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Goldfish Art??


Gannet

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like this artist, I too am an artist. My next display is in a gallery in Wellington, and the subject is zebra plecs in many individual biotype tanks. the plecos shall then go to a breeding facility somewhere in NZ. No MAF interference.. nothing. its that easy :evil:

for those of you who did not pick up on the sarcasm. I am not an artist. I in fact have trouble drawing a straight line.

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So what about quarantine???

Or does that get thrown out the door because its art?

Someone should write a letter to John Key to complain. :roll:

Huge carbon footprint for arts sake.

Illegally importing live organisms

She could have at least bought in some madagascan lace plant for me. :wink:

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Aparently they lied. When MAF found out and asked about their quarantine plans, they realised they couldn't do what they said so the fish actually took off from Auckland, flew around there until they had been in the air the same length of time they would have if they had flown from Aus to NZ, then landed again :roll:

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I have received the following email from Lesley Patston (MAF) to clear up the issue.

I am a communications adviser with MAF Biosecurity New Zealand - you may recall we had some contact a while back when we had the situation with the GM danios.

I'm emailing now with regard to an item that appeared on TV3 news last night on an 'art work' whereby 70 goldfish, each in their own fishbowl, were supposedly flown to New Zealand from Australia. I want to assure fish enthusiasts and those in the fish importing business that the story - I gather to promote an art festival or event - was in fact an elaborate hoax.

I have heard that some in fish circles were concerned to see such an alleged importation, given that goldfish are not a permitted import.

Our investigators have been able to confirm that the story was filmed in a hangar at Auckland Airport. There were no charter flights that arrived at Auckland from Australia on Saturday afternoon as claimed in the story. The fish were apparently rented from a fish supplier in the Bay of Plenty and the biggest journey they would have taken were from there to Auckland and back - probably in a van! The fish are now back with their breeder and made no international flight.

MAF has spent some time today investigating this fully, as clearly such a breach of our Import Health Standard would have been of major concern to us.

I wonder if you might let your membership know through your communication channels that the story was a hoax?

Regards, Lesley

Lesley Patston | Senior Adviser – MAFBNZ Communications | Communications and Information Services Directorate

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry | Pastoral House | 25 The Terrace | PO Box 2526 | Wellington | New Zealand

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Glad it was nothing more than a hoax!

But something I don't understand, goldfish aren't allowed in New Zealand...ah, but people have them! What am I missing here :-? :roll:

Caper

You are allowed to keep them, but not allowed to import them.

I thjink it is a precaution to prevent Koi Carp from being accidentally sent through as common goldies.

HTH

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I'm not sure if the system for goldfish is still the same as it used to - but if it is then goldfish can still be legally imported.

Once imported they must remain permanently in quarantine. While in quarantine they may be bred and the young fish can be removed and sold. After some time period (not sure how long) the original imported fish must be destroyed.

As I said, I'm not sure if this is still current or if all the detail is correct but it goes something along these lines.

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A number of years ago I imported Goldfish but Maf made it so difficult I got them though the first 6 weeks then couldn't get any sense out of Maf so put the fish down and plonked them on the Maf guy's desk in a frozen lump and told him they were all there and he could count them when they thawed out.

Then it was 6 weeks quarantine in a quarantine building then they could be in ponds in a secure building or fenced and protected from other animals, birds and people etc. The offspring could be sold but the imports had to be kept for 4 years before selling.

I paid for 7 inspections in 6 weeks and could get no sense out of Maf about how many more inspections I would be paying for over the next 4 years so flagged it. The inspections cost a lot more than the goldfish.

As far as I am aware imports of goldfish were banned a while after that because of a disease (forget which one) which was discovered in imported goldfish in Australia and it was felt that it was a risk to trout and salmon in NZ. I understand that is still the case.

It is probable that people felt it was easier to breed the imports then destroy them and avoid more quarantine but continue breeding from the offspring.

We must protect our trout and salmon so they can control our native fish and prevent them from causing a population explosion.

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