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Wild harvesting

> krandall at world_std.com (Karen A Randall) wrote:
> I work with some of the folks at the New England Aquarium, who are 
> heavily involved with and fully support the work of Dr. Chou in 
> the Amazon river basin.  There is strong evidence to believe that 
> the responsible harvesting of aquarium fish in the Amazon basis 
> may in the end be what _saves_ the ecosystem.  
> 
> Natives are learning that strip mining and clear cutting ruin 
> their rivers as well as the surrounding forest leading to loss of 
> the sustainable income of harvesting aquarium fish.  
[snip]

This has also been shown to be true in terrestrial fauna.

All over southeast Africa, national parks that do not allow hunting
are typically poached heavily by the locals and the elephant or 
rhinocerous herds can be totally wiped out, and other feline 
predators heavily reduced.

When controlled hunting programs are established, local guides
get "leases" to lead hunting expeditions (for tourists, etc.)
Poachers are shot on sight by the locals because the animal 
populations are the economic livelihood for the local (human) 
communities.  Because more animals mean more hunting trips,
these animal populations typically grow.

--charley
cbay at jeppesen_com