Fully agree Ellen,

that's the bottom line. However, I don't think these things are
worked out intentionally, or at least not in a general "conscious"
way. I know of only a couple of cases where exploration was planned
and moved because of commercial interests. Cannot say more if I don't
want a bullet in my head. In this very cases the industry went ahead
very intentionally. But the average people are not aware of course.

We will see what happens in the Camotes Sea soon. An oil company will
explore the area with explosions every 30 seconds or so, of an
intensity that goes several km in the bottom (as I was told).
Dynamite fishing is a joke compared to that. The area has over 10000
species of mollusks, about 3 times the whole fauna of Europe found in
a place of about 250 x 150 km only. There are 1500 fish species (out
of 16000 worldwide). It is probably the richest biodiversity on
earth. In local journals there is some movement: the area is heavily
dived and there are a few nice coral reefs. Let's wait and see.

Guido
Very dark night in Belgium.


On 12 30, 07, at 12:51 AM, Ellen Bulger wrote:

> Banning collecting can be very helpful to those who would exploit
> resources on a large scale for the sake of profit. If collecting is
> banned, you have fewer eyes keeping watch on what is happening. If
> clubs are discouraged, you have fewer people sharing notes on what
> they are seeing.
>
> The last thing a developer wants are people who are monitoring the
> habitat being developed.
>
> When you can ban the activities of the informed, especially the
> informed who have a emotional and intellectual stake in what
> happens to the habitat, what species are present or not, then it
> makes things so much simpler for business.
>
> If you can ban these pesty nature enthusiasts and do it in the name
> of "enviromentalism", well that's a business win-win. And if you
> can convince other citizens that the collectors are bad, they'll do
> your work for you. They even do their best to create a climate that
> discourages new people from becoming interested and informed about
> the organisms in question.
>
> In business, that is what is known as a win-win situation.

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