[acn-l] Re: NANFA-- endangered native fish in captivity
Mark Binkley (mbinkley at earthling.net)
Fri, 12 Feb 1999 16:05:54 -0400
>
>There are some hobbyist groups that are involved in species maintenance.
>Mostly with tropical species. Actually the American Livebearer
>Association (http://petsforum.com/ala/) does a lot to maintain and track
>many species in captivity. Many, if not most, of these are actually North
>American species, being from Central America, Mexico and the Carribean.
>There are a few species native to the USA floating around, too, I believe
>- maybe some of the pupfish and livebearers. Other than that, I am not
>aware of any USA species being maintained by hobbyists for conservation
>purposes. I know there is interest, particulary in the Ellasomas and
>Enneacanthus sunfish, among NANFA members. There are probably some
>informal projects going on that don't have any official sanction. I know
>Ray Wolff, for one, is keeping Ellasomas with location data. That's how
>the killie keepers do it. (http://www.aka.org/) They consider it vital to
>maintain lines from precise collection sites because many of the species
>are only known from one little ditch in the back country of a developing
>African nation, and that ditch is now in a war zone and is probably dry or
>full of diesel fuel and excrement. Also, the fish from different locales
>will vary widely in appearance even within what is currently considered a
>single species. I think some are taking the same approach to Ellasoma.
>
>Zoos and public aquaria are involved in species maintenance programs, many
>with non-USA species. And, of course, state and federal hatcheries are
>working on captive propagation of certain imperilled fish. I don't know
>of any formal program whereby hobbyists are licensed by states or feds to
>maintain USA species that may be in trouble. It would be a
>ground-breaking project for someone to initiate. May have to overcome a
>lot of old preconceptions about professional vs civilian understanding of
>fish biology and conservation issues. Mike Hissom's (Moontanman) recent
>run-in is an illustrative case in point.
>
>Perhaps it would be possible to launch such a program under the auspices
>of a zoo aquarium. That might give us more credibility with scientists
>and FW agencies.
>
>Personally, I have no problem with hobbyists getting involved. Most of
>these fishes are ignored by the rest of the world. If we practice
>conservative, responsible and well-informed collecting, we can only help
>their cause by making their presence known. You have a personal
>responsibility to know the fish you are collecting and their survival
>status. Do not collect imperilled fishes without consulting the
>appropriate scientists and agencies. See -
>http://www.nanfa.org/endanger/tableof.htm
http://www.nanfa.org/AgencyLinks.htm
http://www.nanfa.org/articles/bondhus.htm
Mark Binkley
Columbus Ohio USA <))><
mbinkley at earthling.net