Judy et al.
What 6 plus 9 is to me is I guess 9 and 6 to another.
Having not tried to actually train the divers properly...how can an industry imagine it doesn't work? ...and then based on this assumption, jump ahead of the training movement idea and go straight to certification in an industry that has long staked its claim in illegal territory. I trust the collectors more than the so called reformers I've known and have always found less resistance from the collectors than from any other "stakeholder". [ just had to use the term Mary]
The failure of training to solve this problem was not the fault of the collectors...it was the fault of bogus training programs and scams beginning with Marcos era programs. Skimming from the eary programs set into motion a few decades of phoney efforts run by ahhh..."non industry people." I know. I lost years dealing with all of them and trying to reconcile them to actually training and not just going for the gold and grant money.
If the trainings are done right....heres a secret just between you and me....the divers beg for the netting material and want to join and teach their friends. This thing spreads and the temptation to backslide goes right out the window. The so called reformers failure to employ the original netsman teams that I trained years ago led those same divers to seek work in other countries where they would be supported for their new skills.
Arabia, Tonga, Palau, Vanuatu and Fiji have all benefited from the divers who converted to nets and made more money by doing so. Many of you are getting fish from them right now. Their sons are also catching with nets! Why go back?
The problem is, the decade of the 90's poor trainings without the netting material ruined the validity of training as an answer in the minds of many.
Training 1,000 more divers will help to infect the others with the desire to convert as well and so long as netting material is available, they'll stay with it. This is the source of my confidence. The absolute knowledge that the divers stick when trained properly! I can't answer for any other training programs, but I can sure answer for mine and want it on tape this time.
This debate has always existed without input from the field. Dozens of collectors around the world will confirm what I say about the effectiveness and addictiveness of good net collecting methodologies. These guys are just not represented in forums and meetings and online...if they were what I propose would not seem a lonely opinion.
The answer to this is not going to be found in overplanning and overanalyzing administrative and security protocols. Its going to be found in field trainings that win the hearts and minds of the divers. When we liberate them from poison fishing and put them to work properly, they'll spread it beyond our estimates. A multiplier effect will kick in as friends and relatives are trained thru social osmosis. We can infect villages with netting skills that go forward, not backward.
Whats anyone got to lose? Let CORL do it!
Steve