Fond för bevarandet av Malawicikliderna

[Kjell Fohrman]

Donationer har varit stängda ett tag men är nu öppna igen. Fick detta brev från Ad:

I had temporarily suspended the donate button of the Stuart M. Grant Fund because there were problems finding a new owner for the facilities on Maleri Islands. In the meantime we have found a new owner who is willing and ready to continue to produce and place the anti netting devices. I'll be in Malawi in May to meet with the new team and will report on the developments in June when I've returned. I have just reinstated the donate button and I thank you already in advance for your generosity.

Ja och Ad Konings kommer ju till Ciklidstämman i april och då kan vi ju passa på att fråga honom om hur det hela har fungerat med AND-projektet

[Kjell Fohrman]

Fick detta mail från Ad Konings

Dear friends,
This is the first update since a long time of absence. Last year we had a bit of a setback regarding the production and placements of the ANDs, because Alan had to sell his lodge on the Maleri Islands. The ANDs were made ready there and also the rocks of the island served as anchors for the net busters. The good news is that the new owners, Jimmy and Chris Giannakis, are keen to continue Alan’s work and will continue to place the ANDs. I’m very grateful to Alan for all his excellent work and wish him luck with his new venture in southern Malawi.
Since my visit to the islands last September I wanted to improve some details of the contraptions, i.e. to add better floating material inside the AND because I found some of them that were leak and then became too heavy and sank to the bottom (where they are useless). My first idea was to replace the three plastic water bottles (empty) inside with floating polypropylene balls but I expected to get a large bag of balls for my $100 but that turned out to be a small box. Way too expensive. So now I’m thinking of a PVC tube inside with glued caps on either end and hope that this gives the AND enough buoyancy to keep it up when leak. Stuff in Africa takes time, as you are well aware off. In mid May I’ll be in Malawi and will meet the new owners of the lodge and we will make a “plan de attack”. We have about $12,000 at Pennstate waiting for things to get rolling again in Malawi. Jimmy and Chris also took over the account of the Maleri Island Community Trust which was used to transfer fund to from the US. We are back in business of protecting Malawi cichlids! Thank you again for your concern and your assistance. Enjoy your cichlids!
Ad

[admin]

Detta kom efter jag betalade in denna månaden. Jag har valt att betala in 20$ varje månad så känns det inte lika mycket.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

thank you again for your continued donation. I'm just back from the Congo
but am still a few days in Burundi. I have great news for the ANDs which I
will write about next week when I'm back home. Thanks again!

[Kjell Fohrman]

Fick just ett mail från Ad Konings om AND-projektet och det var positiva nyheter

Dear defender of Malawi cichlids!
With the sale of the Maleri Island concession to Dimitri (Jimmy) and Chris Giannakis of Farmers World, Malawi, we were lucky to have engaging new owners who are anxious to protect Malawi fish. About a month ago I was in Malawi and met twice with Dimitri who also had the same idea as I had: to make much more durable ANDs that would function easily 10, perhaps more than 25 years in the lake. When I inspected a few of the ANDs last year at Nakantenga Island I was disappointed to see how quickly they had deteriorated. Worse, local fishermen now were trying their nets again as they noticed that many of the ANDs were either lost or, more likely, had sunk to the bottom where they are ineffective. We decided to construct a new type of AND from thick-walled PVC and stainless steel. PVC is locally available and Dimitri has made already a prototype using a 60 cm long pipe with a diameter of 10 cm. Both ends have glued-on caps and two stainless steel collars. The top collar has 4 hooks, to catch the nets, and the bottom collar has two eyelets to tie the anchor line (4 mm stainless steel cable). The whole construction with up to 10 m anchor cable has plenty of buoyancy so we will not see slowly sinking ANDs anymore. The PVC is blue (one of the two colors available in Malawi) which is impossible to see from a boat when the ANDs are tied up about 5 m below the surface.

A second lucky strike we got when Leon du Plessis, a dive instructor who runs a dive school in Senga Bay (Wamwai), offered to place the ANDs. He suggested that, instead of hauling rocks from the island, drill holes, tie the AND, and then haul the whole contraption to its final resting site, the holes should be drilled underwater with a pneumatic drill. If everything goes to plan he will have divers who are in need of 50-60 dives for their certification as dive master, 30-40 dives of which are just to build up experience and not part of the training. During such non-training dives he will have these divers drill holes in the rocks and anchor the ANDs at specific places around the island. We found out that you can run a pneumatic drill from a SCUBA tank and the idea is that a diver goes down with a double tank of which one is used to drill 1-2 holes in a rock. A stainless steel lug bolt is inserted in the rock and the anchor cable of the AND attached. I have bought already the drill but will try it out at home if all works underwater before I send it off to Malawi.

