Ok firstly, I put this in the BeachBar because it doesnt fit anywhere else...
So mentors who are gnashing teeth... whoops.
After my blowup in the SeaShepherd thread(s) I figure some people might wonder what exactly set me off. Weeeell, its like this:
At the start of last year I became more and more involved with the Conservation Biology group at my Uni. The focus there is on ecology and how best to protect taxa such as the fish and invertebrates from inadvertent damage.
I say inadvertent because the current level of knowledge about our fishy and creepy-crawly friends is pretty dismal. In a single day I would be able to collect 20-30 undescribed species of crustacean, and if I got lucky, maybe a species never seen by a marine biologist before. This is bad.
You CAN NOT conserve what you dont know about. As a fish lover (dont say it Sven), my focus is more on fish, and one issue I started pushing was intertidal pools (rockpools or tidepools) and what lives in them. In particular the threat posed by invasive algae species. People who live in the Med would by now have heard of Caulerpa taxifolia?
So I got a study going, decided on the species to collect and so forth. When it came time to get money I was rudely suprised. In the end it came down to either I pay for the lot or it doesnt get done. So I cashed in some shares, asked Dad for money and cut back on beer. *melodramatic pause*
Ok, so I mainly drink wine.. But the fact that Fisheries help only extended to giving me a collecting license for free, suprised me. It ceased to suprise me when I realised that the state government routinely ignores its scientists, and goes with whatever the Greeny lobby wants. Even if all the scientific studies suggest the opposite action is the best. Hence my disgust with extreme Green groups. They destroy more by their actions than they will ever save.
So. At the moment I'm busy driving up and down the coast, collecting fish specimens and dissecting them to investigate gut contents. This is to determine the effects of invasive weeds on fish. The same fish will also be shipped to Germany once Im finished, so the world's sole Triplefin expert can examine them for taxonomic studies. Fingers crossed for a new species!
Pics: Male and Female Ringscale Triplefins
So mentors who are gnashing teeth... whoops.
After my blowup in the SeaShepherd thread(s) I figure some people might wonder what exactly set me off. Weeeell, its like this:
At the start of last year I became more and more involved with the Conservation Biology group at my Uni. The focus there is on ecology and how best to protect taxa such as the fish and invertebrates from inadvertent damage.
I say inadvertent because the current level of knowledge about our fishy and creepy-crawly friends is pretty dismal. In a single day I would be able to collect 20-30 undescribed species of crustacean, and if I got lucky, maybe a species never seen by a marine biologist before. This is bad.
You CAN NOT conserve what you dont know about. As a fish lover (dont say it Sven), my focus is more on fish, and one issue I started pushing was intertidal pools (rockpools or tidepools) and what lives in them. In particular the threat posed by invasive algae species. People who live in the Med would by now have heard of Caulerpa taxifolia?
So I got a study going, decided on the species to collect and so forth. When it came time to get money I was rudely suprised. In the end it came down to either I pay for the lot or it doesnt get done. So I cashed in some shares, asked Dad for money and cut back on beer. *melodramatic pause*
Ok, so I mainly drink wine.. But the fact that Fisheries help only extended to giving me a collecting license for free, suprised me. It ceased to suprise me when I realised that the state government routinely ignores its scientists, and goes with whatever the Greeny lobby wants. Even if all the scientific studies suggest the opposite action is the best. Hence my disgust with extreme Green groups. They destroy more by their actions than they will ever save.
So. At the moment I'm busy driving up and down the coast, collecting fish specimens and dissecting them to investigate gut contents. This is to determine the effects of invasive weeds on fish. The same fish will also be shipped to Germany once Im finished, so the world's sole Triplefin expert can examine them for taxonomic studies. Fingers crossed for a new species!
Pics: Male and Female Ringscale Triplefins
