Flashermac Posted January 3, 2006 Report Share Posted January 3, 2006 THE NATION 2 January 2006 Aquarium-bred clown fish find they're all at sea in the wild It's not a lot of fun being a clown fish. Just ask the officers of the Fishery Department (DOF) who, in a bid to re-stock Thailand's oceans with the bright orange little fishes (known for a starring role in the movie "Finding Nemo", last month released 1,800 aquarium-bred fish into the sea. But just eight survived the ordeal. Most were eaten by other fish, or were fouled in sea anemone's tentacles. It's a different world in the open ocean compared with the protection of the DOF's marine-life breeding centre in Krabi. The problem with the aquarium-bred fish, said Kasetsart University marine scientist Thorn Thamrongnawasawadi, was that they're not very worldly". Thorn is an adviser to the breeding centre, which is partially funded by Krabi's Pimalai Resort. "Once being released into the sea, they don't know what to do, where to go, which of the other marine critters are their friends and which are the enemy. And so, after 24 hours loose in the ocean, only eight remained of 1,800. This year is the second year the DOF has released clown fish into the sea in a bid to increase the species' numbers. Last year of 4,000, just two survived, so this year's result is a source of pride for Thorn. All "Nemo" fish are pretty much identical, so how could Thorn be sure the fish he's counting were not naturally born? Simple answer: there's none left. While the fish did once occur naturally in Thai waters, there's now none left because they've all been snagged for the aquarium trade. But on a brighter note, Thorn said Thailand was the only country in the world with a project to breed and reintroduce the species. "We're the only country with environmental balance problems, because so many Nemo fish have been illegally taken out of the sea for raising in aquariums." He said near Koh Haa island, the Indian fish, a close relative of the clown fish, well outnumbered the Nemo species, so the DOF was looking to once again balance the numbers, Thor said about 50-50 was right for the Kingdom's waters. To survive naturally the clown fish must stay close to sea anemones, which have tentacles topped with nematocysts, stinging cells that paralyse and entangle small marine animals. The little fish feed off the dead bodies suspended around the sea anemone, but Thorn said aquarium-bred clown fish did not have the basic instincts to avoid the poisonous cells of the anemones, and many of the current crop died swimming straight up to their hosts. Others got eaten because they didn't swim away when predators approached. The lessons of the past two years have taught Thorn that the basic instincts of Nemo fish can be created only in a natural environment. And he thinks just 24 hours is enough for the fish to learn the basics. And so the biggest challenge for the project is helping clown fish survive their first 24 hours in the sea. Next year the DOF is going to try releasing the fish in a light cage made of netting. Thorn said the cage would help protect them from all the dangers of the sea while allowing them to adjust to the real world. "It costs about Bt200,000 to release one Nemo into the sea," said Thorn. "Think about this before buying any clown fish taken from the sea illegally." He lamented the fact you could buy the fish commercially for as little as Bt5 each. "It's cheap and easy to take them from the sea, but expensive and difficult to put them back," he said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limbo Posted January 3, 2006 Report Share Posted January 3, 2006 200.000Baht to release one little clownfish. 1800 x 200.000 = 36.000.000 They just blew 36 Million Baht in a consecutive year. I'm crying and I'm speechless. Don't they have better ways of spending that kind of money in a more sensefull way, like improving their educational system. Considering this is coming from a dive professional. :banghead: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khwaimaisabai Posted January 3, 2006 Report Share Posted January 3, 2006 Hi limbo, More likely he meant that the total cost was 8 x 200,000, 1.6 million or 40,000 USD as the cost of the whole project to get 8 survivors installed. Khwai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limbo Posted January 3, 2006 Report Share Posted January 3, 2006 Well, let's hope so............. Still a fair amount of money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khun_Kong Posted January 3, 2006 Report Share Posted January 3, 2006 Flashermac said: ... He lamented the fact you could buy the fish commercially for as little as Bt5 each. "It's cheap and easy to take them from the sea, but expensive and difficult to put them back," he said. Hmmm... did they ever think about buying them for 5 BAHT AND RELEASING THEM BACK INTO THEIR NATURAL WORLD INSTEAD OF SPENDING SO MUCH MONEY TO RAISE, RELEASE AND KILL THEM!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limbo Posted January 3, 2006 Report Share Posted January 3, 2006 DUH Well spotted Khun Kong, overlooked that one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted January 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2006 limbo said: Don't they have better ways of spending that kind of money in a more sensefull way, like improving their educational system. :banghead: You're presuming the government WANTS a better educated populace. Don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limbo Posted January 4, 2006 Report Share Posted January 4, 2006 Well, everybody has a dream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longwoodguy74 Posted January 4, 2006 Report Share Posted January 4, 2006 "NEMO" fish??!!?!?! Bwahahahaha!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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