© Antonio Martínez Hernández
During the autumn months, we did not publish much news on our blog, but this does not mean that we did not spread information about the uniqueness and threat of Sulawesi lakes and their inhabitants. In addition to long-term work on publications, we were active at various conferences. Several of them were on a national scale and we talked about the activities of Sulawesi Keepers with representatives of zoos or with teachers. However, we also visited three more significant meetings that we would like to mention.
Annual conference of the European Union of Aquarium Curators (Rotterdam, Netherlands, 17.-20.9.2024)
The EUAC organization supported our expeditions to Sulawesi in 2024, more specifically the exploration of lakes Poso, Matano and Towuti using an underwater drone (we published details here). It is therefore not surprising that Markéta, who is a member of the EUAC, personally informed her colleagues about the development in the form of a presentation entitled “Underwater exploration of Sulawesi lakes – with and for a wider audience”. A significant number of aquarium curators work exclusively with marine species, so meeting the freshwater fauna of Sulawesi is very surprising and interesting for them. We have hopefully gained further allies for conservation breeding and other work for the benefit of snails, shrimps & co.
Annual meeting of the Arbeitskreis Wirbellose in Binnengewässern e.V. (Leipzig, Germany, 26.10.2024)
The meeting of (mostly German) freshwater invertebrate breeders, who are our important partners, was visited by Iqram. AKWB organized an event with a very friendly atmosphere, which also included a guided tour of the aquarium exhibition and behind-the-scenes facilities of the Leipzig Zoo. Iqram gave a presentation entitled “News from Sulawesi (Keepers)”. In it, he summarized our activities since the time when another of our members, Jiří Patoka, spoke at the AKWB event (in 2022). The participants asked about our conservation breeding program – it is clear that this topic is of great interest to the general aquarium public, and we see it as an impulse for further diligent development of this part of our activities.
International Aquarium Congress (Guadalajara, Mexico, 27-31.10.2024)
Every three years, experts from public aquariums and zoos around the world meet at this event to exchange knowledge about aquatic animal husbandry, technologies, work with visitors – but recently, increasingly also about the conservation projects in which they participate. As a representative of Ostrava Zoo and Sulawesi Keepers, Markéta presented a paper to three hundred participants entitled “Multifaceted initiative to save a freshwater biodiversity hotspot from the other side of the globe” – although the title sounds complicated, it was easy to show the uniqueness of the Sulawesi lakes and the need to protect them. After the presentation, representatives of several institutions said they would like to cooperate in some way. Hopefully, this will help us gain more support for our activities – it is far from just about finances, every helping hand is very useful to us!
Markéta Rejlková & Muhammad Iqram
