Banggai RESCUE Project using Kickstarter to aid the endangered fish

By Brian Blank on Mar 12, 2012

Project Banggai RESCUE is a unique new research project starting up to tackle issues plaguing the Banggai Cardinalfish, Pterapogon kauderni, in its native habitat. By tapping into the aquarium community for support via Kickstarter, the project pulls together a team of both aquarists and marine scientists to spearhead this initiaive with the main goal of preventing Banggai from being wiped out from its native habitat.

With a goal of $25,000, the early support of the Banggai rescue project is positive with nearly 40 supporters pledging around $7,000 to support the project. According to the official press release, the project is being coordinated by James Lawrence, editor and publisher of CORAL Magazine and head of Reef to Rainforest Media. Project Banggai Rescue will have three main components: an expedition to explore the fishes native environment, research on captive breeding, and publishing a book covering the project.

Besides Lawrence, both Ret Talbot and our own Matt Pedersen have been named coauthors. Lawrence sees rounding out the scientific side of the project team in the coming weeks.

Project Banggai RESCUE plans on sending a team that includes Talbot, to the remote Banggai Islands in Sulawesi, Indonesia, in May and Pedersen is currently exploring and writing new protocols for small-scale breeding of the species. The expedition has several simultaneous missions:

Assessing the situation
Tracking the source of a mysterious disease that kills many Banggai Cardinals collected for the aquarium trade
Exploring the possibility of establishing mariculture operations run by local Indonesian families
Collecting healthy broodstock for captive aquaculture research in the United States

The book, entitled “BANGGAI Rescue, Adventures in bringing Pterapogon kauderni back from the brink,” is slated to be published in time for MACNA in Dallas/Fort Worth in September. Sales of the book will help fund ongoing research and sustainability initiatives.

Full press release follows:

Rescue Project comes to the aid of the endangered Banggai Cardinalfish

Team of scientists and aquarists will use “crowd-funding” in the marine aquarium and conservation worlds to underwrite research and publish new book

SHELBURNE, Vermont — March 12, 2012

“It’s time to save this fish,” says James Lawrence, as he and an interdisciplinary team of aquarists and marine scientists today announce the launch of a major initiative to prevent the Banggai Cardinalfish, Pterapogon kauderni, from being wiped out in parts of its native range.

Uncommonly beautiful and known for its unusual mouthbrooding reproductive habits, the species was listed as Endangered in 2007 by the International Union of Concerned Scientists’ (IUCN). Uncontrolled harvest for the aquarium trade has been cited as the major threatening factor for a fish with a very limited natural range.

Project Banggai RESCUE will send a team on an expedition this May to the remote Banggai Islands in Sulawesi, Indonesia, with several simultaneous missions: assessing the situation; tracking the source of a mysterious disease that kills many Banggai Cardinals collected for the aquarium trade; exploring the possibility of establishing mariculture operations run by local Indonesian families; and collecting healthy broodstock for captive aquaculture research in the United States.

“We need approximately $25,000 for the first stage of this project,” says Lawrence, editor and publisher of CORAL Magazine and head of Reef to Rainforest Media, based in Shelburne, Vermont. “Today we are going live with a Kickstarter.com campaign to raise funds for the expedition, captive breeding research, and seed money to produce a book covering all aspects of the project.” Coauthors announced today include writer Ret Talbot, who will be embedded with the Expedition, and Matt Pedersen, who is writing new protocols for small-scale breeding of the species. Lawrence says that the science team will be named in the coming weeks.

Entitled BANGGAI Rescue, Adventures in bringing Pterapogon kauderni back from the brink, the book is scheduled for publication in time for the annual Marine aquarium Conference of North America in Dallas/Fort Worth at the end of September, 2012. Sales of the book will help fund ongoing research and sustainability initiatives.

Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/603466482/the-banggai-rescue-project

Website: http://Banggai-Rescue.com

Media Resources: http://www.banggai-rescue.com/contact/media-support/

basser1

Sent in a contribution earlier today!

Puttin’ my money where my mouth is!
http://profiles.google.com/danode Daniel Odell

just sent in a contribution! hope to keep this fish in the future!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PNNXOIFOHZWSAMK7P3XKBQJJ5I Wiljuchi

Whilst this project is great i can’t believe theses dull fish are still being taken from the wild! Over here in the UK people breed so many of them they can’t even give them away for free!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4FVXKOUOOYXEOPKO4Y3PK2JCRI J.T.

