Dear Jaime Baquero,
Have your tried doing trainings in the field with collectors who knows that their families next meal heavily rest on their shoulders to collect tons of ornamental fish hoping that if they caught a few good species they can ram down the throats of exporters their tons of trash fish just to make both ends meet? Have you tried to limit their catch? Have you tried training and seeing the collectors blamed you for deliveries that are always a loss? Have you been in areas where after having not profited they backslide? Have you partaken in their meager meals and try not choking on it because you know that you are taking away food that is not even enough for one and is being eaten by five plus you? Filipinos are a hospitable lot and they get insulted when they invite you to join them for lunch or dinner and you refuse, but then you notice it as also more a statement or a message they are trying to get across to you. Have you seen the effect of this trade on other non-ornamental fish collectors that are greatly affected? Have you ever tried to talk to LGU’s who are very cynical about net training having been burned by past claims of others doing reform? Try it for a change and maybe you will see the light too. These questions can go to a hundred if you want. Try coming over and experience really staying with them. You are most welcome.
Most of the time we are a dense lot. We tend to conveniently forget. We can always go home to our well appointed houses, enjoy our beautiful aquariums and have the luxury of time to tinker with them. We drive around in our air-conditioned or heated cars and can afford to eat at McDonalds. I am so sorry we see things differently. When I see a fish in an aquarium I see the villages and the people it comes from. I see the suffering, sweat, the backbreaking work, and the frustrated dreams of these people. I see their families and their children. I see the poison they use and the reefs they have destroyed. I see the few hundreds trying to show an example, trying to lead the way and show that it does not have to be the way it is at present.
As for MAC; Sorry I do not want anybody to revolt or go against MAC or any organization for that matter. It is not my style. I might be brutally frank but at times you need to be. All I want from MAC is for MAC to reconsider their methods of implementation. I had to do what I did to force them to take a second hard look at things and I am glad they are doing that. I do not want MAC to be use as a tool and a band wagon to ride on and hear the hypocrisy of collectors, exporters and the entire trade claiming to be clean when they are not and claiming we have done our part. And believe me it is not just because MAC is MAC. It goes for other organization too. The tragedy is that MAC is in the forefront of this field. Their acts will affect the trade good or bad.
For your information last January or February after I got out of MAC I was requested to attend one of their general meetings that they held here. I did and offered to take time out to accompany one of their high level staff into the field to show him what is really happening outside of Batasan island. Reality in the field has many faces and it was important that a MAC staff in the most sensitive position should see it. The whole thing went well with us but did not go well with the people who were too emotional at that time. They use to be members of the PPP. They felt they were being use again. These are the bunch that is harder to work with. These are the people who say yes to your face politely, pretend to follow you but behind your back goes on with their former actives. They are very super cynical behind your back. It becomes even harder when you deal with those that have really reformed and are empowered in their way of thinking. They see ulterior self-vested motives in every plan you have and in every word you say. Just recently I had one of the fishes of a group that I am trying to start working with that were former members of PPP tested in the CDT. What do you think the result was? Do you want me to get a copy of the result?
Ever since I resigned, the local MAC and I kept meeting and talking here. I do not see anything wrong with that. Let me just say that at the start it was hard for us to make our points come across. We all had to look into the whole methods of implementation and we still are into it until now. Lino Alvarez of MAC here is in the forefront and at times I pity him for receiving so many “punches” from me. It is not a smooth path, it will never be, it is a process but at least we keep doing it and that is what is important. Let me put it this way; in the early days the path was so rough for everybody that it took a “POSTING” to bring all of us back together to brainstorm. Let me remind you I am not working for MAC now and yet we still are trying to dig into the whole thing, trying to find a way. So I think you missed the whole point by asking me if I am PRO or ANTI MAC. I am only for doing things the right way. MAC or no MAC and if MAC is considered a major player then they have to do the right thing with the right methods of implementation. I do not have all the answers but we all must realize that between paper and realities there exists a wide chasm that needs to be bridge. MAC has to be serious in bridging that. It does not go that just because MAC is the major player they are infallible. It does not go that we should clap and bow down to what they say should be done. I do not think you should see it that way. I see it differently and an awakening had to come first for everybody to start taking a second hard look at things. In all those series of meetings with MAC I have to admit I had doubts at first on how serious they were having been burned badly. For me the major question was will they really attempt to do it right this time? A month ago I met in one of the big Asian international airport hub Peter Scott. We had coffee along with a long serious discussion. He was talking about ideas on how he thinks holes should be plug in the system in earnest. A serious attempt in trying to do the right thing is for me very admirable. It makes me happy, it removes my suspicions. My suggestions are for MAC to take or not but as long as they ask for it I have no qualms in giving it. I have even invited them to visit some sites I am working in to observe and interact with the people. My doors have always been open. So what is wrong with that? Is that what you call being PRO or ANTI? A better question would have been Can I do it alone? Can Steve do it alone? Can you do it alone? Can AMDA do it alone? Can MAC do it alone? I think you know the answer is a big NO. Together going in the same direction we stand a better chance. We do not have to be PRO or ANTI, what is important is we move in the same direction and get rid of the crab mentality that has been plaguing us.
