>From: Christopher Scharpf <ichthos_at_charm.net>
>Reply-To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
>To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
>Subject: Re: NANFA-- position on educational collecting
>Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2001 23:24:54 -0400
>
>NOTE: The following represents my personal opinions, and not necessarily
>those of NANFA.
>
>
>To me, the issue is simple:
>
>As long as laws allow for the collection of nongame fishes as bait, and the
>removal of selected gamefishes for food or trophy, then hobbyists should be
>allowed to collect those same fishes for private aquaria.
>
>This is reflected in NANFA's Mission Statement, which says that "the legal
>and environmentally responsible collection of native fishes for private
>aquaria [is] a valid use of a natural resource."
>
>As long as no laws are being broken -- and laws vary widely between states
>-- there's little difference between an angler putting a sculpin on a hook
>and a hobbyist putting a sculpin in a tank as far as the ecosystem is
>concerned. (The sculpin may have a slightly different opinion on the
>matter!) To use Shireen's phrase, both are being collected for
>entertainment.
>
>What's important for NANFA -- and for the fish -- is that native fish
>collecting (or sampling, or whatever you want to call it) -- be more than
>entertainment. There should be an educational, scientific, and/or
>conservation component to collecting fishes and their subsequent captive
>husbandry. Again, this is reflected in NANFA's Mission Statement:
>
>* "Captive husbandry of fishes acquaints people with organisms they might
>otherwise never see alive or know existed, and affords people an
>opportunity
>to witness and appreciate their behaviors (feeding, breeding, parental
>care,
>etc.). Such acquaintance is a vital step in fostering environmental
>awareness and promoting a conservation ethic."
>
>* "Studying and documenting the captive husbandry of North American fishes
>can provide information about a speciesą life history that is otherwise
>lacking in the scientific record, or difficult to study under natural
>conditions."
>
>* "The captive propagation of native fishes can play a key role in
>conservation efforts by ... providing crucial life history information
>about a species before it becomes endangered; by providing aquarium-reared
>specimens for restocking efforts; by serving as a 'last-ditch' safeguard
>against the extinction of a species in the wild; and by maintaining species
>already extinct in the wild."
>
>Nowhere in NANFA's Mission Statement does it state that the collection of
>native fishes is a hobby, nor does it describe itself as a hobbyist
>organization (although hobbyists with no higher aspirations than keeping
>souvenir specimens in aquaria likely make up a large portion of the
>membership). NANFA (from my perspective) is not trying to attract more
>people to the "hobby." In other words, the organization is not trying to
>convert tropical fish hobbyists into native fish hobbyists (as if implying
>that one type of fish is better than another). If anything, NANFA is trying
>to turn hobbyists into more scientifically literate and environmentally
>conscious stewards of native fishes and their habitats. (That's my
>editorial
>policy with American Currents, which I seek to fulfill with a balanced mix
>of articles on biology and conservation as well as aquarium care. This mix
>can also be seen in NANFA conventions, which feature speakers and
>presentations across a variety of scientific, conservation, and husbandry
>topics all related to native fishes.)
>
>None of this denies or demeans the fact that most -- if not all -- of us
>were born with that "aquarium gene" which finds enjoyment in the keeping of
>critters in fish tanks. And none of us have outgrown that childhood
>fascination with turning over rocks and seeing what swims or slithers
>underneath. When I was a kid I collected fishes because of some
>inexplicable
>desire to simply possess them. In my young mind, a fish in a creek existed
>only for me to catch it, keep it, and pickle it when it died. (Considering
>my primitive husbandry skills back then, I pickled many a fish!) But
>gradually -- and due in no small part to my association with NANFA -- my
>approach to fish collecting and keeping has changed (or matured, as I like
>to think). I collect fewer fishes (none from the Ohio convention and none
>at
>all this year) and go on fewer collecting (sampling) trips. Yet my interest
>in native fishes -- in their natural history and conservation -- is growing
>in leaps and bounds. If NANFA can teach but one lesson, maybe it can be the
>lesson I taught myself:
>
>A fish in the wild is more interesting, more aesthetically pleasing, and
>more desirable (ecologically speaking) than a fish in captivity.
>
>For me, the aquarium opened up a whole new world outside of the aquarium
>(which, come to think, aquariums are *supposed* to do). And while I will
>always be interested in the science and technology of aquariums -- and in
>awe of aquarists like Ray Katula and J.R. Shute and Bob Muller who possess
>the skill and saintly patience to breed fish and raise them -- it's the
>natural world of fishes to which I am now most compellingly drawn.
>
>I hate to think what I'd be doing today if I had not been allowed to
>collect
>(and, sad to say, cause the untimely death of) so many minnies when I was a
>kid. I'd probably be a developer, or a dam-builder, or a crooked
>politician.
>Thanks to the simple act of going out into nature and bringing a slice of
>that nature home, I am now in total reverence of the biodiversity that both
>sustains and delights us. And if someone seeing my aquarium can feel some
>of
>the same, then all the better.
>
>I will never begrudge anyone for catching a fish to place in an aquarium. I
>just hope it leads to something more profound than having a collectible.
>
>Chris Scharpf
>Baltimore
>
>
>/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
>/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
>/ Association"
>/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes
>Association
>/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
>/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
>/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
>/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
>/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page,
>http://www.nanfa.org
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org
</x-flowed>