Today it's not just the natural environment that threatens them; it's the impact of humans. People in the Far East have a tradition of eating fresh fish. In the last 10 years they've developed a taste for live reef fish, attracted by their spectacular color and markings. A live plectropomus can bring in big bucks.

After World War II, fishermen used dynamite to catch reef fish. Today they use cyanide to catch them live. In addition to global warming, it's our appetites that are now threatening plectropomus and everything on the living reef.

We used to think that the stock of reef fish was self-sustaining, but the more we learn about plectropomus, the more we understand the perils it faces.

SPECIAL OFFER: THE PERILS OF PLECTROPOMUS was produced with a companion film called Silent Sentinels, which documents the unprecedented mass coral bleaching event that swept the world's tropical oceans in 1998, "International Year of the Oceans." You save $105 or 21% if you buy both films together. To do so, please order under Special Offers.

Web Page: http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/pop.html

Reviews
"Startling graphics, beautiful images from many habitats, multiple interviews with top-notch scientists, and intelligent narration serve to inform and warn...The essential message...is that market forces are driving an intense fishery for reef species about which we know enough to recognize their vulnerability, but not enough to specify sustainable fishing levels, or predict the ecosystem effects of their decimation...The Perils of Plectropomus does a great job of recounting the natural history of the species... Throughout...it avoids errors of scientific convention, and effectively documents '...the pillage of coral reefs for short term gain.' We need more of this type and calibre of media for the communication of reef science to our students and employers."