Is this fish REALLY endangered? I’ve done a bit of reading on the subject and, as I understand the definition of endangered, I can’t see how they could be possibly classified as such. From what I’ve seen and heard (spoke with one VERY reputable person in the industry) they are breeding just fine elsewhere in the world. They may be on the verge of disappearing in their original geographical location but the fact that they’re elsewhere in the world kind of goes against being called endangered, no?
mpedersen

J.T., at this point they are still considered an endangered species by the IUCN. We can certainly question the legitimacy of that determination. If you go back and look at the CITES proposal, it seems that many people believe it was rejected for political reasons. We see the same thing happening with the Bluefin Tuna…the science says stop the fishery, but hungry bellies say “keep fishing”. And thus, no CITES protection for Bluefins. So yes, it could go either way; CITES and the IUCN are different bodies with different roles…CITES has “teeth”, IUCN lacks that. IUCN also seems a bit less exposed to politics, perhaps simply because it lacks any actual impact on trade and enforcement.

Putting CITES and the IUCN aside, someone recently put it to me, why would Indonesia be running multiple Banggai conservation projects if there wasn’t an issue? For example -
http://www.speciesconservation.org/projects/Banggai-cardinal-fish/2194 &
http://www.lini.or.id/en/banggai-islands

There is also an incredible admonishment by Dr. Vagelli in the end of his 2011 book on the species. I’ll pull a few quick choice words from a couple of pages (170 / 171). “In several instances, the severity of P. kauderni’s conservation status has been questioned in internet forums and magazines…Hobbyists are being mislead…” That’s from Dr. Vagelli. His point of view is definitely worth the read. The explanations behind why some people doubt the endangered status are very intriguing. Indeed, I think we all have a hard time with the notion of an endangered species, harvested from the wild, being readily available for purchase at an “affordable” price. Then again, we did wipe out the Passenger Pigeon without even blinking…

The scientific work being done in conjunction with the Banggia Rescue book project is wholly independent, and thus, it may come back and support the conservation status as it is thought to be now, or it could come back and completely turn over everything we know. As Marc Leveson put it on Reef Addicts – “I’d almost expect adjustments to be made based on what is discovered. The entire tone of the book could vary significantly based upon acquired knowledge”. Regardless of what the science says, however, it will science, not anecdote or opinion. That’s a very important point to address. There is of course, a part of me that would LOVE to see the science come back and say “things are better than we thought”. But what if it comes back and says “nope, it is that bad” or even worse?

You bring up the introduced population in Lembeh and others. I think from a conservation standpoint it’s important to understand that the natural native populations represented multiple genetically distinct groups, and the Lembeh population (if my quick reading of Vagelli is correct) only represents one genetic group. It may be that only one genetic group makes it long term, and it could be that the genetic groups get mixed in the chain of custody and our captive population might represent a mixture of all.It is also suggested that introduced Banggais are pushing out native species in these other areas…so ironically, the conservation solution for the introduced population technically would be to remove the invasive species (in this case, the Banggai). Afterall, look at the Lionfish in the Atlantic; I don’t think we’d be any less apt to let it be if it were being extirpated in its native range…it still is causing problems in the Atlantic. Or to make one last parallel, it’d be like saying it’s OK if Pink Salmon go extinct in the Pacific Ocean, because they’re all over Lake Superior. Such a statement fails to account for the role that the species plays in its native range, nor does it consider the impact it’s had in the introduced range and what it has replaced there (my very unscientific observation…Pink Salmon make up the fall spawning run that used to be Coaster Brook Trout, which are all but gone in Lake Superior).

In the end, this project aims to do one big thing – make discoveries, expand our knowledge, and then bring it all back to the trade and hobby. I want to address the pitfalls breeders have; I want to address the notion that Banggais can’t be bred profitably at home. Others will be looking at whether Mariculture is the better / best solution (or even a viable option), and sustainability of the trade is of course, a key component (hense, Ret is right there in the thick of it doing what he does best). I can’t wait to hear what we learn about the “Banggai Virus”…truly, that hasn’t gone away either.I hope these explanations illuminate why I’ve committed myself to this project, and maybe they’ll even earn your support!

Thanks for asking the tough questions JT!

Matt
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XMBVIE5PJXMAMZJSENESFNWBKA Joe

I wish that were true in the states.. only a hand full of people even attempt to breed them here, where as it seems every other reefer here is breeding a clownfish of some type.
Matt Needham

Endangered can be put as basically the risk of an animal disappearing from its natural habitat, in other words extinct from this area. yes they might have been established in other areas although Matt Pederson is spot on that if they are posing a risk there to endemic species to the area in particualr, then they will be removed. This is why projects like these are so important. Awareness needs to be created and I am a firm believer that if any fish is gonna remain in the marine trade then thier numbers in the wild, origin destination in particular, need to be steady. As soon as fish become to interbred over generations it can potentially weaken the species in awhole, with the release of captive bred fish back into there areas being often frowned upon by biologists, and for very good reason. Anyway all the best to you Matt and the team, I will be following closely and hope to get over to the area at some stage to have a first hand view on thw work being done and possibly lend a hand.

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