The problem isn't hobbyists like us. We are a pretty responsible informed
group. The problem is the people that keep fish that aren't really
hobbyists. I have never been to Australia but I can speak for some of the
idiots I've seen and talked to here.
Just a couple years ago when we were looking for our house, after finding
out I kept fish, one of the realtors was telling me about her fish tank and
her goldfish. She had decided that she didn't want the goldfish anymore and
she was just going to dump them in the closest body of water she could find.
I nicely explained the problem with this. She didn't care she didn't want to
kill the fish, the PetSmart wouldn't take them back so she was going to dump
them. This isn't an isolated incident.
Geez, you must remember what it was like while you were down here collecting
last summer almost every fish we pulled out was a nonnative. The problem is
government is always trying to make itself bigger that's what it does. And
as long as people act like idiots it will give the government every excuse
to do so. Perhaps a better solution would be to get more informed shop
keepers, get rid of the idiots in the chain stores and make sure that people
that keep the fish will be responsible about them by giving them the right
information from the start. As long as the average Joe/Jane citizen can't
keep themselves responsible for their own actions the government will keep
butting in more.
Don't get the wrong idea I hate big government, look at the great things
ours is up too. More USDA employees than farmers, now we're paying hospitals
to not train doctors, mostly because the AMA is the largest political
contributor (yes bigger than even tobacco), and they sure don't want a glut
of doctors. Then they might have to compete and not make as much. Hey we
wouldn't actually want medical care costs to go down would we. (No offence
intended to the Doc :)
The bottom line is until the intelligence levels go up the government is
going to keep stepping on more toes. Besides if you take a look at history
that's pretty much the way it works, a country starts out with a new
government, it get's bigger and bigger and more and more corrupt, the
classes start getting further and further apart, there's an uprising, total
chaos then it starts all over again. :)
You have to look at both sides instead of just giving a knee jerk response.
My guess is that after the Australians took a look at what's happened to the
waters of the rest of the world, like ours, they decided to try to save
theirs from the same fate. Instead of just saying hey it's not our fault,
perhaps it would be more practical to actually find out what the actual risk
of contamination by hobbyists is and work to find a possible equitable
solution. One that would allow those that are responsible enough to keep
fish to do so and one that will still protect waters from even more
contamination. Just because a body of water already has the scourge of
Gambusia doesn't mean it should be stocked with Talapia and mollies too.
Rhonda
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/RhondaWilson/
American Livebearer Association
http://petsforum.com/ala/
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