[snip]
>Is there room for
>hobbyists or out of state breeders to participate in the agreement?
The role of aquarists and the US government..... What should it be?
According to some it should be none (for varying reasons). One good
argument put forward is that the fish fauna of the United States is one of
the most managed and protected in the world and usually, if a fish is in
that much trouble then action is typcially taken in an attempt to recover
that species. Now, it is also true that if aquarists had been involved in
the past, fish such as the Monkey Springs pupfish (Cyprinodon sp) and
Amistad gambusia (Gambusia amistadensis) may not be extinct today. However,
this arguement is based on the fact that fish in many parts of the world are
declining rapidly, ie Madagaskar, Meditteranean, Middle East, etc etc. In
many cases, fish are not given any protection and many are and will continue
to go extinct without help from aquarists (I'm counting zoological
institutions as aquarists). Thus, shouldn't we be focusing on a) getting
stocks of these fish, and b) establishing captive breeding populations?
Further thoughts?
Tootles
Peter J Unmack
springfish at mail.utexas.edu or pjunmack at ucdavis.edu
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DESERT FISHES RULE: To boldly thrive where no other fish can make it!
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Just click on the Australian portion of the map.