Fw: NANFA-- biological bombs detonating everywhere

R. W. Wolff (choupiqu_at_wctc.net)
Fri, 4 Aug 2000 00:59:43 -0700

>
> > >** I disagree. Most people that I speak to would love to have natives.
> But,
> > >they think it's illegal or they don't know how to go about getting
them.
>
> I run into this all the time. The local tropical fish club has a section
in
> there show for "coldwater other than goldfish". Everyone is amazed at the
> natives, everyone! The only problems are comments like, isn't that
illegal?
> or my favorite ( sarcasm) it isnt right to catch a fish from the wild and
> keep it. Where in the he** do they think pet shop fish come from, the
sky?
> NANFA and the AKA to a lesser extent has been good at foiling these
> backwards Ideas. Natives at AKA shows do well, and the section for them
is
> larger every year. Last year at our local affiliate auction some went for
a
> good price. All sold well, except for , oddly, Chrysotus. Many if not
most
> are captive bred specimans. This is good for all concerned ( unless you
> think someone will dump these in a river). We learn life histories of the
> fish, and in turn are rewarded with more of the species in our tanks.
Then
> if we can make a buck selling them to someone, that pays for "rent" that
the
> fish incurred. The person who buys it now wants to spawn it ( this is what
> happens with killi keepers anyways) . They will probably contact you to
see
> what you did. They then learn your pointers, and pass them to the person
> their young fish go to, so on and so forth. Education is the best thing ,
> and without it .... That is why the one and only thing that should be
> pushed is maybe a no release law. Laugh all you want, but if someone is
> going to hurt the environment, they will do it one way or the other.
Making
> others pay for the actions of these people is wrong! Do we want the
> Socialist republic of America, where all are freedoms are gone because a
> handful of nuts ruined it for us??? This is a much bigger scope than the
> fish keeping, but it is what I see working at this level as well.
>
> > Occasionally, the Aquarium Center just outside of Baltimore sells
> captive-bred
> > Enneacanthus chaetodon. They're not cheap, though. ~$6 each the last
time
> I saw
> > them. I have no idea how they sold.They didn't look that good though. I
> believe
> > the high temps in the store were affecting them.
>
> If these are captive bred, I wouldn't think that is cheap. Also, if these
> are large black bands, that is a economy price. We shoot ourselves in the
> foot if we label natives as expensive when they are in that price range,
> depending on the species of course. New , or rare ( to the hobby)
tropicals
> go for much higher prices, although these are not usually found in pet
> stores, but through clubs. It is great if you can buy black bands for 6
or
> even 3 dollars a peice, dont get me wrong, but saying that is a high value
> is not doing the fish or its place in the hobbyists world justice,
> considering how hard it is to obtain these , especially captive bred
> populations, which , again,.take pressure of wild stock, expose others to
> our wonderful native fish so they can appreciate them, and hopefully care
> more about their homes.
>
> > >** Yes it's a crime. I have not read the exact law. I believe that they
> can
> > >sell them but there are restrictive and expensive licensing procedures
> that
> > >would need to be taken care of. Making the prospect pretty much not
> > >financially fesible.
>
> This is the reason that native fish arent popular. If I could legally
take
> all my young sunfish to a pet shop, like say a group of cichlids, and know
> that any petshop would give me atleast 50 cents a peice for them, there
> would be incentive to spawn more, and the pet shop should make a profit
off
> these fish as well. That is why they are in business. There is really no
> difference between the two types of fish. The only difference are some
man
> made laws that dont take into account all the aspects of what we are
talking
> about.
>
>
> > >>The problems run deeper than idiot pet owners, unforunately.
> Essentially,
> > >>it all comes down to values. What does one value more? Short-term
> economic
> > gain
> > >>and comfort? Or long-term ecosystem integrity? As long as it's man
> calling the
> > >>shots, it will always be the former.
>
> Having native fish in a pet shop is not an automatic death sentence to a
> local water way. Sure there are those who will dump there pets unwanted.
> My Idea if we want to stop this, outlaw ALL pets! Dogs and cats included.
> These two favorite pets wreck havoc more than any other animal around the
> world. They are dumped off in rural areas all the time. Where I grew up
it
> was probably 3 dogs a summer found running wild, they become vicious and
> have to be put down by a Constable. Cats many times get "adopted" by
people
> who have "free range" cats that control mice and such. Others kill all
> manner of wild animals until they starve to death in winter or some other
> problem arises. Of course outlawing all pets is ridicuous. In the same
> breath, pick and choosing to outlaw certain animals is also ridiculous
> except for the obvious ones that are rare, but DO have a safe habitat to
> live and reproduce in- that is the key- habitat that they can reproduce in
> successfully) . Here is my other wild opinion. Native fish keepers are a
> small section of the fish keeping population. Therefore we are a minority,
> which entails us to protection , I didn't choose to like natives, I was
born
> that way. Blaming "Man" for all the ills is like saying that since a
group
> of people did something terrible, all people are doing that terrible
thing.
> Stereotyping the entire human race ( or is it just greedy rich Americans?)
> is no better than stereotyping a group of people, including that group who
> keep North American fish in aquaria.
>
> Sorry for my , to be called rhetoric, but this is the way I see it.
>
>
>
> Ray
>
>
>
>
>

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