NEMBA regulations stakeholder meeting:

A series of public stakeholder information meetings will be held on issues related to the NEMBA Draft Invasive and Alien Species Regulations on Thursday March 6 (09h00-15h30) in Pretoria.

Various groups have either requested time or been allocated slots during the day to address aspects of the draft regulations which are pertinent to their stakeholder group.

Date: Thursday 6 March, 2014
Time: 09:00-13:00 - Aquaculture

           13h30-14h30 - Game ranching

           14h30-15h30 - Pet Trade

Venue: South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI),

Education Centre, Pretoria National Botanical Gardens, 2 Cussonia Avenue, Brummeria, Pretoria

Any stakeholders from industry organisations, as well as any member of the public are welcome to attend. The meetings will be informal.  All representations and comments must be submitted in writing to the Department of Environmental Affairs.

Written submissions need to be emailed to NSishuba@environment.gov.za or posted to the Deputy Director-General, Environmental Programmes, Environmental Affairs, Attention: Dr Guy Preston, Private Bag X4390, Cape Town, 8001 or hand delivered to the Deputy Director-General, Environmental Programmes, Environmental Affairs, Attention: Dr Guy Preston, 14 Loop Street, Cape Town.

The deadline for submissions is 16h00 on Friday 14 March, 2014.

Please confirm your attendance at the stakeholder meeting on Thursday 6 March to:    Khathutshelo Nelukalo on  Knelukalo@environment.gov.za

http://www.invasives.org.za/item/583-nemba-regulations-stakeholder-meeting.html

APSA 2014 Aquascaping Competition Judges:

Marcelo Tonon Chiovatto- Brazil:

He placed 3rd in IAPLC 2013 and won with,the same scape in the AGA 2013 60L-120L Category, getting best of show and 1st place.

Cliff Hui - Hong Kong:

Owner of Green Concept in Hong Kong, member of CAU - Creative Aquascapers Union, 4th place IAPLC 2008 "Destiny".

Sean Jefferis:

ADA, Tropica and Anubia plants Distributor South Africa - www.theplantedtank.co.za

APSA Combined Judges:

Raymond Sowden

APSA Admin

Richard Shih

APSA Admin and owner of SA’s only online aquatic plant shop: www.BetterWeather.co.za 

http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2013/show57.html

http://www.apsa.co.za/board/index.php?topic=10097.0

Tank Update:

Rotala sp. "H'Ra"

source: http://www.qingsenshuizu.com/index.php?Article-index-id-901-p-2.html

In all likelihood Rotala sp. "H'Ra" is part of  the  broader rotala rotundfolia group.

Apparently it was named after the hamlet H'Ra in Gia Lai province in the central highland of Vietnam and also sometimes called Rotala sp. "Gia Lai", after the province.

This plant closely resembles Rotala sp. "Colorata", however, when cultivated under the same conditions, its submersed form is of a more orange colour and a bit narrower leaves, and has a tendency to grow horizontally. The same growth habit can be observed in Rotala sp. "Green", which mainly differs from R. sp. "H'Ra" by its exclusively light green colour. It is reported that in mid-November 2008  it was imported from Japan to Hong Kong. It became available from Betterweather.co.za  in South Africa for the first  time on 24 July 2013.