ElephasMaximus
Well-Known Member
I've been designing a few hypothetical new zoos for New Zealand as a bit of a hobby, and it regularly sends me down rabbitholes regarding the import and keeping of exotic animals in this country. One of these rabbitholes got me thinking: where do New Zealand aquariums get their fish from? I'm more interested in conventional zoos rather than aquariums, so I haven't learned very much about how aquariums are run, but I've heard that they often just catch new fish directly from the ocean. If someone were to set up a new aquarium in NZ - say, the aquarium in Wellington that failed to get off the ground in the 2000s - would this be how they would get most of their stock?
One other thing I noticed was that there are very few exotic fish species on the approved import list, and of these only Sand Tiger Sharks and Antarctic fish have existing IHSs. I've assumed that this is mostly due to lack of interest, since the country's two main aquariums aren't very big and none of the zoos seem very interested in fish species. I visited Napier Aquarium last year, and while I liked their exotic fish displays it looks like they don't have any species that aren't included on the Ornamental Fish list, which can be imported by any private aquarist. This got me thinking: if NZ aquariums can catch their fish from the wild, would this extend all the way up to the Kermadec Islands? If either of our main aquariums wanted a new tropical/subtropical fish display, fish species from the Kermadecs could be a good way to obtain tropical species without having to lobby for expensive and time consuming import paperwork, and the resulting exhibit would have a NZ connection that, say, an Amazon or Great Barrier Reef exhibit wouldn't.
One other thing I noticed was that there are very few exotic fish species on the approved import list, and of these only Sand Tiger Sharks and Antarctic fish have existing IHSs. I've assumed that this is mostly due to lack of interest, since the country's two main aquariums aren't very big and none of the zoos seem very interested in fish species. I visited Napier Aquarium last year, and while I liked their exotic fish displays it looks like they don't have any species that aren't included on the Ornamental Fish list, which can be imported by any private aquarist. This got me thinking: if NZ aquariums can catch their fish from the wild, would this extend all the way up to the Kermadec Islands? If either of our main aquariums wanted a new tropical/subtropical fish display, fish species from the Kermadecs could be a good way to obtain tropical species without having to lobby for expensive and time consuming import paperwork, and the resulting exhibit would have a NZ connection that, say, an Amazon or Great Barrier Reef exhibit wouldn't.
