I agree the best option lies in education - perhaps we could ALL ( hobbyists, scientists. bureaucrats and commercial people) put our heads together and using the "think tank" approach which seems to be working well on this list and develop a "kit" for dis
tribution to all schools, public aquaria and pet shops etc on a continuous basis. There are a lot of possible avenues for exploitation .
Bruce Hansen ANGFA
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From: Julie A. Zeppieri[SMTP:jazep at conncoll.edu]
Sent: Thursday, 23 May 1996 1:17
To: rainbowfish at pcug.org.au
Subject: RE: Lets be careful
In response to your question to us all regarding whether or not we should
continue (as "responsible" aquarists) to keep any fish that do not
originate from the waters close to our homes, I think that you have
spelled out exactly the two options that we will have to choose from. on
the one hand, we have the situation as it stands today, with the keeping
of fish from around the world; on the other, refraining from keeping any
fish at all, let alone pets, livestock, etc. How does one make this
difficult choice, when it seems one is either flirting with the
possibility of destroying the very fish that we all love so much or
giving up the hobby that is so dear to us all? It seems like a lose-lose
situation to me.
Ulike yourself, I am living in a part of the U.S. (the desert southwest)
in which I am not "allowed" to keep, let alone collect, the vast majority
of the native fish species. They are almost all either endangered or
threatened. Therefore it seems to me that, to be totally ethical, I would
have to choose the latter option; the total cessation of my hobby. This I
cannot easily do. I work in an aquarium shop, and I have had many a
conversation with people who think that, "since the environment is so
screwed up anyway, and since there are already so many introduced fish ,
what's the big deal if I throw in a few more convicts, etc." Even worse,
I have heard people say that the native fish aren't important, so they
don't see the need to safeguard either them or their habitats. Luckily,
these people are in the vast minority of folks who keep fish.
My solution to this dilemma is to try my best to educate the people who come in
to the shop about the correct way to deal with fish that they no longer want --
that is, to bring them back to the store or euthanize them, but to NEVER
"set them free." As responsible aquarists, we need to do a much better
job of educating and "policing" our own. I do not think that we are doing
all that we could in this respect at the present time. Most of the
well-intentioned "releases" that happen could be prevented if the folks
who did them just knew what the environmental consequenses could be. IMHO
most people do care about the environment and its inhabitants; they are
just ignorant. This, IMHO, is the thing that we should be working on. The
other "option" is not very feasible, and besides, I'd have to give up all
of my 'bows (even the Aussie ones), and that would sorta make my
participation in this very list unnessary. :-) ;-)
Maybe we can find some middle ground?
Julie Zeppieri (RSG) <><
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