Bruce Hansen had said:
>> I assume that NANFA and NFA and all the other
>> exemplary bodies have theirs available and regularly published to
>> remind members and observers.
To which Peter replied:
>Not as far as I am aware. NFA is pretty much static last I knew. NFA
>ensures it has sufficent suitable fish for display purposes (it attends
>one or more shows each year) often with a few young fish being raised
>up for this purpose. In terms of it's breeding program with trout cod
>there are strict conditions placed on obtaining more fish as they are
>fully protected. I don't know if NFA has tried to get a permit to add
>fish to it's program or not. It's only a small group with a handful of
>members, those who are active are normally very active.
NFA Victoria has permits from Victorian Fisheries and the Flora and
Fauna Branch of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to
hold a number of endangered and threatened species such as trout cod,
Macquarie perch and others. We hold this permit for the purposes of our
breeding programs and for educational displays which we conduct several
times a year. The terms of our permits a re quite strict and generally
we require a separate special permit to collect new stock, at least of
the more threatened/endangered species.
At present NFA has around 25 trout cod in our breeding program. We have
a few, perhaps 20 to 30 juvenile trout cod retained from past breeding
which we are raising for use as display fish for educational purposes,
of these perhaps two or three are now approaching display size and will
probably be ready for this use in another year or two. At present we
are seeking a permit from NSW to obtain another 6 or so trout cod for
the breeding program to replace the inevitable losses suffered(*) and to
maintain the genetic diversity of our brood stock. We intend trading a
couple of thousand Macquarie perch bred by NFA this summer for this
permit.
(* This is inevitable because breeding trout cod is a high intervention
process involving anaesthetising the fish several times, hormone
injection and hand stripping of eggs and milt.)
NFA Far East Gippsland has about 40 Australian Bass in captivity for its
breeding program, of these 7 are held by NFA Victoria in our native fish
hatchery.
Other species held by NFA Victoria in small numbers include Murray cod,
golden perch, silver perch, tandanus catfish, blackfish , tupong, as
well as various freshwater cray, galaxias and pygmy perch species. The
majority of these fish are kept for display purposes.
Cheers,
Nick
------------------------------------------------
Nick Thorne nick at nativefish.asn.au
Native Fish Australia
http://www.nativefish.asn.au