colleague, Solomon Makoloweka, said they had been pressuring the Tanzanian government to limit trawlers' activities. He said, "I suppose we should be grateful to these trawlers, because they have revealed this amazing and unique fish population. But we are concerned they could destroy these precious things. We want the government to limit their activity and to help fund a proper research program so that we can learn more about the coelacanths and protect them." In a March 2008 report, the Tanzania Natural Resource Forum, a local environmental nongovernmental organization, warned that a proposed port project at Mwambani Bay could threaten a coastal population of coelacanth. Evolutionary relationships Latimeria is the type genus of Latimeriidae, a group of coelacanths that first appeared in the Early Triassic. Within Latimeriidae, it has been found by cladistic analysis to be most closely related to the genus Swenzia, known from the Late Jurassic of Europe, leaving a long ghost lineage of over 150 million years from its closest relative. References Lobe-finned fish genera Live-bearing fish Ovoviviparous fish Marine fish genera Taxa named by J. L. B. Smith Extant Pleistocene first appearances