-> 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.