Re: Agreement for Cyprinodon tularosa
Rjga at AOL.COM
Fri, 19 Jan 1996 09:07:12 -0500
An ariticle in Fisheries about two years ago documented that most of hte
releases of exotics (not native to that drainage) in the west were done by
Fish ^ Game agencies and sport fishermen transporting bait. In fact, the
biggest invader out west is Gambusia affinis, and Cyprinella lutrensis is
also a problem. Had aquarists been responsible, we would have seen
competitive interactions with red platies, not mosquitofish. The mosquito
control people also played a significant role. Aquarist releases are mostly
in Florida, not out west, and the Florida ones are mostly from farms during
storms. Re an agreement to grow pupfish, note that Paul Loiselle at the NY
Aquarium has a program. Finally, there is a real difficult situtation the way
the Endangered Species Act is written and -- more importantly, enforced. If a
landowner doesn't want populations introduced onto his land (becAUse he then
couldn't do with it what he wants), there is nothing that the govaement can
do. There are too many widely reported instances of landowners with
endangered species being forced to do something or prevenated from doing
something, and USF&WS has a lousy track record in trhying to reach
accommodation. I have long been a proponent of taking ESS enforcement away
from USF&WS and giving it to EPA, an agency with a track record of getting
things done.