///forum/post/2891284
Actually, it is a great question. We do not actively buy them, but they sometimes show up with the shipment.
They are not on the restricted list althought they were up for inclusion on the CITES list last year and it did not pass. In my meetings with Gayatri Lilley the head of Indonesia's version of MAC this summer in Jakarta, they believe that the populations of Bangaii are not threatened to the level reported in the western press. There is also the issue of the Bangaii collection being the sole source of income for many families on the Bangaii Islands. An area of extreme poverty.
In any case, my personal view is not to purchase them, but as I said they sometimes arrive with shipments.
To me, the bigger question is what has happened to the domestic supply of captive bred bangaii? There has not been a consistent supply in months. In fact this is true of many of the captive bred species.
Ret Talbot has some blog entries on the ongoing discussion about Bangaii Cardinals in Saltwater Sense. It is good reading.
Ret Talbot here, and I'll just chime in if I may. I have been following the Banggai issue as a journalist for some time, and if you're interested, do check out my blog entries at
www.SaltwaterSense.com and at
my Microcosm Aquarium Explorer blog. I'm not suggesting my writing on the topic will win any Pulitzers, but I have made an effort to allow hobbyists to hear from the horse's mouth, as it were. You will see the opinions of lots of people including people who are on the ground in the Islands.
Regarding the comment above about captive-bred Banggais being readily available--they simply are not. I visited seven local fish stores in the LA area in the past week and not one carried captive bred Banggais or knew where they could get them. Same deal when you talk to the online retailers. I know of one source that will become available to retailers local to Southern California in March, but that's it at present. This is perplexing to me given the full court press by the marine aquarium hobby press for a self-imposed ban on wild-caught Banggais. Either people are buying fewer Banggais (not supported by the import data) or people are just going ahead and buying wild caught Banggais despite the articles and calls to action (i.e. Eric B. at MACNA).
The bottom line is that, for whatever reason, hobbyists are not creating the demand for serious commercial captive breeding of Banggais. I suspect it has to do with price, which is a sad statement... My advice: If you are going to buy a Banggai, do your homework first and be an informed aquarist intent on supporting a sustainable hobby.