Does collecting for the aquarium trade endanger species?
Generally, no. Most aquarium fish are collected by artisanal fishing methods such as small hand nets, by hand or even hook and line. In the Amazon most fish collected are sustainable resources. People involved are almost always local. The income they gain from the fish in their local rivers is more than they would earn otherwise. These jobs are also non destructive to the habitats, unlike other available jobs such as logging, gold mining, commercial (food) fishing boats and even worse – farming soy or cotton. In very rare examples a highly endemic fish may be over-fished for the aquarium trade, but such cases are extremely uncommon. In fact, buying a wild collected fish from the Amazon helps to protect the forest, since communities involved in the trade are careful not to harm their cash crop by allowing illegal mining or logging activity to destroy the habitat. The fish, their habitats and local population go hand in hand. There are not many places on the planet without humans, so to
