NGO cyanide reform vs. non-NGO reform

[PeterIMA]

What is the price paid to collectors for a 5 inch clown triggerfish. I do not know current prices. In 1987, I bough one from collectors in Bolinao for $3 USD.

Peter Rubec

 

[naesco]

CIDA, the Canadian government support arm, has an excellent record in ensuring that monies earmarked for less developed countries go there and are not eaten up in administrative costs.
An all-round approach is what is needed which I know CIDA approves.

IMO the end is almost near for the Philippine cyanide fish export industry and their American buyers.

Have you or anyone considered approaching the Philippine industry for further funding of this worthwhile enterprise?

Do you, or does anyone have pending funding applications before your governments?

Thanks for the clarification

 

[AQUADOC]

I like your attitude, Cortez Marine.. I share your thought of "doing it in secret,(the right thing), that is." I have flown to places exotic and hand collected, hired local collectors, ran into "marine biologists" who were as bad as some of the locals and did not have a clue as to what was going on. They were book learned, college educated and were simply too green to be thrust in a situation that at times would turn dangerous, either dockside or out on a reef somewhere, where we would be at. (Between the collectors and the Bio's.) Not saying that all Bio's are this way, but the thing to remember is this: These people have been doing certain things, certain ways, for a certain amount of time. You just do not run over to their "playground" so to speak, and disrupt their way of life with a method that, to them, is totally the opposite of what they have learned. A paradigm, if you will..Over 20 years ago while on a collection in the Amazon River Basin for Discus fish, I ran into a gentleman who used a car battery and a portable generator w/battery charger, exclusively for collections. The shock he gave the fish was only enough to stun the fish and after approximately 3 minutes or less, the fish was able to regain it's composure inside a holding tank of fiberglass with pumps and aeration.
For you who aren't familiar with Discus, they are very tempermental FW fish and are very expensive for certain varieties. I asked this gentleman why he was using electricity to catch these discus when we were netting them, his reply: more money from US for more fish. He was using a terrible method of catching, in my opinion, BUT, all in all, still unhurt and undamaged by this, the fish were swimming around with no obvious side effects. I watched this go on for several days (4). Not one loss was experienced. We had caught only 125 fish while he had managed to purvey around 220 fish with his method. Our fish arrived back in the USA healthy after 36 hours in bags and re-aerations, as his. Only....he suffered losses. There's a catch to this method even though short term, it may not seem such a bad idea, as there were no effects after the fish regained it's "composure". Electrical current going through certain fish disrupts their lateral line, which contains a central nerve, causing nerve damage, usually not until the fish had settled down after being shipped to their destination. This fellow had been using this method for over 10 years, shown to him by an unethical American adventurer who was supplying a store in Central California with the Discus fish. While off the coast of Manila, Phillipines one year collecting live rock, we experienced another fine example of cyanide collections going at a rapid pace. 6 Divers on a hookah, cyanide squirters, and nets were after a school of Green wrasses around a point of coral reef. We were collecting on the other side of them and noticed the flurry about the reef in the water and asked the skipper what the commotion was all about. The skipper told us in broken English that "his boys were getting American's the fish they deserved". well, with that said, we figured out we needed to move away from them before the collection erupted into a brawl over right and wrong. I, being very outspoken and against my partners wishes, spoke up and asked again, "are you using cyanide to collect any fish?" Yes was my answer, "and you may now move away from here before we make you leave." It was obvious when we noticed them collecting what they were up to but the blatentness of the episode so disgusted me that the rest of my trip was spent trying to figure out how to train them in a proper method without killing everything in the area trying to collect certain fish. I finally ran into the skipper at the docks and asked him if I could go out with them and show them something neat. He relented after much currency exchange and ranting, we went out to an area not far offshore where he said there were some Yellow Tangs. We arrived and dove in. I had brought my nets and collection canisters so I gave one of each to three divers other than myself. I said before we dove in, No cyanide this trip fellas. None was taken. At first watching my methods they were making fun of me but after they got the hang of it they were catching everything they could with a fervor. Once out of the water and had our collections in the live wells, they said excitedly, you show us a good way to make fun money now and fish are happy too, not sleepy with cyanide....We got less fish but the specimens were perfect..Upon arriving back at the docks they went to their buyer and made more money apiece for their catch then selling "sleepy fish".... Exactly what I planned. I made it fun and exciting for them in their native habitat and showed them a way to make money and have more consideration for their surroundings unknowingly to them at the time...... Bio's do not do that in my experience with them around. (The younger unexperienced ones anyway). Oh well, for the past is to be remembered for what it was and life must go on. I wish ALL fish would be caught by safer methods and fish keepers around the word would learn about the species in the wild they are putting into their tanks before going out and buying them and losing livestock after livestock just to go buy more and ....chain reaction........Julian Sprung once stated at a seminar, "there's nothing like the natural beauty of a reef system set up properly with the right combination of inverts, rock, and fish. What an enjoyment." "Of course, most don't know what goes into the process OF enjoyment."
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