Subject: Re: NANFA-L--sturgeon in the aquarium trade
Moontanman-in-aol.com
Date: Sun Dec 05 2004 - 17:01:41 CST
In a message dated 12/5/04 1:02:42 PM Eastern Standard Time,
Jan.J.Hoover-in-erdc.usace.army.mil writes:
> Sturgeon as aquarium fishes is a recurring topic of discussion and debatre
> on this list.
> I recently ran across this article which may be of interest to those on both
> side of the issue.
> The Wisconsin Chapter of the American Fisheries Society formally opposes
> trade in any sturgeon species for use in the aquarium industry.
>
> You can read about it-in-the site listed on top.
>
> -
>
>
Looking-in-the problem strictly from that point of view given I have to agree
with them. Then again looking-in-the sale of all fish for aquarium use the
same can be said of them as well. I have never supported the sale of all
sturgeon species for sale as aquarium animals, only the smaller ones that through
their size and or ability to tolerate crowding could be kept in a reasonable
sized aquarium. Or those species that through the financial gain of selling them
as aquarium species could support both captive breeding and habitat
restoration. As many of you know I have a rather special obsession with large aquariums,
large fish, and sturgeons. I also support CITES and believe that for some
species to remain viable in the wild a commercial reason must be found to support
their existence. I am especially supportive of breeding the tiny species of
sturgeons as aquarium animals for the proceeds to go towards both supporting
their continued breeding and habitat restoration. I will be the first to admit
that the need for a financial incentive to insure the existence of a unique and
magnificent life form like the sturgeon is a shame and shows that we as a
species have a long way to go, it is however the truth no matter how distasteful
this might be. In my, often times called, obsession to obtain sturgeon for my
aquariums I have many times turned down offers of species sturgeon that were
simply to large for me to keep and hand down to my sons as pets. In North
America the shovelnose sturgeon seems to be the best as a sturgeon species and
relatively easy to tell apart from most other large sturgeon. (some smaller
sturgeon being the exception) I have been peripherally involved in promoting the
breeding of Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmann" and Pseudoscaphirhynchus hermanni I
have been in contact with several people who want these sturgeon saved as
species-in-what ever cost. While there are things I do draw the line-in-I am not
above breeding them for sale and allowing some percentage of the money to go
into saving the species, especially their habitat. While I am sure there are
some on this list who are just biting-in-the bit to stomp all over me on this,
rest assured I am not alone nor is all my company eco midgets as I am. Steps
must be taken to assure some species are saved if only as aquarium species. At
least-in-some point you do have to possibility of saving them for real. Getting
back to the problem of protecting the local fish from exotics, something else
which is near and dear to my heart, simply making sweeping laws will not fix
the problem and could in fact make it worse. Whet we need is real intelligence
applied to this overall problem lately I've been thinking of licensing
aquarium keeping along the lines of HAM radio being used to allow people to keep
potentially invasive species with only limited sterilized fishes being available
to the general public. If course any sort of licensing could kill aquarium
keeping completely or another possibility could be keeping only fish native to
your area with more exotic fish requiring more licensing. Jan I'm not trying to
start another argument with this but I just felt something needed to be said.
Eventually something is going to be done about exotic release, no matter who
is eventually blamed for the main part of it repercussions will no doubt be
burdened by those with the lest political power, i.e. us!
Moon
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: Sat Jan 01 2005 - 12:41:47 CST