I am sure you are also aware of the age old scapegoat of blaming the collectors for their illegal practices. This should stop. Instead exporters and those involve in the trade should play a major role in creating the change. After all if there is no market for bad fish and the price is right for net collectors the masses will follow. So will conservation and sustainability. We always say we want fair equity for collectors to prevent them from over collecting and backslide. Have most of us done anything about it? Have you done something about it? Maybe you have or maybe you tried hard so this question should be stricken out.
I am sure you are aware that there are some data floating around that claims heavy mortality not only in the field but also in export and import facilities. Are you aware that mortality can be brought down to less than 2% across a week in an export facility where thousands of fish handled by hundreds of collectors’ passes through if it is done right? Are you aware that there is hardly any mortality on high price species over a week for an export facility if things are handled correctly not only in the field but also in the facility? That’s dealing with the devil. They let you suggest. They let you see the data. I have the data. I know that if the mortality is low it means it is low from area to the other side of the ocean. I use the data too in correcting things in the field. Tell me is that wrong? Are we supposed to be celibate? If you do field you cannot do exporters? That is where things went wrong in the first place.
As for glass houses; I do not want to be dragged into digging the grave of PPP. Let it stay buried. It was a very good plan had it been implemented correctly. We would not have been in this predicament had that dream been realize even on a 30% scale. It would have awakened those that needed to be awakened a long time ago.
Let me suggest to you that instead of going into a witch hunt and finding suspicious motives in every corner give some constructive suggestions. Maybe some good suggestions can help those in the front move one step more towards a better industry.
This would be my last public email to you, Jaime. You want to dig skeletons let us do it in private emails. I do not want to embarrass anybody. I do want to soil the name of the late Don who I regard as one of the fathers of this reform movement. You can keep throwing garbage at me and it will not matter. I will not response unless it is constructive. I do not want to stoop down to the level you are in now. I have better use for my time and do not want to waste it.
Best Regards,
Ferdinand
Have your tried doing trainings in the field with collectors who knows that their families next meal heavily rest on their shoulders to collect tons of ornamental fish hoping that if they caught a few good species they can ram down the throats of exporters their tons of trash fish just to make both ends meet? Have you tried to limit their catch? Have you tried training and seeing the collectors blamed you for deliveries that are always a loss? Have you been in areas where after having not profited they backslide? Have you partaken in their meager meals and try not choking on it because you know that you are taking away food that is not even enough for one and is being eaten by five plus you? Filipinos are a hospitable lot and they get insulted when they invite you to join them for lunch or dinner and you refuse, but then you notice it as also more a statement or a message they are trying to get across to you. Have you seen the effect of this trade on other non-ornamental fish collectors that are greatly affected? Have you ever tried to talk to LGU’s who are very cynical about net training having been burned by past claims of others doing reform? Try it for a change and maybe you will see the light too. These questions can go to a hundred if you want. Try coming over and experience really staying with them. You are most welcome.
Most of the time we are a dense lot. We tend to conveniently forget. We can always go home to our well appointed houses, enjoy our beautiful aquariums and have the luxury of time to tinker with them. We drive around in our air-conditioned or heated cars and can afford to eat at McDonalds. I am so sorry we see things differently. When I see a fish in an aquarium I see the villages and the people it comes from. I see the suffering, sweat, the backbreaking work, and the frustrated dreams of these people. I see their families and their children. I see the poison they use and the reefs they have destroyed. I see the few hundreds trying to show an example, trying to lead the way and show that it does not have to be the way it is at present.
As for MAC; Sorry I do not want anybody to revolt or go against MAC or any organization for that matter. It is not my style. I might be brutally frank but at times you need to be. All I want from MAC is for MAC to reconsider their methods of implementation. I had to do what I did to force them to take a second hard look at things and I am glad they are doing that. I do not want MAC to be use as a tool and a band wagon to ride on and hear the hypocrisy of collectors, exporters and the entire trade claiming to be clean when they are not and claiming we have done our part. And believe me it is not just because MAC is MAC. It goes for other organization too. The tragedy is that MAC is in the forefront of this field. Their acts will affect the trade good or bad.
