Canada-South Pacific Ocean Development Program
CANADIANS FIRST IN REEF FISH CONSERVATION SCHEME
Vancouver, BC -- Kyle Nelson says he and his partner Peter Lloyd just “stumbled into” the business of importing tropical fish two years ago but that path has led him to play a key role in the international drive for better environment standards in the marine aquarium trade. So it’s fitting that their Richmond, BC based wholesale company, Coast Mountain Aquatics, was the first in Canada to receive the Marine Aquarium Council (MAC) certification for importing live reef fish and coral.
Coast Mountain Aquatics was one of a handful of retailers and wholesalers who became the first in the world to be MAC Certified. MAC, an international, organization comprised of conservation organizations, the aquarium industry, public aquariums, hobbyist groups and government agencies, came together to conserve coral reefs and stop destructive practices in fish collection. The organization has worked to set standards that meet World Trade Organization guidelines for those engaged in the collection and care of ornamental marine life from the reef right to the aquarium in your home.
MAC’s biggest challenge is to convince the divers who collect the fish in Southeast Asia to replace the destructive practice of “cyanide-fishing” with a safe collection process using nets. Of the more than ten million marine specimens sold each year in North American pet stores, most come from Indonesia and the Philippines, and most are collected by squirting cyanide into coral reefs, a practice that is dangerous to the fish, harmful to the divers who use it and is destroying the reefs. The cyanide stuns the fish which makes them easier to collect, but it also shortens their lifespan, so that the consumer gets a fish which appears healthy in the store, but often dies within months.
So it made sense to Kyle Nelson that having quality fish collected in an environmentally-friendly manner would be a good situation for the entire industry. “When I first heard about MAC certification, I though it was a great concept,” he says. “It intrigued me because the entire program is not just about having clean (cyanide-free) fish, it envelops the entire process of collection area management, ensuring fair compensation for the collectors using nets as well as proper handling all along the entire chain”.
And he has definitely become an advocate of the entire process—whether it’s assisting the Vancouver Aquarium to include MAC Certified fish in their tanks, raising awareness and training retailers across Canada on good handling techniques, or trying to raise money for more nets for the fish collectors in the Philippines.
David Vosseler, MAC’s Director for the Americas and the Pacific, says Nelson has been a leading light in the development of a sustainable marine aquarium industry globally. “He remains a consistent and reliable source of advice for the improvement of MAC and the certification process as well as an invaluable positive influence on the global market especially in the Philippines,” says Vosseler.
At this point, only collectors in the Philippines are MAC Certified. That’s about to change too thanks to a concerted effort in the Pacific Islands, funded in part by Canada through CIDA and the Canada-South Pacific Ocean Development Program (C-SPOD). Several Pacific Island countries are working to have community-owned collection areas, community-based collectors, and exporters MAC-Certified in the coming months. The next round of certifications are expected to take place in Fiji later this year.
Dr. Kenneth MacKay, who co-ordinates C-SPOD activities in the South Pacific on behalf of LGL Limited, a Sidney-based environmental research company, says C-SPOD funding through the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat has helped MAC initiate the SMART Program (Sustainable Management of the Aquarium Reef Trade) and it’s producing results. The SMART Program is focusing on economically disadvantaged coastal fishing communities in the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu, providing workshops, training, manuals and other support. Although cyanide fishing is seldom practiced in the Pacific Islands, MAC Certification there will lead to better collection and community-based reef resource management practices for the sustainable harvest of reef fish and coral.
There’s another Canadian connection too. All of the North American MAC Certifications have been carried out by Katrina Kucey of the Shizen Megumi Company, a Vancouver-based certification company. Katrina, a young Vancouver woman, is traveling the continent to assess retailers, wholesalers and importers to see if they are compliant to the MAC standards. She examines their stock, facilities, documentation, transportation and tracking systems.
“Basically, they have to be able to prove authenticity in the way a fish was handled, transported, right back to the initial collection, if they want that fish to be MAC Certified,” she says. But although the certification process adds to the cost of the fish, Katrina believes educated consumers will be willing to pay more for MAC Certified fish. “Canadians support fair trade and they have always been willing to pay a bit more to know that they are buying a safe and environmentally friendly product,” she says.
In an industry that is worth about $1 billion annually worldwide, getting everyone in the industry, including consumers, to support the MAC Certification process is a huge job. But the benefits are beginning to show. Kyle Nelson’s business is rapidly expanding. Consumers are becoming aware that they have options to support the environment when purchasing fish and coral. And the communities where fish collection is a main source of income are also benefiting. When cyanide is used to catch fish, many of the fish are killed by the practice. Now that stringent standards are being put in place, local collectors and their communities are getting involved in reef stewardship, guarding against destructive practices and they are finding that they can make more money because all of their catch is healthy and saleable.
