CNN.com - 'Releasing Nemo' may harm local fish species - Jul 1, 2004 Saw this and thought the crew would be interested if they you have not seen it already. <Thank you for this. Will post. Bob Fenner> Title: CNN.com - 'Releasing Nemo' may harm local fish species - Jul 1, 2004 CNN.com will expire this article on 07/15/2004.    Copy and paste the following into your Web browser to access the sent link: http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=viewThis&etMailToID=1846706150&pt=Y

'Releasing Nemo' may harm local fish species   Thursday, July 1, 2004 Posted: 9:36 AM EDT (1336 GMT)   Marine species like these reef fish are increasingly threatened by invasive organisms.     LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Releasing pet fish into the open seas could have a disastrous effect on marine ecosystems and harm native species, scientists said on Wednesday. They have been spotting exotic species in waters far from their natural habitats and suspect they have been freed from aquariums. "It's a 'Finding Nemo' story," marine biologist Brice Semmens, of the University of Washington, Seattle, told New Scientist magazine. In the blockbuster animated film Nemo, a clownfish, strays from his home and ends up in a fish tank in a dentist's office in Sydney, Australia while his over-protective, timid father searches the oceans for him. "Individuals are releasing their pet fish with the best of intentions, but in the wrong ocean. It is a really bad idea," Semmens added. Exotic fish from the Pacific and Indian oceans and the Red Sea, including the predatory lionfish, varieties of angel fish and tang have been sighted off the coast of Florida. If the fish breed and establish populations they could endanger local species. The lionfish, which has now been spotted in waters from Florida to New York, is particularly worrying because it preys on a variety of fish, shrimps and crabs, according to the magazine. "In the coming weeks the US National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration and representatives from the aquarium industry will join forces to educate the public about the dangers of dumping pet fish into the ocean," the magazine said.

Finding Nemo Hi Bob I am a journalist from The Times newspaper who is doing a piece on the effect on pet stores, fishkeeping etc that the movie Finding Nemo has, is or will be having. So I would be very grateful if as a fish expert you could answer a few questions: <Okay> Is Finding Nemo good for the hobby of fishkeeping on a whole? <Yes (on the whole)... as the show and its bit of controversy has stirred interest in the environment, the aquarium interest (it has increased sales at retail pet-fish stores)> Do you think it will have an adverse effect? <In the long/ish haul, not really. The vast majority of people are intelligent, aware enough to understand that "Nemo" is after all "a show"... Let me ask you, does Disney's "Aladdin" movies lead you to believe there will be "magic carpet" flight anytime soon? Me neither.> If I was a first time buyer where would I go to buy one? <A "real" LFS (Livestock Fish Store)... as opposed to a less-discriminating petstore that "has some fish". A real LFS will discourage "casual" attempts at marine aquarium keeping... the endeavor does take time, money (a few hundred dollars plus), and some considerable involvement... education, discernment as to much and many differing techniques, technology. In other words, there are a few "ways" to keep marines (even just "Nemos") that one needs to sort through... can't be practically done by children. Not successfully.> How hard is it to get hold of them? <Very easy. Nowadays the Clownfish species in question is bred in captivity in very good numbers and is actually a sturdy aquarium item. Can be and is easily shipped from aquaculture facilities (mainly in the U.S. and U.K.) all over the world> How common are they in UK pet shops? <Likely one of the most common, if not THE most common species and group (there are several species of Clownfishes/Anemonefishes, a few of which are regularly aquacultured and offered) in the marine aquarium interest. Easily in the top five of marine aquarium fishes in the world> Are you aware of an upsurge in demand in the last few months? <Oh yes> How much do clownfish cost in the UK? <Three or four pounds I'd guess> Are you aware of their prices going up? <No. A seemingly unusual historical trend has been for marine livestock to decrease in cost over time (decades), particularly aquacultured species... Strange, but so> Do you think any pet shops or aquatic centres are trying to cash in, or are they being extremely sensible about selling to parents with kids who don't know how to keep fish., i.e. are they turning them away? <Again, one hears of the occasional "bad" retail experience where consumers are not dissuaded or even led astray... but this is actually quite rare. There is no "upside" to trying to fool would-be aquarists... if they're not informed, serviced and sold properly, they will not "be successful". Their livestock will surely suffer, likely die. Who does this serve? Not the trade or the public> Can you breed them yourselves? <Yes. There are quite a few current, many past "hobbyist" breeders who have bred, reared "Nemo" and other Clownfish species> Where would a UK clownfish originate from? <Likely from Tropical Marine Centre ( http://www.tmc-ltd.co.uk/), an excellent facility in the U.K.> How many species are there? <About twenty-six ( http://www.wetwebmedia.com/clownfis.htm)> Please excuse the dumbness of some of these questions and feel free to ignore any that repeat, but any help would be much appreciated. Thanks Olav <A pleasure to help you. I am cc'ing TMC as I've mentioned their name here, and a friend/cohort in the trade, Steve Pro, who has penned statements re the effect of the "Nemo" show. Cheers. Bob Fenner> The Newspaper Marketing Agency:  Opening Up Newspapers: www.nmauk.co.uk

