Re: A. steindachneri

[WndrKdnomo@aol.com]

In a message dated 11/2/98 9:12:22 PM, apistowise@bewellnet.com writes:

<<Fish are almost impossible to ship into Australia, not because of the
technical
problems, but the bureaucratic ones. Unless you have an Aussie approved
quarantine
station outside of the country, all fish have to be quarantined at a
government
regulated and approved in-country quarantine station for several months. I
guess we
North American hobbyists shouldn't complain about access, should we? This
would be a
good thread for our Aussie friends to vent their spleens at government
excesses and
give the rest of us some idea of what could happen here?
>>

OOPS, sorry about the last post, somehow it got sent as I was trying to edit
it.
What I was TRYING to say was that there may be a reason for the seemingly
draconian restrictions on animal imports (I'm just guessing) but if you look
at the past history of animal imports in to Australia there have been some
real disasters, rabbits and cane toads to mention two.  Both of these were
intentionally introduced and proved major disasters.  But this really seems
like trying to lock the barn door after the horse is gone, especially since no
one is proposing releasing Apistogramma sp.'s into the (no-longer) natural
ecosystem of Australia.
Before you start the flames, I am NOT trying to defend the import
restrictions. 
People do crazy, stupid things that have major negative repercussions (import
Cane Toads that proceed to take over half the country) and then the government
passes laws to stop them.  The only problem is, laws often have unintended
consequences (making it almost impossible to import innocuous aquarium fish).
If only people would stop doing crazy thi...well, I guess that's too much to
ask.
Jeff
If anyone knows the reason for the quarentine/import restrictions please let
me know.  Like I said, I'm just guessing.


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