A Great Opportunity for the Community to Give Back

[IconicAquariums]

Hello All,

I have been in contact with a good friend of mine, Steve Robinson, the pioneer of net-training and collecting of fishes for the aquarium trade. Steve has trained countless individuals and donated lots of time & energy so that we, the end users, get better fish.

He is currently in Papau New Guniea, the beginning of a new collection area to teach the locals how to properly collect fish from the start.

The process has been underway for 6 months now, and will continue for another 3 years. In this time, exporters will be set up and we will start to see fish come from the reefs there. The methodology behind this endeavor is fantastic - they have taken examples from all previous operations in many a country, and are implementing a sound, sustainable solution. Previous employees of MAC and other reef-minded individuals will ensure this remains a proper, sustainable collection country.

Papau New Guniea is home to some of the most pristine reefs. Bordering the Coral Sea, there is the greatest variety of fish in this one area. Over 95% of the country is covered in pristine reefs, and will be fished without damage.



What the locals of PNG need (there will be no foreign divers brought in like in other countries, only locals to ensure the people in PNG are receiving the fruits) is netting.

I am interested in putting $280 of my money in to cover the costs of the netting for hand-nets (#2 & 3), and they are looking for donations to cover the rest of the netting as follows:

1. 3/8's inch barrier netting $400. a bundle X 3 = $1,200.00ea bundle serves 30 divers or 90 total. Will need 3 x next years but that shouldn't be purchased until after proving it all this year.

2. and 1/6th inch plastic handnetting 100 foot roll = $ 140.00 ea.

3. 1/4 inch plastic handnetting 100 foot roll = $ 140.00 ea
[This stuff #2. & 3. is only for handnets and it uses very little material and is dirt cheap per diver]


If anyone can be so inclined to help with donations it would be much appreciated. Please post here, and I will have Steve sign up for an account and he will help answer any questions you might have about the future that PNG holds for all of us. Any amount will be greatly appreciated.


thank you,
joe

 

[prattreef]

I'm in for $100. MR, Steve Robinson is the real deal, the locals will be trained and trained well.

 

[bad coffee]

$100 from me. Let me know where/when.

B

 

[loismustdie]

$100.

 

[House of Laughter]

Seems like $100 is a kewl number

Count me for $100 as well.

House

 

[ellebelle]

Are they also going to be doing coral collection as well? And if so, are they also educating the locals about safe, non-destructive way to do this?

 

[prattreef]

I believe the answer is yes, but I'll let Joe comment.

Really though, this is about the potential for a clean supply of a wide variety of fish done right from the beginning. This kind of effort has been attempted several times after the fact in the PI and Indo with (charitably speaking )mixed results for a large number of reasons. The best way to get these areas to clean up their act is to provide superior product at competitive prices and cut into profits. PNG has the potential to offer the variety that isn't possible elsewhere to compete in just this way.

 

[ellebelle]

Oh, I agree with you Randy. I think this sounds like an excellent project. My only point was that if they only educate the locals about the fish, then you can still get plenty of reef destruction with improper coral collection. I would also be interested to hear a few more details about the mechanics of the project, just for my own interest.

 

[prattreef]

I would also be interested to hear a few more details about the mechanics of the project, just for my own interest.

I'm sure that can and will be arranged.

 

[IconicAquariums]

Are they also going to be doing coral collection as well? And if so, are they also educating the locals about safe, non-destructive way to do this?

Lissa,

this will be done. I am personally going to fly out there when it is time and help out both in regards to collection, and most importantly mariculturing a wide variety of corals and perhaps even some anemones.

There is already a ban on the table for Carpet anemones, to ensure that a local population of clownfish (namely Leucokranos and Percula) always have a safehaven in the waters. I'm sure most people aren't aware that in places like PH and ID, divers have to travel miles away to reefs where the anemones haven't been ripped out just to catch clownfish. I'm sure a huge percentage of Carpet Anemones never make it once stateside - probably 75% never living past shipping, and probably a good 95-99% not making it more than a year in captivity.

