I think it’s fair to say that many people in the aquarium industry were eager for news out of Papua New Guinea. It’s probably been about a year (maybe even more) since any fish were shipped from the island nation’s developing marine ornamental fishery. With SEASMART and the PNG Government coming to legal blows, I had to fundamentally change battle plans in the Lightning Project since I could no longer expect any timely arrivals of broodstock options from PNG. Admittedly, I had given up hope that we’d ever see a viable fishery in PNG given that forward-looking statements implying that exports were to resume as early as February of this year obviously didn’t happen.
What does this mean for the Lightning Project? Well, it means that new PNG broodstock from Fishermen’s Island may be a reality in the near future (by end of the year). Based on the FOA rough guidelines I found last week, I know I need at least one more pair of PNG maroons just to ensure the minimum foundation population for a PNG lineage of captive breed PNG White Stripe Maroons. The best possible outcome? There could be more Lightning Maroons yet to come from the wild.
News is spreading fast, with multiple stories out there. I invite you to check ’em all out, and know that even more is already coming.
Ret Talbot’s article in the CORAL newsletter
ReefThread’s podcast
My article on ReefBuilders