CULTURED AQUARIUM FISH COULD CHANGE INDUSTRY, SAVE REEFS FORT PIERCE, FLA., June 2 - The only company in North America that is conducting research and successfully breeding marine ornamental aquarium fish is poised to change the second-most popular hobby in the U.S. Oceans, Reefs and Aquariums, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution near Fort Pierce, Florida, will introduce several new species of salt-water fish that are successfully being bred in captivity, during the APPMA (American Pet Products Manufacturers Association) convention in Orlando on Friday, June 2, 2000. "We've learned how to successfully breed 28 species of fish that until now, have had to be taken from the ocean's reefs, sometimes in ways that are destructive, and certainly non-sustaining," said Jeff Turner, Vice-President of ORA. More than 75-percent of the demand for salt-water ornamental species originates in the United States, and suppliers in other countries have been known to use stressful methods to stun and capture the fish that are headed for U-S markets. The news conference will be held at 10am Friday, June 2, at the Orange County Convention Center, in front of a 500-gallon saltwater aquarium that will be stocked with ORA marine ornamentals. The display will be at booth #1609, in conjunction with the exhibit by All-Glass Aquarium. Interested members of the media are invited to view the exhibit at any time during the day, and ORA and Harbor Branch personnel will be available throughout the day for interviews. "The more successful we are in breeding these fish in captivity, the less demand there is to take them in the wild, and ultimately the more we contribute to helping save the ocean's precious resources," Turner added. Not only does breeding these fish in captivity reduce the stresses on the ocean's reefs, but these "home-grown" ornamentals are much stronger and able to survive the rigors of shipping. "We are seeing a 99-percent survival rate. That's unheard of. Industry experts don't have exact figures, but it's estimated that 30-percent of the ornamentals taken from the wild die within 30-days," Turner said. "Because farm-raised ornamental fish have a much higher survival rate, new hobbyists aren't discouraged by finding dead fish. They stay with their new hobby. Also, ORA's fish are much "friendlier" and tamer, since they're used to people from birth," Turner said. Cultured ornamentals cost slightly higher, but since their survival rate is 300-percent greater than that of fish harvested in the wild, retailers are learning that the cultured product actually generates more profit. "We hope to be providing up to 1-million ornamentals a year to the industry, within a few years," Turner said. If that happens, "it will definitely change the industry, and the success of a hobby that's second only to photography in this country," he added. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, Inc. is one of the world's leading nonprofit oceanographic research organizations dedicated to the exploration of the earth's oceans, estuaries and coastal regions for the benefit of mankind.