Wintner - Neptune speaks

NEPTUNE SPEAKS Copyright 2012 by Robert Wintner All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018. Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or info@skyhorsepublishing.com.

Skyhorse and Skyhorse Publishing are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation. Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file. ISBN: 978-1-62087-294-9 Printed in China on FSC paper.

Thanks to the waterdogs and gillbreathers of Maui, Tahiti, Fiji, Palau, the Great Reef, the Virgins and on around, whose minds and hearts share one reef love. Special thanks to Anita, Keith, Joan and Lulu for logistical coordination and support. For whatever it takes in spirit, politics and getting the word out, thanks to George P, Peter R, Rene, Keiko, Inga, Teresa T, Wayne N, Kai N, Brenda F and all the troops digging in to save reef critters around the world, keeping wildlife in the wild, safe and free from glass enclosures and those who would put them there.

For the sun & the moon & my dog Lulu

N eptune Speaks for wilderness values. The indomitable spirit is azure clear on pristine reefs, or it rages in heavy weather. Neptune loves fish in abundance but scoffs at sustainability and best management practices. Who do they think they are, these self-proclaimed stewards of Neptunes clan who would put ocean communities on life support to ensure cash flow? Measured survival falls short of optimal balance. Wilderness abides by no extraction. Indigenous peoples may participate in the food chain, but commercial extraction is a compromise to wilderness, a risk calculated for profit.

Reef survival becomes a by-catch, maybe, with the end of abundance a certainty. They cant. Lantern Toby, South Maui Examples sadly abound, yet we gain momentum in our daunting return to grace. Neptune Speaks to the peril of trafficking in wildlife for the pet trade. Why are colorful reef fish still taken in Hawaii with no limit on the catch, no limit on the number of catchers and no constraint on rare, endemic or vanishing species? Because the trade makes big moneyand spends it on conservation organizations who green-wash the trade. These outfits want your $upport to help with $u$tainability.

You know them by their junk mail. Just as missionaries saved the heathen through resource allocation, some nonprofits preach redemption through donation and sustainable trade. With directors directly vested in land development, banking, resource extraction and THE AQUARIUM TRADE, these ocean evangelicals blow green smoke up the collective anus. Moolah greenies beg the question: How can vested interests determine whats best for wilderness? Neptune Speaks through his minions of the deep, gill breathers sharing insight with those who will see, hear and feel what is going on. Neptune Speaks truth to data spun shamefully for personal gain. That is, truth expounded herein by a colorful chorus in a singular refrain.

Harmony resides in wilderness. Wilderness is wild, with God-given abundance that no human person should put asunder. Humanity, curb thyself. Hawaii, stop the aquarium trade from stealing your reef wildlife. Endemic species are found nowhere else. Relic species are endemics with no other species even similar.

The blueline butterfly on page 4 is a Hawaii relic, extremely rare and vanishing. The Hawaii Department of Land & Natural Resources says the blueline butterfly is experiencing a 100% decline on major reef segments of the Kona Coast. DLNR calls them a species of concern, because we cant say why theyre disappearing. The DLNR director is a former aquarium hunter. He resists a ban on the aquarium trade. The blueline butterfly is for sale on-line for $120.

Shame on the State of Hawaii and those who plunder Hawaii reefs. As long as the venal scourge persists like a rash, we will reach and scratch. Not every crime against nature is brought to justice, but few victims get more support from humans than reef wildlife do. Not all my friends are fish, though my dance card leans in that direction, which may be another story with more Rorschach analysis. The octopus ink to the left reminds me of a mermaids bomble. Does that make me unstable? Or worse: mean-spirited? Things get murky on the psychiatric level.

Some humans test lower than wildlife on compassion and a sense of balance. Aquarium collectors seem devoid of these fundamentals, rationalizing their vile extraction as necessary, convenient and harmless. If $u$tainability is your hue and cry, if you lie, spin data and oppress reefs for money, you a ho. You justify being a ho by denying truth that is self-evident to the rest of society. I, Snorkel Bobm unloved by the aquarium trade. They want to make me the issue, to distract from the indisputable fact of their reef-killing extraction.

I am called the anti-Christ, and Snorkel Bob Round Pantsthe president of Kona Aquarium Scourge called me, Snorkel Bob, an eco-terrorist just before Willie Kaupiko caught him reef raiding way inside the no-take zone at Milolii, the last working fishing village in Hawaii. Willie caught him AGAIN 3 weeks later. The issue is crime against nature. The aquarium trade is devoid of aloha. I too have cast a few stones, comparing aquarium traders to the hapless fellows on Predator Raw who hang their heads when informed that their wicked appetite for a little brown round is now being broadcast on national TV. Hey. Hey.

Im not a gerbil. Im a reporter for MSNBC! A dwarf moray eel is 7 full grown. These colorful, spritely critters favor tiny burrows in current, because home delivery is the better part of valor with predators around. Ive seen aquarium collectors pull up to a dock with holding tanks full of wildlife for the pet trade. They shun observation, like the guys on Predator RawIm just saying. One aquarium-trade reporter complained of no balanced dialogue on a ban in Hawaii.

An aquarium magazine said I, Snorkel Bobm to blame. Said I, Snorkel Bob: Balanced dialogue? On one side you have 99.7% of the people of Hawaii. Lets call that side a very big, shaggy dog. On the other side you have a handful of collectorswell call them the fleas on the shaggy dogs ass. Youre suggesting that a big shaggy dog engage the fleas on his ass to determine just how much longer and how much blood those fleas will be allowed to suck. The problem is: no self-respecting dog will engage the fleas on his ass in any kind of dialogue.

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