Finding Nemo Hey Bob! How's it going? I wrote an article I thought you might be interested in for WWM. I originally wrote it for the local newspaper, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but they decide it was too long. Feel free to post to WWM. Sincerely, Steven Pro <Wow, good job Steven. Very nice. Will definitely post (like right now!) and do encourage you to send this to FAMA for their editorial or feature publication (will send for you if you'd like, electronically). Thank you for sending this along. Bob F>

FW: Caring for the fish of Finding Nemo Thanks a lot for forwarding my article! It looks like things are going to work out. -Steven Pro <Ah, good. Glad to be of assistance. Bob> Subject: Caring for the fish of Finding Nemo Dear Steve: I'm going to try and use this article ASAP in FAMA. Bob Fenner forwarded it to me, and because of it's timeliness, I'm going to try to get it into our Sept issue (out Mid-Aug.). Please e-mail me your complete mailing address, phone #, and soc. sec. # for payment. Also, if you happen to have a nice picture of a clownfish, it would add to the article. Please get back to me as soon as possible. Thanks, Susan Steele Art Editor/Assist. Editor FAMA

Tetra and the CBS fiasco Hi Everyone, PF writing in for a change. I know we generally don't encourage cross posting between bulletin boards, but I figured this was an issue that deserves all our attention. On 6/14/03 @ 8:30 AM CBS ran a segment sponsored by Tetra about keeping "tropical" fish. Here's a portion of a post from Reefcentral's discussion from an eyewitness to this fiasco: On June 14th CBS's The  Early Show aired a brief segment with Carol Huntley-Weber described as:                        "With the success of the Disney's summer blockbuster film, "Finding Nemo," tropical fish are now finding themselves as the hot new pet. Carol Huntley-Weber of Tetra Fish Products visited The Saturday Early Show to show the ease of owning and maintaining an aquarium."                        During the segment, Miss Weber, showed the world how "easy" it is to setup and maintain an aquarium. To do this she used a 15 gallon Mini Bowfront tank (from Tetra of course), tap water (made little or no mention of mixing salt for marine animals) and proceeded to plop in two Clownfish, a Blue Hippo Tang, two seahorses, and a brittle starfish that she had in another bowl and basically said that is all there is to it. The url for the discussion on ReefCentral is http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=201848&perpage=25&highlight=Early%20show&pagenumber=1 and page 11 includes the email and snail mail addresses of those involved at Tetra, as well as their superiors. Within the thread there is also the address for CBS (who's email box is apparently full of messages from angry reefers), currently there is a call on to boycott Tetra for their irresponsible actions. Here is the contact info for Tetra:                        Tetra                        3001 Commerce Street                        Blacksburg, VA 24060                        Phone Number: 800-526-0650                        Fax Number: 540-951-5415                        Alan Mintz, General Manager                        Carol Huntley-Weber, Marketing Manager                        Randy Hegstad, Pond Product Manager                        Weber, Carol & Bob                        904 Roanoke St E                        Blacksburg, VA 24060                        (540) 961-5362                       Carol Huntley-Weber's verified email address is                        [email protected]                        Here is the email address for the Early Show on CBS:  [email protected]