Fwd: RE: MIAMI BLUE BUTTERFLY RESTORATION PROJECT

[Andrew Warren]

Anyone seriously interested in details on how to obtain a collecting
permit in Mexico should write me a private message.  My first collecting
permit, many years ago, cost me US$700 for a year-long permit that I
received 7 months into the year!  This, on top of about 30 pages
of paperwork and official letters.  Applications in future years
went through much more smootly and faster.  
However, the process has changed
dramatically since then.  Currently the only requirement to obtain a
Mexican collecting permit is that you be involved in an
inter-institutional collaborative research project with Mexican
researchers.  There is no longer any annual fee (thankfully), but research
must be carefully coordinated with Mexican colleagues.  So the biggest
problem facing North American Lepidopterists wishing to collect in Mexico
is now the scarcity of Mexican Lepidopterists with institutional
affiliations, and the scarcity of
American Lepidopterists who speak Spanish and have an institutional
affiliations.  (I communicate in Spanish with
my colleagues at UNAM). But even with the old system, I eventually did
obtain my permits, and it was never economically or politically impossible
to do (although not always timely).  It just took a lot of effort.      

If you did not care about Mexican laws, it would be perfectly reasonable
to send collected material to museums outside of the United States so that
it could be studied (assuming those Museums did not care about the laws
either).  It would certainly be easier than trying to donate it to a US
museum.  A better alternative to those without a permit would be to
donate collected specimens to a MEXICAN collection , where they could
still be examined in the future and would help research on that nation's
butterflies in the mean time.  You might even form a collaborative
relationship in
the process and find yourself with a collecting permit.  Despite the laws
in the US, thousands of Mexican butterfly
specimens are collected every year by non-permitted collectors from
England, Germany, Japan, etc.  Mexico has been exploited for its
Lepidoptera since before Godman & Salvin; the biggest collections of
Mexican butteflies have ended up in the US museums.  Material taken by
commercial collectors from overseas is rarely used in faunal or systematic
studies.  Less than 1% of the types of endemic Mexican butterfly species
are in Mexican collections. 
I am confident that if any of you
approached the curators of a Mexican collection with a donation of Mexican
specimens, they would not even ask if they were collected under the
authority of a permit- they would just be happy to have the material.   

Best,

Andy

On Thu, 31 Jan 2002, Chris J. Durden wrote:

> 
> >Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 11:30:38 -0600
> >To: "Grkovich, Alex" <agrkovich at tmpeng.com>
> >From: "Chris J. Durden" <drdn at mail.utexas.edu>
> >Subject: RE: MIAMI BLUE BUTTERFLY RESTORATION PROJECT
> >
> >    Perhaps someone (like Andy Warren) who has done recent fieldwork in 
> > Mexico can fill us in on the current situation regarding what permits are 
> > needed, how to get them, and if it is economically and politically 
> > possible to fulfill these requirements in a timely fashion.
> >    I have yet to meet an American researcher (biological) who has all the 
> > requirements fulfilled to the letter, as required by our USFWS 
> > enforcement officers in enforcing the Lacey Act of 1911, Revision of 1981.
> >    For my own part, since retirement, I have taken a break from 
> > collecting in Mexico. Ever since I was visited (fall of 1993) at home 
> > (where I keep no collection) by enforcement agents of USFWS and reminded 
> > of their powers of seizure, I have not collected in Mexico. Perhaps when 
> > I do resume collecting in that beautiful and fascinating country of warm 
> > friendly people, I may mail my specimens to researchers in countries 
> > other than the USA. Then I can visit my foreign friends to work on my 
> > specimens in their collections.
> >    I think we suffer at present from too much of a regulatory mindset. I 
> > think we have "shot ourselves in the foot".
> >................Chris Durden
> >
> >At 07:59 AM 1/31/2002 -0500, you wrote:
> >>Chris, What is the situation in Mexico?
> >>    Alex
> >>
> >> > -----Original Message-----
> >> > From: Chris J. Durden [SMTP:drdn at mail.utexas.edu]
> >> > Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2002 11:39 PM
> >> > To:   agrkovich at tmpeng.com
> >> > Subject:      RE: MIAMI BLUE BUTTERFLY RESTORATION PROJECT
> >> >
> >> > Alan,
> >> >     I agree. Some states are worse than others, but none are yet as bad as
> >> >
> >> > Mexico or Germany. The dead horse needs more beating until the smell
> >> > prompts some action by reasonable people.
> >> > ..................Chris
> >> >
> 
> 
> 
>  
>  ------------------------------------------------------------ 
> 
>    For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:
> 
>    http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl 
>  
> 
> 


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

   For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:

   http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl