Zebras and Belo Monte
Posted: 21 Jul 2014, 16:00
We all know that zebras have not been permitted to export from Brazil for a long time. Despite this, when the demand (and prices) shot up over the past 7 or so years, finding wild caught zebras for sale had also been increasingly easy. Recently I have seen almost no listings for wild imports. Since this is the dry season and prime illegal collecting time for these fish, I am wondering why they appear not to be showing up.
It seems to me there are only a few reasonable explanations for this. The first would be that the authorities in Brazil have finally managed to figure out how to stop the illegal trade. Somehow I don't think this is the case. More likely would be activities related to the dam project have made it more difficult for the collectors to work unseen. After all, between the project and all the on site protests, it may just not be possible to collect without getting spotted.
The final possible reason is the one about which I am most concerned. That would be that the work on the project has already impacted the wild populations. Between the massive amounts of things flowing downstream from the project and the disruption to the free passage of water though the river system, is it possible the wild populations have already been negatively affected. Have things already reached the critical stage in terms of these fish?
Given that some members here are actually down there, I wonder if they could provide some feedback on this. It there any reasonable evidence that zebras, or any other Xingu species, are under threat? Or am I just worried without justification?
It seems to me there are only a few reasonable explanations for this. The first would be that the authorities in Brazil have finally managed to figure out how to stop the illegal trade. Somehow I don't think this is the case. More likely would be activities related to the dam project have made it more difficult for the collectors to work unseen. After all, between the project and all the on site protests, it may just not be possible to collect without getting spotted.
The final possible reason is the one about which I am most concerned. That would be that the work on the project has already impacted the wild populations. Between the massive amounts of things flowing downstream from the project and the disruption to the free passage of water though the river system, is it possible the wild populations have already been negatively affected. Have things already reached the critical stage in terms of these fish?
Given that some members here are actually down there, I wonder if they could provide some feedback on this. It there any reasonable evidence that zebras, or any other Xingu species, are under threat? Or am I just worried without justification?