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Topic: North Carolina Aquarium Embarrassment? (Read 2,446 times)

BarryRice
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North Carolina Aquarium Embarrassment?
« Thread Started on May 18, 2007, 6:06pm »

Hey Folks,

I have learned (via Stephen Davis) of a story that is so over-the-top in bad conservation ethics, that I can only hope it is a case of bad reporting. The link to the article is:
http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.....mplate=currents

In case the article is removed from the web, here is the text:

By Gareth McGrath
Staff Writer
gareth.mcgrath@starnewsonline.com

Gareth McGrath: 343-2384

Hampstead | Deep in the Holly Shelter Gamelands, the hunt was on for a mature cottonmouth.

Wading through the thigh-deep water, staffers from the N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher fanned out into the pond choked with horsetail rush.

This early morning foray for the poisonous water moccasin wasn't successful, although a banded water snake and several juvenile cottonmouths were spotted, and a larger animal retreated into its hole as the searchers approached the far bank.

But by lunchtime, Wednesday's collection trip into the nearly 70,000-acre gamelands had netted a slew of carnivorous plants and small fish for Fort Fisher's Cape Fear Conservatory and exhibits at the state's two other aquariums.

About once a week, Fort Fisher staff head into the field to gather flora and fauna for the aquariums, and one of their favorite collection areas for plants and freshwater fish and other critters are the Pender County gamelands.

"This offers us a good place to come and gather representative species of the habitats of this area," said aquarium curator Hap Fatzinger as he slogged through a pond, lower than normal due to the unseasonably dry conditions so far this year, gathering minnows.

Officials said the new plants and animals - a need Fort Fisher first tries to meet through captive breeding or propagation programs - are used to replace flora and fauna that dies off and to add or expand exhibits.

"For the first few years you try to build up the collection," Fatzinger said. "Now we're trying to add diversity."

But Fort Fisher, which reopened in 2002 after a nearly two-year-long expansion project that tripled its size, isn't just randomly taking the state's natural resources.

Aquarium Assistant Director Paul Barrington said Fort Fisher works closely with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, which manages Holly Shelter, to make sure it isn't stressing the local environment or gathering sensitive species without official permission.

"We try to practice selective collecting, only taking what the environment can support," he said. "We don't want to damage that which we're trying to educate the public about the need to conserve."

That was evident around one of the first ponds the small group stopped at early Wednesday morning.

"There are probably 500 flytraps within 30 feet of where I am right now," said Keith Farmer, a technician at Fort Fisher and the aquarium's Holly Shelter expert, as he has traipsed around the gamelands for nearly four decades.

Also drawing the attention of Fort Fisher Horticulturist Melanie Doyle were the yellow pitcher plants, which were thriving around the seasonal pond.

Within an hour, the small group had collected several bucket-loads of pitcher plants, Venus' flytraps and sun-dews, another indigenous insect-eating plant.

"These are some of the signature plants found in these habitats," Barrington said. "And of course the carnivorous plants are a popular topic of interest with our visitors."

Also along on Wednesday's collection trip was Michael Thomason, horticulturist with the S.C.Aquarium.

The Charleston, S.C., aquarium and Fort Fisher have developed a strong collaborative relationship, and the two institutions often combine resources on collection trips or trade excess animals or plants to lessen the need of taking them from the wild.

Thomason said he was especially interested in gathering some flytraps, the small carnivorous plant with the bigger-than-life reputation that's only found within about 70 miles of Wilmington.

"I don't know of another place where we can do this, and that's what makes Holly Shelter so special," he said as he scoured the thick wire grass for the diminutive flytraps. "This is a real treasure you guys have right in your backyard."