Description: Cyanide fishing is a popular method to capture live reef fish for the seafood and aquarium markets. It is widely practiced in Southeastern Asia and the South Pacific (see map) and is now spreading to other parts of the world. Cyanide fishermen squirt cyanide into coral holes and crevices, where reef fish seek refuge. The cyanide stuns the fish, making it easy for fishermen to capture their prey. Cyanide poisons reefs and is extremely harmful to coral polyps and other reef organisms. Furthermore, less than half the fish caught with cyanide survive long enough to be sold to aquariums or restaurants. Destructive cyanide fishing practices are spreading from currently over-harvested and devastated reefs in the Philippines - where an estimated 65 tonnes of cyanide are sprayed each year - to remote coral reefs in eastern Indonesia and other nations of the western Pacific.
Fishing with explosives, also known as "blast fishing", has probably been in existence for centuries and is apparently spreading. Explosions can produce fairly large craters, devastating 10 to 20 m2 of sea-bottom. Explosions kill both the target fish and the accompanying flora and fauna, the blasts being indiscriminate to size or species. Explosives and raw materials used as components, such as fertilisers and sugar, are cheap and easily available. Commercial explosives are often obtained from mining or building activities. Fishermen often only need to extract the explosive charges from munitions left over from on-going or past armed conflicts. In other areas, fishermen can access army munitions through illegal channels.
Published in: "Overfishing, a Major Threat to The Global Marine Ecology", Aug. 2004
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