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Re: Species Maintenance [was: no subject line]
Doug Karpa-Wilson wrote:
>> Well, there core species project is spotty, perhaps,
>> but there are several groups around. The problem
>> is knowing what's uncommon. Until Tom finishes
>> the list and then it gets corrected we don't really know
>> what's in danger of being lost. Since there are only
>> a finite number of volunteers, it seems to me most
>> prudent to line people up now and then wait until we
>> know what the species are, rather than guessing and
>> then expending a finite resource on maintaining
>> species that aren't, in fact, in any danger.
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>From the Dept. of Out-of-the-FishTank (Box) Thinking:
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#1 - Common Sense says that MANY more people will step forward as S.M. participants if they get to choose species/locations of their own choice, compared to the number who will do the same if someone else if going to make ("dictate") that choice for ("to") them.
(Support for premise: When they want a new household pet, many people think that it's "right" to get one from the pound/Humane Society. But probably only three people in the history of the world have ever called up their local pound and said "We've decided we want a dog/cat, send us one." You go down to the pound and YOU PICK OUT THE ONE YOU WANT, the one you best identify with for some reason. And since we don't all have the exact same preferences, lots of different kinds and personalities of the critters get adopted. Why would anybody think it works any differently with fish??? )
===> Don't fight human nature, take advantage of it !!! )
#2 - Every person currently involved in breeding killies is ALREADY engaged in species maintenance. (Small 's', small 'm'.)
===> Take advantage of that, make it part of the plan !!!
However, there's no regular & systematic communication between the people doing it, no "best practice guidelines" for what it takes to best maintain a species and it's genetic diversity (e..g, the sizes of populations that should be maintained in each fishroom, how often breeding stock should be exchanged with other breeders, etc,), no organized, systematics and easy-to-access repository of breeding info on the species. Those are the things you need to have Species Maintenance (big 'S', big 'M'.)
===> The "communications infrastructure" is the huge missing component of a hobby-wide Species Maintenance effort. If there's six people keeping "Aphio aphio aphio Bungalow-92-B," they should be sharing information (and fish gene pools) regularly. And leaving written records so that next generation of Aphio aphio aphio Bungalow-92-B killie-keepers can build on the accumulated knowledge, and not have to individually start over from square zero. Our "knowledge transfer" is too infrequent and random, too anecdotal, and tragically VERBAL and one-on-one. We're losing information at about the same rate we're acquiring it, with little apparent net gain.
#3 - Every killie variety in the world/hobby should be considered threatened unless "proven" otherwise.
Ever heard or thought "Those USED to be common." ? How much more evidence do you need than that ???
===> Collectively and individually, we need to adopt a ingrained, everyday Species Maintenance mindset ... if it's worth bringing out of the wild, it's worth some effort on our part to preserve it in the hobby. (And obviously, preservation in the wild is also a huge imperative, but that's not our direct objective here.)
===> Homework Assignment ... extrapolate the possibilities:
#1 times [#2 plus missing communications infrastructure] times #3 ===> ????
$0.05 (I'm thinking that should be worth at least a nickle.)
Doug Dame
Interlachen FL
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"If you build it, they will come."
- Field of Dreams (1989)
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