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AI{ E}WIROTWTENTAL RIP-OFF ?

2 SCIENCE WORLD

BY PAMETA WEINTRAUB

Mcny creqtures of river, Iqke,qnd seq c r re bequt i fu l qnd in -teresting. So, people often plccet h e s e w q t e r q n i m q l s i naqucriums where they ccrn be ob-served ecsily.

This prcctice is not new. Richhomeowners in qnc ien t Ch inccrnd Jcpan kept goldfish in shcrl-low bqsins and glass globes. An-cient Romqns of ten bui l t smql lf ish ponds within their homes.

G o l d f i s h w e r e b r o u g h t t oEurope in 16 I I . And, in q sense,thcrt wqs the beginning of themodern exotic f ish trade. Todcy,mcgnif icent underwqter scenesn o r m c l l y e n c o u n t e r e d o f f t h ecoqsts of Afrjcc, Asic, or SouthAmericq cqn be seen in privatecquariums. And the job of provid-ing the cnimcrls cnd equipmentfor such scenes hqs become bigbusiness.

Simple aqucriums of the typeI o u n d i n m q n y h o m e s , c l c r s s -rooms, and restqurcrnts usuollyhold freshwqter plcnts crnd qni-mals. Air pumps, specic l food,cleaning fi l ters, cnd fluorescentlights qre included to help keepthe wqter crnimcrls heclthy. Buttho t ' s jus t q smql l par t o f thecqucrrium hobby business.

M o r e e x p e n s i v e s c r l t w c r t e raquor iums exhibi t br ight ly col-ored fish cnd dczzling corql fromt rop ica l ree fs . On ly ten yecrsq g o , t h e c o m i c q n t i c s o f c r norq.nge clov,rnfish, or the dcrzzlingyellow of q moorish idol, wouldhqve been rore sights indeed. Buttodoy, f ish enthusiqsts ccn buy ogreat vcriety of f ish and equip-ment to lecrrn qbout the tropicolenvironment. In fqct, aquoriumkeep ing hos become the th i rdlcrgest hobby in Americcr. Tropi-cql f ish col lectors in the U.S. cndConodo spend only slightly lessmoney on their hobby thcn coin orstcmp collectors spend on theirhobbies.

Few peop le rea l i ze tho t thet rop icc l f i sh bus iness hqs be-come cr mult i -mi l l ion dol lcr in-dustry. Tens of mill ions of seriouscollectors qnd cqsuql hobbyiststhroughout the wcrld buy fish ofmore thcrn 6, m ditf erent species.

The United Stctes crlone importsover $100 mi l l ion worth of exot icfish crnd aquqrium crccessoriesecrch yeqr.

Exotic f ish qre now cn impor-tcnt export item in mcny develop-ing nctions-especiclly in Asiacnd Lctin Americq. Even the stateof Floridq hqs begun to sell f ishcbrocd.

The exotic f ish trqde is big cndgett ing bigger. But i t hqs qn en-vironmentcl price. According toBrit ish ecologist Tony Loftqs, en-tire fish populations hcve beenw i p e d o u t i n S o u t h A m e r i c q ,Ceylon cnd Africq. Rqre fish im-ported from Peru cnd other plccesqre often deqd on qrrivql ct theirdest inqt ion. In coqstql qreqs ofKenycr, Indonesiq, cnd Floridq,corql-reefs-homes of mqny trop-icql f ish-ore being blcsted tobits so thot the pieces cqn be usedto decorcte aqucriums. Poisonsused to stun certqin fish hcrve re-sulted in the slcughter of other,non-target qnimqls.

M a n y o f t h e l e s s e x p e n s i v efreshwater f ish found in homeqnd c lqssroom oquar iums c t rerqised by fish fqrmers. Collectionof those f ish doesn' t hcrrm theqn imals ' o r ig ino l home. How-ever, costl ier f ish cnd other sqlt-wcter qnimqls ctre usucr l ly col-I e c t e d f r o m t h e w i l d . A n d f o revery one of these creqtures thqtr e q c h e s - q n o q u a r i u m m q n yothers die cr long the wqy. En-v i r o n m e n t c l i s t s c h c r g e t h c tpeople in the exotic fish trcde crreoften ruthless crnd hqve little re-gcrrd for protecting fish and their

nqtural surroundings.Since the creqtion and operq-

tion of fqrms for the breeding ofsqltwqter crnimcrls would requiremuch time qnd money, scientistspredict thcrt the collection of wildfish wil l continue. Although ex-perts in Floridq now breed neong o b i e s c r n d c l o w n f i s h , w i d e -sprecd success in re-crecting l ifeconditions found in the secr qp-peqrs to be cr long wcy off.

