Re: reintroduction

["Giancarlo Podio" <gp at isaconsulting_com>]

I'm no expert but after living in Australia for many years and seeing
introduced cane toads, cammels, rats and hares to mention a few, totally
dominating certain areas, I would guess it's a little late to start a
campaign to stop a fish keeper returning fish to what I understood is the
same waterway they were caught in. I agree birds do much greater "harm?"
(how do we know it's harmful after all, perhaps this is how certain breeds
came about) as far as spreading wildlife between water ways, a good example
I have witnessed myself was again in Australia where an artificial lake was
dug out in front of our house, within 5 years the lake was full of all the
possible fish you could think of that populate surrounding and distant
waters, it quickly became a great fishing spot and the authorities said it
was all thanks to the birds. I can understand concerns about introducing a
species that otherwise would not be present in a country or pose a serious
threat to other species, the snakehead and african bee issues come to mind,
but from what I understood, Tom was suggesting returning the fish to the
same waters he fished them out of, is that correct? If we are so worried
about a couple of fish being placed back in their natural habitat, I guess
we should be sterilizing ships and planes between countries, quarantining
people between destinations, making sure no bugs are catching a ride on our
cars and trucks as we drive accross the country etc. What about
re-introduction of species programs. I wonder how many people flushed the
algae they cleaned out of their tanks down the toilet lately.

Anyway, just my opinion based on very little knowledge of the subject. For
some reason I fail to see the big issue here, at least in todays
environment. I'd rather see people bark at those who want to drill for oil
in wildlife reserves or those exterminating a species because they believe
part of the animal has magical sexual powers, lets go sell viagra to the
asians instead.

Giancarlo Podio


----- Original Message -----
  a.. To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
  b.. Subject: Re: reintroduction
  c.. From: Shireen Gonzaga <whimbrel at comcast_net>
  d.. Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 23:14:05 -0400
  e.. Cc: Shireen Gonzaga <whimbrel at comcast_net>

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Well, I'm not qualified to rebut the arguments made by
professionals like Tom and Kyle. They certainly sound
convincing, and I don't have the facts to prove my case.
But I'm a stubborn old bird, and I still think I'm right and
everyone else is wrong. :-)

Or maybe I don't want to accept what they're saying
because, if they're right, our environment is in much
much worse shape than I thought. We're losing the
uniqueness of each little habitat. To quote James
Carlton, it's  a process of "homogenizing the world".
There are no words to describe the depth of that loss
of biodiversity.

> Bird Foot Fetish!
> Do you like the Blue Footed Booby? Is it your favorite?

They're funny birds with really weird mating rituals. As
far as fetishes go, I'm a bill girl. Long decurved bill like
the whimbrel, my favorite bird!
Living with my delusions....

- shireen


Shireen Gonzaga
Baltimore, MD