Re: NANFA-- Freshwater Crab found in Nevada

DasArm_at_aol.com
Sun, 20 Aug 2000 02:20:20 EDT

In a message dated 8/19/00 3:22:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
thirdwind_at_att.net writes:

<< the aquarium industry has been unregulated for the
longest time, and there are established populations of exotic animals that
certainly came from unwise aquarium releases. The reality is that we're
just now seeing the onset of a national effort to deal with exotic plants
and animals, and as long as aquarists say "Leave me and my animals and my
rights alone" they'll be viewed as part of the problem. >>

I don't necessarily think that every exotic fish including currently
problematic invasive species should be made available no matter what, but I
don't want to see the legislative pendulum swing to far in the other
direction either, with the result that fish keeping for aquarists is severely
restricted. I think that for instance in areas like Florida where swamp eels
are causing problems they should be banned because they will take over the
Everglades and cause extinctions and extirpations in that area. Predators
like gators may prey on them but in the meantime they will probably prey on
the smaller native fishes and out-compete other predatory fish in the area. I
think that cases like this where the situation with an introduction is really
bad that something has to be done. But I don't think that the governments
should start getting heavy-handed and banning the keeping of fish in an
aquarium in areas where those particular fish species are not hurting
anything or are likely to hurt anything.

<<The President just
<<signed the National Invasive Species Act. There's going to be lots of money
<<sent to the states to address this issue.

Too bad the Act hasn't been expanded to include intentionally stocked exotic
sport fishes. Still, it's a start. I like that they're going to put some
emphasis on keeping invasive species from entering the Mississippi River
(especially those damn round gobies). This is an area of great biodiversity
that would really be threatened by invasives and with its tributaries spans a
large part of the U.S.

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