Some people suggest that in-terncrt ionql regulct ions wouldcontrol the

"rip-off" oI exotic f ish

resources. But Dr. Robert Vqlenti,quthor of So/twqter Aquor ium,c l q i m s t h c t " n o g o v e r n m e n tqgency wil l get very fcr in con-demning the tropiccrl f ish indus-try. Importers hqve c grecrt decrl ofinf luence in Congress. And crl icensing or permit system couldtriple the cost of f ish for mill ionsof hobbyists."

Mqrine tropiccrl f ish crre col-lected ct the rcrte of thousqnds perw e e k . B u t w h i l e e n v i r o n m e n -tclists protest the destruction ofnaturql resources, f ish collectorsclcim thqt no substqnticrl dqtc onsuch destruction exists.

Dr . Vcr len t i c rdds tha t mostmqssive dcmcge cqn be trcrced todestruction of the corql reef. Fishco l lec to rs -usuc l l y ind iv iduo ldivers-inject drugs into under-wqter reefs. This stuns fish cndmakes it eosy for cr diver to ccp-ture them. But the drug qlso eatsinto corql necessary for the sur-vivql of remqining fish.

In Floridq qnd similqr plcces,says Dr. Vcrlenti, "c lot of youngindividucls figure there's a fcrstdoilcrr to be mode. They go outqnd toke crs mqny fish qs theyccrn. Essentiqlly, they're destroy-ing their resources.

"But the person who collectsfish 365 dcys q yeqr recrlizes thqthis or her l iving depends uponmqintqining the hcrbi tat . Thctperson won' t use drugs, lecrveeEgs unprotected or dcmcrge thereef. When crn import'compcrnyhires ct new collector, it's taking crchclnce."

Once ccrptured, f ish stay inholding fccil i t ies (pools or f ishtanlrs fvith running wster) trntil

(Con{inued on next psge}

s*rcH,9, 1g7g

TheExoticFithTrade

(Continued)

it's time to ship them to the impor-ter, or middle-mcrn. Middle-menbuy fish from crll qrecrs of theworld cnd sell them to pet shops.

Some importers ctrereputcrble crnd someqre not. Trustworthyimporters will usuallyseek out goodcollectors qnd pcry them

more per fish.U.S. Marine Tropiccl Imports in

Brooklyn is the largest f ish impor-ter in the New York metropolitcrnqrecr. It sends supplies to the NewYork Aqucrium. This coqlpqnyhqs become increqsingly con-cerned with destructive ccrtchingcnd pcrckcrging methods used bycollectors. Vice President EdwcrdMurphy sqys thcrt importers whoencourqge poor collectors "grive

the industry c bqd nqme."

The best col lectors use netscrnd stcry ctwcly from drugs, Mur-phy scys. But some collectors crreso bad that they use cycrnide.They mqy crlso ship injured cndbleeding fish.

Mr. Murphy points out thct it isimpossible for New York import-ers to investigcrte collectors in thePhil ippines. The only wqy is tosee how the f i sh do in c rncqucrium.

"You must bring these fish intothe cqucrrium qnd see how theysurvive," Mr. Murphy explcined."If they do poorly, you know thecollector hqs been using shoddymethods. So you plcce no moreorders with him. Fourteen fish

co l lec t ing groups work in thePhil ippines, but only seven do crgood job."

D ivers a lso sqve money byshipping fish in pcckcges fi l ledwith less wqter thqn legally re-quired. Lighter pcckcrges meqnlower cir-freight costs. But f ishshipped that way become brcin-dcrmcged dur ing the t r ip ondlc r te r they mqy bcng in tocrquarium wqlls.

About 50 compcnies in the exo-tic f ish trcrde have emerged in theNew York ctrect in recent years.Edwcr rd Murphy c lq ims thcr t :"These compcnies lqst 15 to 18

months, just long enough to mcrkec r q u i c k b u c k . T h e y m q k e u pqbout hcrlf of the import businessin New York crt cny one time."

Sometimes, people who havebeen in the fish business for crshort period just don't know whctthey're doing. The result? Moredcmcrge to marine hcrbitats in thefcrcwcy wqters of Asiq, Africaqnd South Americcr. This lcrck ofknowledge mcry crlso meqn poortrectment for f ish once they qrrivein the U.S.

