Re: Agreement for Cyprinodon tularosa

James E. Johnson (jjohnson at comp.uark.edu)
Thu, 18 Jan 1996 11:50:24 -0600 (CST)

There has been a lot of discussion about using private individuals to
protect rare fish stocks. I have seen the effort that some private
aquaculturists use in rearing unique fishes-it is impressive! If we
could be sure that
stocks of native rare fishes would be reared by only one individual or
group, and that the species would not get out in the general aquarium
trade and evenually into the wild as an non-native species, I might be
more in favor of private aquaria for rare fishes. It is my belief that
if we had been rearing Amistad gambusia or Monkey Springs pupfish in
private aquaria around the country, they might still be extant at this
time. I also believe that under those circumstances the two species might
also
have been illegally introduced into Florida, California, or some other
warm-water habitat and might be endangering other native fishes in those
habitats. Hopefully everyone is aware of the problems caused by the
illegal release of fishes into non-historic habitats. Pupfish and
poeciliids are creating the most problems, especially in Texas, New
Mexico, Arizona and California.

Perhaps what we need is accountability. If a species is trusted to an
individual and later found in the wild, that individual is accountable
and could be fined and/or imprisoned (oh sure! I can see the headlines
now - JOHN JONES SENT TO JAIL FOR 2 YEARS FOR RELEASE OF PUPFISH). If a
species is trusted to a club or organization and a release occurs, the
club can just disband with no responsibility.

Also, persons interested in rearing rare native U.S. fishes should be
aware of Dexter National Fish Hatchery in southeastern New Mexico. The
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been rearing rare fishes there for 20
years. You may get in touch with Hatchery Manager Buddy Jensen at (505)
734-5910.

James E. Johnson
jjohnson at comp.uark.edu
Arkansas Cooperative Research Unit
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR 72701
phone (501) 575-6709

On Thu, 18 Jan 1996, Peter J. Unmack wrote:

> At 10:03 AM 1/11/96 -0500, "Michael G. Florez" wrote:
>
> [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
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> DESERT FISHES RULE: To boldly thrive where no other fish can make it!
>
> Check out the Australian Desert Fish Pages at:
> http://www.utexas.edu/depts/tnhc/.www/fish/dfc/
> Just click on the Australian portion of the map.
>
>
>