Anxious to do more for the environment Leon also offered to start replanting the sandy area along the east coast of the main island. Over the years beach seines (illegal on the islands of course) have taken out all vegetation. On the other side of the island there are still a few clumps of Vallisneria and from there he is going to replant Bata Bay, as the small bay along the east coast is called. Before putting any new plants in he is going to place some large rocks strategically on the sandy bottom so that nets cannot be moved over the plants. This work he will start first as we are in the process of getting quotes on the stainless steel material for the ANDs in South Africa and then the contraptions have to be welded and put together.

In cooperation with Dimitri, Leon is planning a minimum-impact dive camp on the main island (the lodge is on Nankoma, the second largest island of the group) near Bata Bay. To have a camp site right there where work is needed will be beneficial to the project and volunteers can also stay at this camp on Maleri Island.

For almost 18 months the project had been in limbo during which local fishermen realized that fishing was at some places again possible. Since Parks found that something had to be done in the interim they recently installed a team of guards (paid by Parks & Wildlife) with a boat at the islands. We decided to also support these men by providing fuel so that they can continue to make their daily inspection rounds. In this way we are going to protect the cichlids with a two-pronged approach and when Leon will be successful in replanting Bata Bay also that will drastically increase the nursery grounds for many utaka found at the Maleri islands. Pennstate has more than $12,000 ready to be sent to Malawi and these funds will go towards the purchase of the material necessary to make 200 stainless steel ANDs.

It starts to look good for Malawi cichlids! Expect some photos and video clips this fall!
Enjoy your cichlids!
Ad

[admin]

Skänkt lite pengar igen. Tror det är viktigt att bevara artrikedom till våra barn och framtiden

[admin]

Då var det lite mer pengar insatta till fonden. Skänk lite du med.

[VisualDarkness]

Fick en mindre lön idag så 20$ till projektet.

[Kjell Fohrman]

Trevligt - Christian och Visualdarkness.

Tror säkert att vi kommer att få en urförlig rapport om detta projekt av Ad Konings under "Akvariehelgen" i vår när Ad kommer hit

[admin]

Pyntade in 20 dollars igår. Går superlätt via PayPal

Fick detta från Ad:


Dear friend of Malawi cichlids!

This is an update on the Stuart M. Grant Cichlid Conservation Fund. You
can read this online which has also two video clips embedded by going to

http://cichlidpress.com/smgfund/smgfund19.html

At the FOTAS/CARES meeting (Nov. 4-6, 2011) in San Antonio, Texas, I was
dumbfounded and excited by Melanie Stiassny’s presentation of her work on
the Congo River. She discussed mainly the fish fauna of the Lower Congo, a
stretch of a little more than 200 km but in which she found already 332
different species of fish of which more than 90 are endemic to this part of
the mighty Congo! A staggering number if you compare that with other rivers
in Africa. It also drove home the message that we still know so little
about the biodiversity of vast areas of Africa. And that at a time when
governments, with their eyes on the money, make broad-ranging decisions on
the future of these areas without knowing what is really at stake. Of
course, the quality of life and the sustainability of the area’s
biodiversity rarely play a role in such decision making. This was also
evident in Paul Loiselle’s presentation on the state of fish diversity on a
global scale and how it suffers from industrialization and burgeoning human
encroachment on freshwater habitats.