For excrmple, f ish crre very sen-sit ive to stress. Dr. Vclenti scrysthqt mqny importers plcce unduestress on newly crrrived mqrinelife. Thcrt's becquse they trqns{erthem from naturcrl seq water tom q n - m q d e c r q u c r i u m w q t e rwithout <rn cdjustment period.

Murphy scrys that f ish must restin cr dark bucket of nqtive secrwqter while aquarium fluid en-ters slowly. drop by drop. The en-t i re process should tcke aboutnine hours. If i t isn't done thiswcry, 50 percent of the fish ccln dieof shock

He cdded thcrt importers justentering the business often shipfish to the U.S. on cirplcrnes tqk-ing cr cold, polcrr route.

"lt scrves seven hours of trqveltime, but if ct compqrtment opensby mistcrke the fish wil l freezecnd die. We would tcrke thqt routeif we were shipping ice crecrm.

SCIENCE WORLD

UBut we're not. The tropiccrl routewe use gucrrcntees thqt qt leqst 25percent more Iish wil l be qliveupon qrrivcl."

Right now, environmentqlistsscry, hclf of cll f ish captured intropiccl wcters die before recrch-ing c hobbyist's tqnk. And thosefish left behind often find thcthclf their homes hqve been de-stroyed. They too wil l perish.

'A hqndful of mcjor deqlers inthe U.S. express concern thc tget-rich-quick "sec pirctes" wil ldestroy vqluqble resources. Buteven fish imported by the mostrespected compcnies crre subjectto the perils of trqvel qnd stress.

And import ing countr ies qresubject to environmentql dcngerstoo. Accidentcl releqse of strcngefish ccrn wipe out less hclrdy locqlqnimqls and spreqd disecrse.

People in the tropiccl f ish busi-ness scy the hobby is qn educcr-tionql wqy for people to study nc-ture. Environmentqlists point todecth of f ish populctions crnd de-struction of their nqturql homes.In the middle is the exotic f ishenthusiqst , who wqnts to con-tinue his or her interest withoutdisturbing the environment.

Dr. Valenti suggests thcrt unti lscientists learn how to breed exo-tic {ish, home crqucrium ownersshould tcrke greater interest inwhere qnd how their f ish qre col-lected. They must buy from repu-tcble deqlers who steer cleqr ofthe seqmy side of the fish trcde.

H o b b y i s t s m u s t c r l w o y s r e -member thcrt they crre deal ingwith deliccrte, wild qnimcls thcrtneed help in cdcrpting to ccptiv-ity. Knowledge o{ the crqucrriumqnd fish within it must be gcineds lowly , th rough recrd ing , con-stqnt iricrl, crnd extreme "or". L\\^'/

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t t(ssrur)) )Do you enw all those models withperfect skin? Heres a secret:they don'tall have perfect skin-but they do wearfoundation make-up to get that look.And you should too!ooo oooooooooo ooo oooooooooo

lDl0l('A'001,011

oMatch gour natural coloring aspossible. Exceptions: neutrulizewith a creomg ioorg or beige,sallous skin uith a rosy tone.

closelg asruddy skinwarm up

a barelylike gou.

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DO apply make-up in adownward d i rect ion forthe smoothest finish.

DON'T rub into skin;blend it on with feather-light strokes (the models' way:dampened sponge) so it looks

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ry&uauuv&uusryuuuuuaao Modrer Nature

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check the finishod look at a window.

Sl<in fypes differ, so Cover Girl mol<esfour fobulous mol<e-ups-oll withcleon Noxzemo ingredients for ototolly noturol, heolthy-looking lool<.

Averoge skin? Cover Girl LiquidMol<e-up is the beoutiful bosic. Justenough color ond just enough cover-oge mol<e sl<in lool< terrific.

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Co\o?oa{orr

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Skin not so perfecf? vhen st<inneeds help to look its best, Cover GirlTube Mol<e-up hos o little more cov-eroge, to hide bumps or shodowi;-stil I lool<s beoutiful ly noturol, not moslry.

Oily skin? Cover Girt oit ConrrolMol<e-up helps hold down oily shineon fhe sl<ins surfoce. All doy!

Greotskin? Cover Girl SuperSheergives just o touch of cover, o lroce ofcolor, for o flowless finish.

Use make-up a shade 01 twolighter where you want features{likea shychin}to come torward;darker where you want to mini-mize (a full jaw wide nose).

MARCH 8, 1979 5

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