[tosiek]

Put me down for 40$.

[prattreef]

Thanks Tony. Let's keep this going folks. We are more than half way to goal.

[clarionreef]

Guys
Thanks for the effort so far.
Its hard to compete with Christmas I know.
But...on the 15th of January its back to New Guinea to begin training the first trainers and the first villages near Port Moresby so...

The area is highlighted by true percula clowns, blue tangs, bicolor angels in 4 feet of water, epaulette and zebra sharks, zebra octopus, flambouyant squid, billions of gobies, damsels, blennies, anthias and fairy wrasses.
The inverts and clams aren't bad either and we'll be scouting the best sites for the coming coral farms.
For now, the priorities are getting the handnetting and barrier netting material, frieght and customs costs to get it to there quick.
Any more questions or things you'd all like to know about futher?
Steve
of the New Guinea project

[GreshamH]

I hope you take me advice and not ship many flambouyants or zebra octos. I'd put a limit of like 10 per year per exporter. Niether are a very suitable animal for 99% of aquarists, not to mention most perish in the COC. Did I mention both live less then a year in aquaria and just little over a year in the wild

[Thales]

Quote: Originally Posted by clarionreef Guys Thanks for the effort so far. Its hard to compete with Christmas I know. But...on the 15th of January its back to New Guinea to begin training the first trainers and the first villages near Port Moresby so... The area is highlighted by true percula clowns, blue tangs, bicolor angels in 4 feet of water, epaulette and zebra sharks, zebra octopus, flambouyant squid, billions of gobies, damsels, blennies, anthias and fairy wrasses. The inverts and clams aren't bad either and we'll be scouting the best sites for the coming coral farms. For now, the priorities are getting the handnetting and barrier netting material, frieght and customs costs to get it to there quick. Any more questions or things you'd all like to know about futher? Steve of the New Guinea project

Hey Steve and the East coast!
Its Rich the ceph guy from SF not only supporting Steve's Project, but looking at the future of wild caught cephs. So, onto the soapbox!

Flamboyant cuttlefish (not squid Steve ) and any of the Zebra octos are a very touchy thing to talk about collecting. The numbers of these animals in the wild is unknown, as is just about all of their life cycle. There is very little science on these animals - heck the wunderpus was just described by science in '04. At the same time, there is lots of good evidence that their numbers are decreasing both in areas where they are collected and other areas they aren't collected, but faster in areas collected. A ceph researcher went to indo for 3 weeks last year to study them and saw none in areas they have traditionally been seen. As to collection impacts, it appears that these animals do not have huge clutches of eggs, so removing one female may really effect local populations. Furthermore, the animals that are collected have a generally dismal survival rate in captivity. I think their collection and distribution to the hobby or research should be handled very carefully as not to over harvest yet more animals we know little about.
I have been working with other ceph people to try to establish a voluntary ceph citification to ensure that these animals get to people who not only have a decent chance of keeping them alive, but also have interest in captive breeding (which has not actually happened with these animals yet). I suggest not only a yearly limit on the collection of these animals in PNG for the time being like Gresham suggested, but that you work with someone (umm, me and my cephy contacts! ) to distribute these animals to people who have more than a random chance at keeping them alive. I also suggest that the animals be collected when someone has already been lined up to take them, instead of the traditional supermarket approach. This really is an area of passion for me, and I have been looking for an opportunity to make a difference with MO cephs, and this may be it, so lets talk more Steve. Controlled, thought out distribution of these animals may make a real difference to their future. With PNG being 'done right', doing PNG cephs right as well seems like a no brainer model for the future.

If anyone is interested in Flams or Zebras, check out www.wunderpus.net and www.DaisyHillCuttleFarm.com

Off soapbox!

Regarding money for PNG, Bay Area Reefers is working on collecting money for the project as well.

Thanks for listening guys!

Rich

[GreshamH]

Thanks for coming on in Rich. I think your idea is outstanding

[bad coffee]

Rich, Welcome to MR!

Great idea about collecting for a collector, rather than collecting for a wholesaler. Are there any other species other than the two listed that should be on the list?

B

	Manhattan Reefs Manhattan Reefs, the best aquarium community on Planet Earth!

[prattreef]

Welcome Rich Very informative post. I love the idea of BAR and MR working together on this project Perhaps we can get a tally of our pooled resources sometime?

	Manhattan Reefs Manhattan Reefs, the best aquarium community on Planet Earth!

[masterswimmer]

Rich, welcome to MR and a really informative and caring first post. Your style came through loud and clear. We look forward to more insightful posts from you.

Russ

	Manhattan Reefs Manhattan Reefs, the best aquarium community on Planet Earth!

[clarionreef]

Thanks guys.
I thought the flambouyant cuttlefish and the wonderpus would wake people up!
I feel equally as passonate about blue hepatus tangs as they are the first species wiped out whereever the "traditional" fish trade sets up shop.

Futhermore, we have already banned our own lecokranos and percula clownfish anemones from the get go as species to not take at all.

The total allowable catch [ TAC] would be automatically small with regards to rarer species right off the bat. This smaller number will come from the survey numbers which will no doubt be small.
We can ban many species but then they are not bestowed with value. A small , legal allowable export number gives them value and a legal mechanism to control the take.
They should no doubt be reserved for breeder projects and with input as this with every turn, we will no doubt build a large body of recommendations on other species as well that should see a controlled , thoughtful 'TAKE".
We have already just put together a No Take List of fishes ie. unsuitable species and a vinyl poster for each collecting village to regard permanantly. An invert no take list could be developed as well!

Would there be enough contributions from you guys to compose one?
It needs about 20 items to fill out a nice poster as the fish one did.
More comments? We welcome lots more consciousness raising, consensus building inputs as a matter of routine evolution in tne PNG PROJECT!
Sincerely,
Steve