While I presented the latest developments of the ANDs in Lake Malawi
National Park, Rick Borstein of the Greater Chicago Cichlid Association,
asked what the total sum is that is needed to protect the Maleri Islands
and parts of the Cape Maclear area with ANDs. I didn’t have the answer
ready, but with the price of the new ANDs at about $50 each and estimating
that about 2000 of these are needed to cover the shorelines of the various
islands, I offered the sum of $100,000. This is far from an exorbitant
amount, and afterwards Lawrence Kent of the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, suggested that I should be able to write a grant application
and submit it to one of the big environmental organizations, because
$100,000 is considered small change by his and many other organizations. I
thought about his suggestion, but I have other factors to contemplate in
our quest to save the Malawi cichlids. First of all, I’m 100% sure that we
aquarists can come up with this amount and that we are in time to protect
the majority of the Malawi species that are endemic to park waters.
Secondly, imagine the immense satisfaction by all who have participated in
the program ten years from now when all is set and done, and when we are
enjoying the fruits of our efforts. Just consider the Babes In The Cichlid
Hobby (fondly translated by my friend Marco Arroyo as “Las Putas”),
Caroline Estes, Pam Chin, and Pam Marsh, who have worked very hard at every
convention, traveling on their own dime, auctioning fish paraphernalia that
they have begged, stolen (hope not), or borrowed from their friends, and
entertaining us as well. In the last four years they were able, besides all
the other needed causes they work for, to donate $6,500 to the fund!
Imagine their satisfaction when they see that all is well in the Lake
Malawi National Park. I don’t want to steal their and your happiness by a
possible “take over” of big money. The placing of the ANDs is a slow
process and I’m confident that we can keep pace with donations and spending
costs.

A propos the placing of the ANDs, I received great news from Leon du
Plessis, who has now been established (with his wife Ingrid) as manager of
the lodge on Nankoma Island, that he was able to drill two holes in a rock
underwater with a single SCUBA tank with the pneumatic drills that I had
sent last summer. See a little video clip online. He now also has the right
accommodation for those of you who want to learn to SCUBA dive or who want
to become master diver. Those in the latter group are also involved in
helping Leon to place the ANDs. In August 2011 Pennstate transferred about
$6000 from our fund to South Africa to purchase the first batch of
stainless steel (good for 200 ANDs) which has arrived in Malawi. Dimitri is
now preparing the new design ANDs which will soon be available to be
employed in the lake.

Critics of CARES and of any other captive breeding programs uphold the
notion that a species’ genetic diversity is quickly lost because of
inbreeding and can never replace the lost diversity of the original
population, and also that reintroduction of captive-raised fish into the
original habitat has never been achieved successfully. Well, the last
statement is incorrect as successful fish reintroductions have been
completed in Europe as well as in the US. I’m not aware of any such efforts
with cichlids but I don’t see any problem in that. The fact that wild
caught cichlids can quickly adapt to the artificial environment of aquaria,
the reverse should pose no problem either. We have, unfortunately, proof of
the cichlids’ ability to introduction in Lake Malawi (and also in Lake
Tanganyika) where over the years cichlids have been introduced at various
places by collectors of ornamental fish.
Many rock-dwelling cichlids stay their entire lives within hundred meters
of their place of birth and in principle form relatively small breeding
groups within the population. The genetic diversity of such local groups is
not necessarily larger than that of a captive breeding group. For several
of the species kept in captive breeding programs their genetic diversity is
millions of times higher than that of their wild counterparts because there
are no wild counterparts; these species are extinct in the wild!
Reintroduction may not copy exactly the genetic makeup of the original
population, but it is a lot closer to the real thing than no fish at all.
We have a chance to prove that this works and we may even be able to
involve Malawian students in the project. Along with the tremendous
over-fishing and species loss that is taking place in Lake Malawi, the
demise of a few cichlid species is to blame to unscrupulous collectors;
case in point: Pseudotropheus saulosi. This species is endemic to Taiwanee
Reef which is a large reef, but most of it is in water deeper than 80
meters. The area where P. saulosi lives, where they find the algae they
feed on, is rather small, like the size of a quarter football field. It
doesn’t need a lot of imagination to see that the population of any endemic
cichlid at the reef is vulnerable to over-fishing. Till about ten years ago
P. saulosi occurred in sometimes large schools of hundreds of individuals
that wandered through the habitat foraging from the biocover on the rocks.
During the last decade several collectors of ornamental fish have
concentrated on catching large numbers of P. saulosi and as a result the
species is becoming scarce. When I visited the reef in August 2010 there
were only a few specimens to be seen. The large boulders you see in the
video clip posted online used to be covered with hundreds of P. saulosi but
in 2010 there were only three individuals on this rock and many boulders
had none at all.


