other arrests!

Mark Walker mwalker at aisvt.bfg.com
Tue Sep 23 09:14:07 EDT 1997


Doug wrote:

> That is not the criterion, and you know it. Quite honestly, all that Brazil
> really requires for permits, as far as I can see, is that you have a
> scientific reason for collecting, and that you agree to deposit any primary
> types in a Brazilian institution. 

I understand the problem from Brazil's standpoint, I really do.  It's my
standpoint that I'm arguing on behalf of, and there aren't many speaking on my
behalf.  You've mentioned:

This is not anti-collecting policy, it's
> anti-COMMERCIAL collecting policy, and anti-EXPLOITATION policy. 

I, too, am against commercialized exploitation of Leps and other fauna.  It is
very bad for my hobby.  But you haven't made an exception for non-exploitive or
non-commercial collecting of common species by amateur hobbyists like me.  Can
you explain?  Can you justify?

BTW, I hesitate to condemn _commercialization_ in general, since I buy nets and
pins and cases and other stuff, which a business such as BioQuip commercially
provides (thank goodness, I remember what it was like to make it all from
scratch).  If I knew that there would not be a market for bugs that are
threatened, I don't think that buying and selling would bother me at all.  But
there is a market for these - always some people who are willing to supply and
consume them.  As a result, it scares me away from this aspect of my hobby,
although my primary reason for not buying Leps is that I enjoy looking for them
so much.  Still, it seems to me that a butterfly collection (which ultimately
belongs in a museum) could be created and enjoyed for it's aesthetic value, and
not prized for it's economic value.  That is to say that an amateur collector
such as I would ideally have no other motive but to glory in the diversity of
creation - not to try and _complete_the_set_ or possess the _Mantle
_rookie_card_ (to move the analogy from postage stamps to baseball cards).

If that were the case, I suspect I would not be inclined to whine.

Mark Walker.




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