Andrew's memory is not as "blurred by the bundy" as you would think on this
issue of wild catchment of boesmani, actually he is probably spot on....
It was both Heiko Bleher and Gerry Allen that mentioned this problem a
number of years ago at an ANGFA convention. They were quite concerned at the
time for the state of the wild population.
BTW M. boesmani is found in and around Lake Ajamaru which is actually in
western Irian Jaya not Papua New Guinea. Irian Jaya is a province of
Indonesia and has a completely different set of government export conditions
than PNG.
I refer any who doubt Andrews statement to page 109 of Gerry Allens book
"Rainbowfishes - In nature and in the aquarium".
Quote -
"by 1989 Ayamaru villagers were catching so many live fish for the aquarium
trade it was on the brink of becoming endangered. An estimated 60,000 male
rainbows were being captured each month for shipment to Jakarta exporters.
Sadly the shipping mortality rate was approximately 90%. Most of the losses
were suffered in the initial stages when fish were crammed into 20 litre
water cans for the 2 hour walk to the airstrip. Fortunately, the government
eventually placed controls on the industry."
My understanding is that this practice has now been regulated, therefore it
is probable that a legal export system is in place to continue sending live
boesmani to Jakarta where basically every country bar Australia can receive
stocks of this fish.
Regards,
Barry.
ANGFA Convention 1998 - "Advancing Australian Aquatics"
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~fisher/news.htm
-----Original Message-----
From: Segeberger <klaus.schoening at jungle.org>
To: rainbowfish at pcug.org.au <rainbowfish at pcug.org.au>
Date: Wednesday, 10 June 1998 3:45
Subject: Re: [RML] Beginner needs advise
> Gee Andrew who was the collector who collected all those boesemani?
>You don't need to be a rocket scientist to know that collecting rainbows
>in the wild of New Guinea is very difficult, certainly overcollecting a
>fish like boesemani would be problematic, and not at all like collecting
>neon or cardinal tetras. I thought the beginners concern was a good
>one, and your tongue in cheek comment may mean something to the Pros and
>long time rainbowfish hobbyists and illicit a chuckle, but to a newcomer
>it would only be confusing. Don't we have enough misinformation and
>degraded stocks without putting out misinformation that could result
>in the distribution of captive stocks whose lineage is essentially
>unknown as wild or f1's?
>
>
>So lay off the bundaberg for a minute and maybe you can tell us all
>where you read that boesmani was overcollected in the wild :)
>
>-> I thought that the reason there were so few male boesemani left in
>-> the wild was because of collectors? I wish I could remember where I
>-> heard that, was it in an old AquaGeo?
>
>-> Cheers, Andrew
>
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