The program I envision should consist of the following stages:
1. Local government should forbid the collection of any rock-dwelling
cichlid (P. saulosi and Protomelas sp. ‘steveni taiwan’) at Taiwanee Reef.
This does not affect the local fishermen who collect utaka in the area. I
also understand that there would hardly be any enforcement possible apart
from inspecting what fishes are exported from Malawi.
2. A survey of the extant population of P. saulosi in the upper 20 meters
of the reef (they are very rare in deeper areas) should indicate how many
can be collected for a captive breeding program. Since I don’t expect a
large genetic diversity 25 females would be sufficient to guarantee a say
95% of the existing diversity.
3. A small fin clip of the live fishes (breeders) would be taken (anal fin
of females and tip dorsal fin of males) and the DNA analyzed to get an idea
of the diversity. The DNA typing can be done abroad.
4. Breeding groups are set up in Malawi to prevent legal problems when
importing live fish back into Malawi.
5. After one/two years, reintroductions can take place and monitored every
year thereafter. If, however, the fishing ban was effective, the species
could have (partly) recovered on their own account and reintroduction would
not be necessary.

This would be a simple project that shouldn’t cost much money to complete.
It would certainly emphasize the importance of the work others do by
maintaining endangered species in captivity. In the case of P. saulosi if
we wait any longer we may need to reintroduce the aquarium strains.
The FOTAS/CARES convention made one thing clear and that is that action is
needed now, when there are still opportunities. After all the years we have
enjoyed cichlids, Paul Loiselle said it best: “Folks …it’s payback time.”

Without your input and generosity many Malawi cichlid species will not be
there 20 years from now.
Enjoy your cichlids!
Ad

[admin]

En video från arbetet med AND

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AgqtLgOhAs

[admin]

Donera en liten peng direkt: http://www.cichlidpress.com/smgfund/smg-donate.html

[Kjell Fohrman]

Intressant läsning.
Och man skall uppenbarligen (förutom att skänka pengar till AND-projektet) definitivt inte köpa VF Pseudotropheus sauosi och egentligen bojkotta de affärer/grossister som säljer sådana

[källebacken]

Ursäkta en dum en men vad gör dom på filmen och varför.. ska skänka en peng snarast...

[malawijanne]

Jag lägger upp mailet på svenska, så att vi som inte är så haj på engelska fattar.Janne
Fick detta mail från Ad Konings

Kära vänner
Detta är den första uppdateringen sedan en lång tid av frånvaro. Förra året hade vi lite av ett bakslag när det gäller produktion och placeringar av och, eftersom Alan tvingades sälja sin lodge på Maleri öarna. Och gjordes klar det och även stenar av ön fungerade som ankare för the net busters. De goda nyheterna är att de nya ägarna, Jimmy och Chris Giannakis, vill gärna fortsätta Alans arbete och kommer att fortsätta att placera och. Jag är mycket tacksam mot Alan för hans utmärkta arbete och önskar honom lycka till i hans nya företag i södra Malawi.
Sedan mitt besök till öarna i september förra året som jag ville förbättra vissa detaljer om contraptions, dvs att lägga till bättre flytande material inne och eftersom jag hittade några av dem som var läckan och sedan blev alltför tung och sjönk till botten (där de är värdelösa). Min första idé var att ersätta de tre vatten plastflaskor (tom) inuti med flytande polypropen bollar men jag förväntas få en stor påse med bollar för min $100, men som visade sig vara en liten ruta. Sätt för dyrt. Med limmade matcher på antingen slutet och jag hoppas att detta ger och läcker tillräckligt flytkraft att hålla det när så nu tänker jag på ett PVC-rör inuti. Grejer i Afrika tar tid, som ni väl vet utanför. I mitten av maj I be i Malawi och kommer att uppfylla de nya ägarna av lodge och vi kommer att göra en "plan de attack". Vi har ca $12.000 på Pennstate väntar på att få rullande igen i Malawi. Jimmy och Chris övertog också hänsyn till den Maleri Ö gemenskapens Trust som användes för att överföra fonden från USA. Vi är tillbaka i verksamhet för att skydda Malawi Cichlider! Tack igen för din oro och din hjälp. Njut av din Cichlider!
Ad


malawi.forum24.se

[malawijanne]

Det förstod jag för ett par år sen att det skulle gå så med salusi, så därför har jag satsat på en grupp salusi, demasoni kommer att bli den nästa mbunas som kommer att komma i farozonen, om den inte redan har hamnat där.
Så visst är det bra att det finns folk som odlar ciklider.
Trots att det ur miljösynpunkt tydligen är helt värdelöst, eller vad tycker du Kjell, som alltid förespråkar VF.Janne


malawi.forum24.se

Intressant läsning.
Och man skall uppenbarligen (förutom att skänka pengar till AND-projektet) definitivt inte köpa VF Pseudotropheus sauosi och egentligen bojkotta de affärer/grossister som säljer sådana