World fish stocks are being degraded in every ocean and sea. Sustainable methods of fisheries management are being developed to bring population levels back to an equilibrium. Annual depletion in seahorse numbers has made it extremely important that methods be developed to ease the pace of their extraction, in order to conserve their natural population. With seahorses, conservation is difficult because many fishermen rely on them for economic survival. A U.N. Food and Agriculture (FAO) study reported that 5.8 million, or 20% of the world's 29 million fishers, are small-scale fishers earning less than US$1 a day (9). Outlawing the extraction and trade of seahorses is out of the question because of the devastating effect it would have on the livelyhood of poor fisherman. For this reason, to make their conservation a success, alternate forms of income or lifestyle must be created with enough incentive to keep small scale fishermen from returning to seahorses.

Educated by conservation biologists, many small-scale farmers in such places as the Philippines and Indonesia have learned new ways to extract seahorses without jeopardizing the population (16). Educators teach the fishermen to stop using destructive fishing methods such as cyanide poisoning, and dynamite, instead suggesting other creative and effective methods to ensure a sustainable harvest. One successful method is the ban on the extraction of pregnant seahorses, this ensures continuous reproduction and maintenance of seahorse populations (32) . Another method involves taking pregnant males and containing them in mesh cages until they give birth. After conception, the young escape through the mesh and back into the ecosystem, and the adult males are extracted and sold (32). With the help of NGOs, the creation of marine sanctuaries provides many economic opportunities to the local communities. These sanctioned areas protect marine habitat by providing breeding grounds or replenishment zones for seahorse populations (18). They also create alternative jobs through eco-tourism and establishing positions as enforcement agents for local inhabitants. Marine parks raise local awareness by serving as an educational medium for marine conservation and unify the community by showing them how integral they are to the preservation of their ecosystem (18).

An alternative method currently being researched and applied to rural fishermen is aquaculture and can alleviate the demand on natural populations of seahorses and provide economic profits. In 1999, studies on the average annual income of Japanese households engaged in aquaculture, showed that their income was nearly double that of those engaged in local fishing. On average those involved in aquaculture derived 64% of their income from it while fishermen only received on average 38% of their income from their catch (27). There are many successful seahorse aquaculture outfits in the richer parts of the world like Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland. Although it has great potential, aquaculture has constraints that prevent poor fishermen from moving into the business including high capital costs, a lack of suitable sites, lack of knowledge, as well as difficult husbandry efforts in rearing seahorses. Some progress is being made to alleviate the costs, but the inexpensive aquaculture of seahorses is still not possible.

On to Aquaculture