Re: NANFA-L-- was goby bashing, changed to Dave bashing

Peter Unmack (peter.lists at)
Tue, 5 Apr 2005 10:33:35 -0500 (CDT)

On Tue, 5 Apr 2005, Mysteryman wrote:

> Should the trading of all fish between NANFA members be stopped? Is this
> what Dave wants? After all, any accidental introduction can be
> dangerous.

You are correct relative to introductions being dangerous. This is why
NANFA came up with it mission statement and code of ethics.
http://www.nanfa.org/mission.shtml It is important that we all recognize
that what we do can potentially impact the very fishes we love to keep and
study. That doesn't mean we shouldn't keep them, just that we need to be
careful and responsible. NANFA tries to do it's part as an organisation
by being responsible and educating people on these issues. If no one were
able to keep native fishes, then far fewer people would appreciate them,
and then who would care if they were conserved or not? No one besides a
few boffins in academia for the most part. Also, what is the point of
conserving something if one can't enjoy it as well? Some things are too
rare, which is why we have the endangered species act to protect them, and
hopefully recover and delist them so that the public can enjoy them again.
Part of NANFA's role is to encourage people to be interested in native
fishes, and different people achieve that in different ways, some snorkel,
some study, some watch, some read and learn, some collect and keep. All
of these are valid activities, that when done responsibly can only benefit
native fishes and their conservation.

Cheers
Peter Unmack
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