Aquariums:
The Dark Hobby

Once you’ve watched the movie, you’ll never look at a fish tank the same way again.

- Lois Alter Mark

Aquariums: The Dark Hobby

Aquariums: The Dark Hobby is an exposé of the devastation to species and reefs caused by the aquarium trade. This adventurous saga follows a band of Hawaiian Elders, conservationists and scientists who stop at nothing to protect marine wildlife. They file a lawsuit against the State of Hawai'i to halt the collection of reef creatures, a fight that goes all the way to the Supreme Court.

PRODUCED BY

MARTIN SHEEN

PAULA FOUCE

Reviews

  • An excellent film produced by former Sea Shepherd directors Snorkel Bob, Ben Zuckerman... on the destruction to reef fishes caused by the Aquarium Industry.

    Captain Paul Watson
    Sea Shepard Conservation Society

  • Aquariums can be lovely, if you can stand the noise, smell and grim business of cleaning them or dealing with the deaths of the “pets” you confine in them.

    Rogers Movie Nation

  • The Dark Hobby is an important film that exposes a lucrative trade that is threatening some of our most biodiverse marine ecosystems.

    Oceanic Preservation Society

  • "The colorful fish in your home aquarium come at a heavy price to the environment."

    SF Weekly
    Nick Vernonin

  • The Dark Hobby sounds like the name of a horror film with a gruesome murder, gut-wrenching gore, and destruction on a volatile level. Director Paula Fouce’s film is undeniably all of those things, just not in the way you think. Instead, this documentary focuses on the destruction of Hawaii’s precious coral reefs and the cruel practices of the aquarium trade.

    Film Threat

  • It turns out that those home aquariums filled with gorgeous fish have a dirty secret: those fish have been dynamited or cyanided from their homes on the world’s reefs, traumatizing them and destroying the fragile eco-system.

    Lois Alter Mark
    Alliance of Women Film Reviewers