Cyanide Fishing in the Coral Triangle (Photos)

A big issue in Oceania's Coral Triangle at the moment is cyanide fishing.

Driven largely by China's insatiable appetite for live reef fish, children as young as ten are routinely diving to depths of 30/40 meters, breathing air that is pumped down to them through a hose, and paralyzing fish using a lethal mixture of potassium cyanide.

The use of cyanide is crippling precious coral ecosystems whilst the associated use of compressors is crippling its practitioners.

Decompression sickness (the bends) and compressor-related accidents are commonly cited as being the primary cause of premature death in marine communities throughout the Coral Triangle.

Potassium cyanide is squirted directly at target fish species such as grouper or Napoleon wrasse, paralyzing them and enabling them to be collected alive. The cyanide then gets in to currents and will travel for miles along a reef wall, killing coral and wreaking havoc on marine life.

To see more of James Morgan's award-winning photography, visit his website. For more updates, please join his facebook group.

 

Follow James Morgan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jamesmorganfoto

Comments

[pooka]

07:59 PM on 02/26/2011

This is horrific. There are just too many of us on this planet. And, being humans, everyone wants what they want and they want it NOW. We are in the midst of the great die-off. We can still turn this around, but with so much poverty, hunger, and corruption in the world, and clashing of cultures and ideologies, it is sometimes very difficult to imagine that things will get better as long as world population continues to grow. Rampant ignorance, corporate greed, and thumb-sucking anti-science mindsets (wake-up, America) are killing the rich diversity of life on this planet.

What organizations or agencies are working on this issue of Cyanide Fishing? The practice is so stupid and destructive it defies all rationality. I would like to help if I knew how, or where to make a contribution.

[merrymay]

11:44 AM on 02/27/2011

There has to be a complete reversal, or conversion, of our energy from gluttony and selfishness to living outside ourselves, cherishing our earth and all life.
A reporter told of tossing his empty cigarette pack in the street in Cairo a few days ago. A 70 year old woman picked it up, handed it to him, and said, " We're building a new Egypt now...our own country." He agreed...before all was corrupt and nobody cared. But now they feel it is their country, they want it to be beautiful."

If only that spirit would spread around the world...

[Micheal Johnson]

07:06 PM on 02/26/2011

There is no reason for this. China most certainly has the technical expertise to use fish farming as a food resource. Even going so far as to do it right in the ocean with proper management. For trying to move up the ladder of becoming a modern nation so to speak they are not to bright. But then who is?