Re: NANFA-- extinctions

Christopher Scharpf (ichthos_at_charm.net)
Mon, 29 Oct 2001 08:31:19 -0400

Ed Venn wrote:

> I'd like to see this article if possible. can you send me the text.

>> Hear, hear! I have an article with the same message in the Nov. issue of
>> Tropical Fish Hobbyist.

Sorry, I cannot send the text as it was lost earlier this year during a
hard-drive failure. For some reason, it was one of a handful of files I had
neglected to back up.

Here, however, is a brief news item about the article that will appear in
the Fall American Currents (scheduled to go to press as soon as the
proofreading is complete):

TFH article extols value of native fishkeeping
AC editor Chris Scharpf placed an article, "The Importance of Keeping
Native Fish in the Aquarium," in the November 2001 issue of Tropical Fish
Hobbyist. The article, the first in a short series on natives called
"American Treasures," says awareness of a poorly known, underappreciated,
and declining fauna is the chief benefit of native fishkeeping.
"By bringing the unseen fish of North America into view," Scharpf
writes, "more people can appreciate their dazzling colors, their fascinating
spawning behaviors, and the sheer diversity of their shapes, sizes, and
adaptations.
"The more that people are aware of North Americašs fish, the more they
will appreciate them. And the more they will want the waters they live in
protected."
Scharpf details how North Americašs freshwater fishes rank among the
most imperiled faunas on Earth. Already 40 species and subspecies of
American fishes are extinct, while approximately 34 percent of the remaining
are either endangered, threatened, or at risk of becoming endangered or
threatened by relatively minor disturbances in their habitat.
Yet despite these alarming numbers, Scharpf says, "most Americans (and
Canadians and Mexicans, for that matter) know more about extinctions in
other continents than they do about their own."
Scharpf is quick to add that one of the unique features of the native
fish hobby is that you donšt need to keep fish in aquariums to enjoy them.
"Simply don a snorkel, stick your head in ankle-deep water, and youšll
be amazed by the variety of life in even the most unassuming stream,"
Scharpf says.

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