[NHCOLL-L:3587] $2 Million for Naming Species

[Roberta Faul-Zeitler]

GREEN NEWS UPDATE - Sept 24, 2007

Auction to Name Fish Species Nets $2 Million for Conservation

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 22, 2007; A07

MONTE CARLO, Monaco, Sept. 20 -- An auction of rights to name 10 newly
discovered species of fish raised more than $2 million for conservation
efforts in eastern Indonesia on Thursday night, setting a record for an
event of its type.

The black-tie soiree, hosted by Prince Albert II and sponsored by
Conservation International and the Monaco-Asia Society, featured species
found last year in the Bird's Head Seascape, an area in the northwest corner
of Indonesian Papua. Prices for the naming rights ranged from $500,000 for a
Hemiscyllium shark from Cendrawasih Bay to $50,000 for the Pseudanthias
fairy basslet. The identities of the winning bidders, and the names they
chose, were not immediately disclosed.

The idea of selling new species' naming rights has gained popularity among
environmentalists. Two years ago, the Wildlife Conservation Society raised
$650,000 in a one-week Internet auction of a newly identified Bolivian
monkey, but the Blue Auction's $2,015,000 take was the most for a single
event.

The proceeds will fund initiatives such as a floating ranger station in the
partially protected Bird's Head Seascape and educational trips for the
region's children.

"Two million dollars is an enormous shot in the arm for the community that
lives in Raja Ampat," said Peter Seligmann, Conservation International's
chairman and chief executive. "It's going to provide them with the
opportunity for education, for patrolling, for the training of scientists."

Christie's International auctioneer Hugh Edmeades ran the bidding in
Monaco's Oceanographic Museum, a 97-year-old edifice perched hundreds of
feet above the sea. As he called out the opening bid to name a
Corythoichthys pipefish, Edmeades approached one bidder in a silky,
floor-length gown and prodded her to up the ante.

"Now, you promised me you would go to 60 [thousand]," he told her. When she
finally assented, Edmeades cried out, "Sixty thousand dollars! Well, you
won't regret it. Not tonight."

Prince Albert, whose foundation also benefited from Thursday's auction, said
the event underscored that the ocean contains new possibilities even as it
is under threat.

"It gets people focused on the fact that species are still being discovered,
yet there are some disappearing that we will never be able to name," he said
in an interview.

Bidders had to pledge that they would name the species after people rather
than corporate entities. Cherie Nursalim, who, along with her husband, Enki
Tan, helped organize the auction and successfully bid on several species for
themselves and a few friends, said she and Tan intended to name a fish after
their parents.

Apu Suharsono, who directs the research center for oceanography at the
Indonesian Institute of Sciences, said his government was trying to protect
the Bird's Head Seascape from overexploitation because it has such a variety
of habitat and marine species.

"It's very rich in diversity," he said of the region, which features nearly
1,300 identified species. "Everything is there." (END)

*************************************************
Roberta Faul-Zeitler
Green News Update
8904 Colesville Road
Silver Spring MD 20910 USA
Tel. (301) 565-0965
Email: faulzeitler at starpower.net