THE LAST STAND OF THE - GRASP
THE LAST STAND OF THE - GRASP
THE LAST STAND OF THE - GRASP
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INTERVIEW<br />
“If we can protect the gorilla,<br />
we can protect the forest”<br />
Dr. Melanie Stiassny<br />
Curator of Fishes at the American Museum of<br />
Natural History in New York<br />
I study fish, and the Congo River is the richest place for fishes<br />
in all of Africa; and I study a particular part – the lower Congo<br />
from Pool Malebo down to the Atlantic Ocean where rapids<br />
have generated the most extraordinary species diversity. Down<br />
here, in this part of Congo, there have never been gorillas, and<br />
certainly never will be gorillas, but the fish, in a very strange<br />
way, totally depend on the gorillas, because the fish depend on<br />
the forest … Whatever happens on land ultimately ends up in<br />
the river, and then it ends up going out to sea. So there is this<br />
great chain of connection between the great forests of central<br />
Africa, where the gorillas live, and the rivers of Africa, and ultimately<br />
the coasts and the inshore marine life of Africa where<br />
the inshore marine fishery is so important for feeding the people.<br />
You are going to lose that too. So for me, the gorilla, apart<br />
from being just the most gorgeous, wonderful animal and our<br />
very close relative, is, if you like, protecting the forest. If we<br />
can protect the gorilla, we can protect the forest. If we protect<br />
the forest, we can protect the rivers. If we protect the rivers, we<br />
can protect the fish. And if we protect all of that, we protect the<br />
people. So it’s all kind of wound in together and as an ichthyologist,<br />
I totally support saving the gorillas, for the fish, for the<br />
people, for everything.<br />
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