Steve will have to answer about more details as they are available and I'll ask that he continue to update us whenever possible. He will have details about where to send money to as well when the time comes.

Thank you everyone for your generosity.

 

[clarionreef]

Hello Manhattan reefers!

Hello Manhattan reefers!
Wow!
Thanks so much for the vote of confidence and the kick off donation drive!
We have been in Papua New Guinea for 6 months now surveying the reefs and have finished the initial report to the National Fisheries Authority of the government of Paua New Guinea.
As a result, we were just funded for the training mission and all systems are go!
We will hit the ground running Jan 15th .
I need to get enough netting material for a few hundred divers and send get it to Port Moresby by mid January.
Whatever you may have heard about reform , MAC, IMA, net training etc before....bear in mind that this time professional, career fish people are in charge of the project design, the terms, the strategy, the training and initial industry development.
We are not what has gone before. We are not MAC.
We are something else entirely.
For starters....the open door policy, the accessibility, the openness, the transparency, the deep experience, the seasoned training team and the bottom up, field oriented methodology is refreshing and exciting to be a part of.
New Guinea will be what the Philippines and Indonesia can not be anytime soon...100% NETCAUGHT ...and patterned after the Australian model...
This is the beginning.
The Philippines had one in 1960....
Indo in 1978...
Now its our turn...PNG...2008!
If you have a hundred questions...fire away.
Sincerely, Steve Robinson
Eco EZ Inc program
National Fishery Authority
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

 

[ellebelle]

That all sounds really amazing and well put together. More questions from the curious - Do you have a funding agency in the US? What went wrong in the Indonesian and Philippines model, and how have you addressed that for this project? And what kind of precautions will be put in place to prevent over-fishing?

 

[jhale]

Steve welcome to Manhattan Reefs , I sent you a message through the site.

 

[ellebelle]

PS: as I always like to educate myself about issues, I've been searching for other articles about these problems. Lots of literature out there (and a few peer reviewed articles mentioning Steve here! ).

Here are a couple of interesting sources that I found that can be accessed by the general public without access from a university/medical library:
http://www.spc.int/coastfish/News/lrf/5/LRF5.pdf
http://www.fisheries.ubc.ca/members...OverfishingRelevatnCoastalZoneMngtSE_Asia.pdf

 

[clarionreef]

de ja vu

Marine Ornamentals 2006 - Meeting Abstract
18

TRAINING MARINEFISH COLLECTORS AS IF RESULTS MATTERED

Steve Robinson
Director, American Marine Dealers Association27217 Portsmouth Ave
Hayward, CA 94545
[email protected]



Collectors and dealers in marine ornamentals take many years to learn the secrets and tricks of the trade. Procedures for collecting and handling fishes cannot be taken lightly and glossed over. If the trade is partly responsible for the crisis on the reefs, how can slow-motion results be acceptable? How can businesses be expected to support training programs that have spent so much and produced so little? I submit that fish collectors can be converted to sustainable collection methods much quicker and cheaper, than what we have been conditioned to believe.

