Debelius Angel collecting restrictions?

[Blue Ring Sting]

Hi All

I love my angelfish but I do see that there are so many restrictions on the collections of certain ones.

I wanted to find out if anyone knows if there are any restrictions to collect the Debelius Angelfish? I wanted to go on holiday to Mauritius in the next few months, closer to the end of the year.

Whilst there I wanted to know if I will be able to collect a Debelius? I am aware that they are at depths between 48 - 90 m which is not the problem, I think I will need to take my own equipment with though after speaking to a few dive centres they are asking astronomical amounts per day.

After doing some research with the locals they have told me where to find these beauts but I am not sure if I am able to take them out and what permits are required to do so? I have emailed the local Mauritian exporter to find out if they can arrange the permits and I will do the dive but no response.

Anyone that has some more information please let me know.

 

[WayneL333]

Sorry I can't help you out with any info, but if you're ultimately successful, can you collect me one or two too and ship them to me??? If you do, I'll pay for your equipment rental

 

[Yurivd]

It is illegal to collect fish in mauritius there are only 4 collecting permits
The govermint will not issue you a permit

 

[Blue Ring Sting]

Lol. Wayne I will defintely let you know as soon as I find out if there is anyway around it or if the local exporters with collecting permits will be willing to work with me. The equipment hire and boat charter for a day is about $ 2000 for 4 people.

I have been doing research about doing the collection but the guys have been very reluctant to help if I mention collecting them. I emailed Meneeka to find out if they would be interested in working together and no response. The charter will take me to where they are found but as far as collecting goes we need the permit which seems difficult to impossible to obtain. Yuri, I got some good news regarding the other angelfish we were previously talking about.

 

[ingtar_shinowa]

If you figure out a legal way to do it, get me a 2-4" gem and ill throw you a McKinly and a Cleavland

 

[Vili_Shark]

They wont let you collect in Mauritius.

One of the largest importers in EU opened a station there,invested a lot of money and closed it cause no collection permits.
The system was up and running.

 

[Blue Ring Sting]

Ingtar, Gems are found here in South Africa. Sizing sometimes are crazy big like 15 - 18 cm.

That seems to be the case. I have contacted the authorities but they are very strict. The only other option is to work with one of the local collectors but they don't seem to be keen. We will probably do the dive anyway, 2 of the guys going with are rebreather divers who did a dive with the Coelecanth at 113 m. So who knows what they will find at those depths.

 

[Vili_Shark]

Ingtar, Gems are found here in South Africa. Sizing sometimes are crazy big like 15 - 18 cm.

That seems to be the case. I have contacted the authorities but they are very strict. The only other option is to work with one of the local collectors but they don't seem to be keen. We will probably do the dive anyway, 2 of the guys going with are rebreather divers who did a dive with the Coelecanth at 113 m. So who knows what they will find at those depths.

There are many re breather divers in the world.
Not many rebreather fish collectors.

Centropyge spp are very hard fish to collect if you do not know how to collect fish, now add the depth problem into this.

 

[Blue Ring Sting]

Vili Shark, I know exactly what you mean. Rebreather collectors can be counted on maybe 1 or both hands. Last time I checked it was Rufus, Richard, Forrest and Chip. I showed the rebreather bud of mine the price on fish like the Peppermint, Narcosis and Masked Angelfish and he couldn't believe it. He understands the logistics of deep sea diving better than I do and said something like that could be viable if you can catch them. I said to him we must make something happen.

I completely agree. He has been down at those depths but has no idea how to net a fish or decompress them. I collect fish myself but I said to him a lot more time goes into catching and bringing the fish up. I did tell him if he can catch and bring the fish up alive, his services in this industry will be golden. At the moment he does deep dives for fun, when I mentioned he can make money off it, he said that's a extra bonus!

 

[evolved]

The only other option is to work with one of the local collectors but they don't seem to be keen.

But really, why would they be? Not only is it their family's history, but they also hold all the strings to the market share.

 

[Blue Ring Sting]

The local collectors run it as a business. If they can allow me and my guys to do a dive with them, we can always split the catch. The way I see it at the moment is they want the fish and we can collect it for them. They have it on there list with no pricing. I am not sure on the current diving situation, maybe there are no deep sea divers that are able to collect them? I personally don't know.

I would also like to have a go at the Reunion Angelfish which is at 60 - 90 m. But I do understand what you mean.

 

[evolved]

As do I understand your point too, but fortunately cultural norms aren't universal.

 

[Blue Ring Sting]

Yeah that I do agree on. But who knows, if it doesn't work out I will try Palau or the Cook Islands but then again there can be more problems with regards to permits, etc.