For your information last January or February after I got out of MAC I was requested to attend one of their general meetings that they held here. I did and offered to take time out to accompany one of their high level staff into the field to show him what is really happening outside of Batasan island. Reality in the field has many faces and it was important that a MAC staff in the most sensitive position should see it. The whole thing went well with us but did not go well with the people who were too emotional at that time. They use to be members of the PPP. They felt they were being use again. These are the bunch that is harder to work with. These are the people who say yes to your face politely, pretend to follow you but behind your back goes on with their former actives. They are very super cynical behind your back. It becomes even harder when you deal with those that have really reformed and are empowered in their way of thinking. They see ulterior self-vested motives in every plan you have and in every word you say. Just recently I had one of the fishes of a group that I am trying to start working with that were former members of PPP tested in the CDT. What do you think the result was? Do you want me to get a copy of the result?
Ever since I resigned, the local MAC and I kept meeting and talking here. I do not see anything wrong with that. Let me just say that at the start it was hard for us to make our points come across. We all had to look into the whole methods of implementation and we still are into it until now. Lino Alvarez of MAC here is in the forefront and at times I pity him for receiving so many “punches” from me. It is not a smooth path, it will never be, it is a process but at least we keep doing it and that is what is important. Let me put it this way; in the early days the path was so rough for everybody that it took a “POSTING” to bring all of us back together to brainstorm. Let me remind you I am not working for MAC now and yet we still are trying to dig into the whole thing, trying to find a way. So I think you missed the whole point by asking me if I am PRO or ANTI MAC. I am only for doing things the right way. MAC or no MAC and if MAC is considered a major player then they have to do the right thing with the right methods of implementation. I do not have all the answers but we all must realize that between paper and realities there exists a wide chasm that needs to be bridge. MAC has to be serious in bridging that. It does not go that just because MAC is the major player they are infallible. It does not go that we should clap and bow down to what they say should be done. I do not think you should see it that way. I see it differently and an awakening had to come first for everybody to start taking a second hard look at things. In all those series of meetings with MAC I have to admit I had doubts at first on how serious they were having been burned badly. For me the major question was will they really attempt to do it right this time? A month ago I met in one of the big Asian international airport hub Peter Scott. We had coffee along with a long serious discussion. He was talking about ideas on how he thinks holes should be plug in the system in earnest. A serious attempt in trying to do the right thing is for me very admirable. It makes me happy, it removes my suspicions. My suggestions are for MAC to take or not but as long as they ask for it I have no qualms in giving it. I have even invited them to visit some sites I am working in to observe and interact with the people. My doors have always been open. So what is wrong with that? Is that what you call being PRO or ANTI? A better question would have been Can I do it alone? Can Steve do it alone? Can you do it alone? Can AMDA do it alone? Can MAC do it alone? I think you know the answer is a big NO. Together going in the same direction we stand a better chance. We do not have to be PRO or ANTI, what is important is we move in the same direction and get rid of the crab mentality that has been plaguing us.
I am sure you are also aware of the age old scapegoat of blaming the collectors for their illegal practices. This should stop. Instead exporters and those involve in the trade should play a major role in creating the change. After all if there is no market for bad fish and the price is right for net collectors the masses will follow. So will conservation and sustainability. We always say we want fair equity for collectors to prevent them from over collecting and backslide. Have most of us done anything about it? Have you done something about it? Maybe you have or maybe you tried hard so this question should be stricken out.
I am sure you are aware that there are some data floating around that claims heavy mortality not only in the field but also in export and import facilities. Are you aware that mortality can be brought down to less than 2% across a week in an export facility where thousands of fish handled by hundreds of collectors’ passes through if it is done right? Are you aware that there is hardly any mortality on high price species over a week for an export facility if things are handled correctly not only in the field but also in the facility? That’s dealing with the devil. They let you suggest. They let you see the data. I have the data. I know that if the mortality is low it means it is low from area to the other side of the ocean. I use the data too in correcting things in the field. Tell me is that wrong? Are we supposed to be celibate? If you do field you cannot do exporters? That is where things went wrong in the first place.
As for glass houses; I do not want to be dragged into digging the grave of PPP. Let it stay buried. It was a very good plan had it been implemented correctly. We would not have been in this predicament had that dream been realize even on a 30% scale. It would have awakened those that needed to be awakened a long time ago.
Let me suggest to you that instead of going into a witch hunt and finding suspicious motives in every corner give some constructive suggestions. Maybe some good suggestions can help those in the front move one step more towards a better industry.
This would be my last public email to you, Jaime. You want to dig skeletons let us do it in private emails. I do not want to embarrass anybody. I do want to soil the name of the late Don who I regard as one of the fathers of this reform movement. You can keep throwing garbage at me and it will not matter. I will not response unless it is constructive. I do not want to stoop down to the level you are in now. I have better use for my time and do not want to waste it.
Best Regards,
Ferdinand