1. Phase one: Net training and handling must come first.
Fish collectors are at the forefront of the chain of custody and the issues related to impacts on coral reefs. Therefore, alternatives to destructive fishing need to be frontloaded. The skills transfer needed to get them away from killing coral reefs are not difficult. They become ineffective, if burdened by too much paperwork, complex underwater surveys, and certification schemes. To lead with them has alienated and discouraged the divers! Skills transfer for collecting must be separated from the other aspects. It might make sense to kill two birds with one stone...but the actual effect has been to scare away the birds.
2. Phase two: Training must be commercially competent.
Fishermen may seem less aware by our standards, but they can spot non-commercial behavior a mile away. It becomes easier, if collectors are first impressed with the trainers ability to train by virtue of his abilities. Trainings conducted by amateurs....with inadequate materials do not work very well. Collectors trained by commercial experts can work well. When divers were needed in Mexico, Tonga or Vanuatu, they were trained by those who could dive, collect, handle, and produce superior results. This garnered respect from the collectors allowing for rapid-fire results
Past NGO-sponsored trainings have not provided the right hand-net and barrier-net materials. Many divers in both the Philippines and Indonesia, who participated in net-training sessions, never received any netting. The correct netting is absolutely essential, if fishers are to be successfully converted away from cyanide fishing. The failure to supply the requisite nets has handicapped training programs and discredited them in the eyes of the fishermen.
Phase three: Cost and Time Efficiency
Training fisherman for sustainable practices should be both cost and time efficient. With commercial training... cost efficiency is critical. A commercial mindset on these matters is important as it gels with the fishermans view of things. Dealers, like collectors, live by the imperatives of cost and time efficiencies, better fish, and cash flow. Learning to mesh these imperatives with other priorities will allow better results for everyone. The coral reefs will finally get the lighter touch they need. Afterall, if its not a sustainable proposition, what is it? No one makes a living, profit, or a career off of a dead coral reef.
Guys,
If you google my name + cyanide or + NET TRAINING...you'll see plenty of history.
But....for years, several eco-NGOs made a business out of the issue and cut me out of it to keep the gravy train going. They blew it in the Philippines and Indonesia and effectively sent divers back to cyanide fishing for lack of ability to train them. They didn't even provide the right netting material.
They eventually failed, lost their funding and now we get our chance again.
Steve

 

[Tim]

I`m in for a $100 let`s get this going.....

 

[carpediem212]

This is a very honorable cause and hope that this money really go towards and is utilized for education of collecting. I would like to see a video of what Steve trains.


Count me in for $100

 

[GreshamH]

That all sounds really amazing and well put together. More questions from the curious - Do you have a funding agency in the US? What went wrong in the Indonesian and Philippines model, and how have you addressed that for this project? And what kind of precautions will be put in place to prevent over-fishing?

In regards to the PI/Indo project (MAC/IMA/etc, etc) all that can be found in Reefs.org's Industry Behind The Hobby. This very topic has been talked in depth for the last 8 years there Being the director of this project saw first hand the mistakes made, he won't repeat them that's for sure

Briefly, quotas are set to local counts derived from transect data.

FWIW, no NO FARMED coral will be leaving the country. 100% farmed coral export only.

 

[GreshamH]

Hello Manhattan reefers!
Wow!
Thanks so much for the vote of confidence and the kick off donation drive!
We have been in Papua New Guinea for 6 months now surveying the reefs and have finished the initial report to the National Fisheries Authority of the government of Paua New Guinea.
As a result, we were just funded for the training mission and all systems are go!
We will hit the ground running Jan 15th .
I need to get enough netting material for a few hundred divers and send get it to Port Moresby by mid January.
Whatever you may have heard about reform , MAC, IMA, net training etc before....bear in mind that this time professional, career fish people are in charge of the project design, the terms, the strategy, the training and initial industry development.
We are not what has gone before. We are not MAC.
We are something else entirely.
For starters....the open door policy, the accessibility, the openness, the transparency, the deep experience, the seasoned training team and the bottom up, field oriented methodology is refreshing and exciting to be a part of.
New Guinea will be what the Philippines and Indonesia can not be anytime soon...100% NETCAUGHT ...and patterned after the Australian model...
This is the beginning.
The Philippines had one in 1960....
Indo in 1978...
Now its our turn...PNG...2008!
If you have a hundred questions...fire away.
Sincerely, Steve Robinson
Eco EZ Inc program
National Fishery Authority
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Glad you could make it here Steve You'll fin the crowd here at a different level then most online forums your used to, that's for sure.

 

[GreshamH]

$100 from me. Let me know where/when.

B

Tomorrow - take the 101 south to the 92East. Cross over the San Mateo Bridge, pass by SF Bay Brands and take the second exit. Steve will meet you by the soda plant right at the exit

Seriously though, why not come over and talk to Steve yourself I could meet up with both of you and do lunch maybe Friday if you have the time