>
Dear Allen & All,

this is good news about New York but it also shows our little
understanding in conservation. Indeed, what's good for something can
be bad for something else. I wish Belgium could do the same clean up
of some of it's streams.

Here on our Island in the Philippines I got the alarming news that
they will protect the whole coast of Mactan from collecting and
fishing in order to promote the tourism and the dive industry.

This means the death of thousands of species on the Island. The corals
and the fish gone take over the complete coast. The two combined are
SUPER DESTRUCTORS. The corals eat all the larvae and the ones getting
a few millimeters big are swallowed by the fish.

On saturday night I could photograph on Mactan Island  Scalptia
contabulata on Mitra stictica. This kind of things will all be gone.

Fish explode in number of species and size after about 3 to 5 years of
a new sanctuary. They have a great diversity at that time and it is a
paradise for the photographer. After about 5 years the big fish come
in such as Tanigi and other Barracuda's, sharks a little deeper. They
clean out half of the fish species, probably the ones that are not
tasty or not fast enough. I do not know how it goes after that, the
oldest sanctuaries having about 7 years here. But I know that in
protected areas sea slugs, crustaceans and mollusks have no chances...
and below 15 meters the sanctuary in Hilutungan is an example desert.

I'll concentrate diving, photographing and collecting on the Mactan
coast as long as things are there.. and I'm allowed to.

The positive thing is that many people will get, during their
holidays, a glimpse of nice nature. And possibly, some will get a
genuine interest in it and this may help the promotion of taxonomy in
the long run.

Best regards, Guido



> On a conchological note, New
> York City has cleaned up its harbor tremendously over the past 20
> years
> or so.  So much so that the boring clams (Toredo et al) are destroying
> the piers at a rapid pace.  They used to be protected by the bad water
> quality!


Websites: www.conchology.be
                  www.poppe-stamps.com
                   www.poppe-images.com
                   www.mambele.be

Email: [log in to unmask]

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