Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- Fw: NAS Species Alert - Piaractus brachypomus
Moontanman-in-aol.com
Date: Thu Nov 04 2004 - 13:45:11 CST
For some reason I seem to be giving the impression I am not against the
release of exotics or that I think it's ok in small areas. Nothing could be further
from the truth, I just take exception to people saying things like half the
fish in Florida are exotics without explaining that this doesn't mean that the
whole state is being taken over. the first time I heard that so many species
were established in Florida I was appalled. The way it was being presented
seemed to indicate that the rivers and lakes of Florida were all brimming full of
exotics and the native were disappearing. This isn't the case or even close to
the case. To say that 50% of the species of fish in Florida are exotic
without qualifiers is blatant sensationalism and that sort of thing only serves to
make it more difficult to make the correct decisions when it comes time to do
something about the problem. To say that live bearers are a problem in the
rocky mountains gives the impression of a vast area being infested by these fish.
I just think that honestly is the best way to approach a problem. Trying to
make the problem look worse than it really is serves the best interests of no
one. It would be much more accurate to say that in areas where the habitat is
amenable to live bearers some unknowing people have been releasing their
aquariums fish and this has resulted in small but important areas being colonized by
exotics-in-the expense of the native populations in those areas. To insinuate
the problem is more wide spread than it really is serves the interests of no
one. When these inaccurate descriptions make it to the media they can result in
rules and regulations being passed based on emotions rather than real data.
Then when some legislator wants to prove to his constituents he is doing
something to help the environment he can get laws passed without checking the real
problems and hurt the aquarium hobby while really doing little or nothing to
help the environment.
Moon
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: Fri Dec 31 2004 - 12:42:46 CST