AMDA Elections

[Anonymous]

I'd have to say I side with JT on this one - how many MACNA's have come and gone with AMDA having meetings and then nothing getting done. Hell I remember Rick Oellers telling me in my shop "Man you gotta come to MACNA, the drinking is great!" Seems to me Rick at least had the right idea - 12 ounce curls with friends is alot more productive than pissing into the wind and seeing who gets wet.

AMDA hasn't done anything productive in the past 5 years - why would anything change now? Some new idea on reform? pahleeze - everybody wants reform but nobody wants to reform.

I see the challenge:

"Well how come you aren't a member, join us and help change"

Thats such a specious argument. The answer to that is so easy:

"How come you haven't changed a damn thing in the past 5 years?"

"How come AMDA still doesn't police it's own members?"

"If AMDA is such the instrument for change how come after almost 10 years of existance it's still merely a window sticker organization???"

Agreed, I wasted a couple hundred bucks for MACNA whatever in Ft. Lauderdale. I went there to join AMDA and attenda the meeting. Well, you all know what happened at that one.

 

[dizzy]

Everybody seems to agree that AMDA is not going to be the salvation of the industry. This thread was started to pry into AMDA business by others. It was not started as a recruitment thread. Why are y'all so concerned about such a useless organization? To me it's like the Ricky Nelson song: You can't please everyone, so you gotta please yourself. Retailers who are full-line have the best chance of adapting to the coming changes. I'm an African cichlid enthusiast from way back. I've also got some world class koi in the house. "I got a shotgun, a rifle, and a four-wheel drive. And a country boy can survive." One thing seems certain. Prolly 80% of the LA wholesalers and their employees are toast. We could bring you on to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic, but what good would it do? Over the past several years I've seen one group after another sell out the retailers who built this industry to begin with. I've watched as manufacturers and wholesalers alike flocked to the big boxes and then the etailers, often giving delayed payment terms that were never offered to the traditional brick and mortars. The only chance AMDA has to become strong is to morph into an organization that helps to protect retailers from parasitic practices. The greener than thou, we care more attitude has become the intellectual property of others now. We are being asked to pay a royality on diminishing returns. Now the so-called new reform groups want to climb on our broken backs in an attempt to get to the bigger prize. I believe Petco will soon become the darling of the Brave New Keepers of the Toll Gate. In the absence of a strong organization to help protect them, the independent retailers have fallen like dominos. They say misery loves company and the industry forum is proof enough of that. You can stick your head in the sand and hide from the truth all you want, but just remember no one is watching your ass.

 

[Anonymous]

...what kind of an organization we would like to become. That's it. So if you are looking for a good reason to join, the only one I can give you is because you are interested in being involved in an organization that is interested in maintaining and protecting the independent retail segment of this industry (your potential customers), and acting as a watchdog for all of the eco groups that are popping up. Nothing more, nothing less.

...The only chance AMDA has to become strong is to morph into an organization that helps to protect retailers from parasitic practices. The greener than thou, we care more attitude has become the intellectual property of others now...

www.amdareef.com[/url]":10h4ebxr]Our mission: To promote environmentally responsible marine aquarium keeping as an entertaining, educational, and worthwhile leisure time activity.


Our goals :

-Establish a network of retail stores who conduct business by AMDA
Standards of Practice;

-Raise public awareness of the industry¹s role in marine conservation;

-Provide up-to-date information on proper animal husbandry;

-Ensure the health and quality of marinelife through responsible handling
and husbandry practices;

-Encourage responsible husbandry through education and training;

-Support supply of captive bred marine organisms as an alternate source
of marinelife for aquariums

I know this will no doubt be met with a great deal of "outsider go home" talk, but the AMDA I know and respect never forgot to factor the animals and the environment first in the equation. Please remember that.

Only a hobbyist, yet respectfully submitted,
Lee

 

[Anonymous]

"How come you haven't changed a damn thing in the past 5 years?"

Because we couldn't. And becasue the problems have been addressed in the wrong way.

"How come AMDA still doesn't police it's own members?"

Because we can't. The BOD has five people on it, all who run their own full time businesses. Dues are fifty dollars a year. Time and money only go so far. Did you really join, expecting to be policed?

"If AMDA is such the instrument for change how come after almost 10 years of existance it's still merely a window sticker organization???"

AMDA is not an instrument for change. Would you be upset if we stopped sending out the stickers? Again, what would you like to see AMDA do? Knowing of course that we will never be able to force any store into any sort of compliance to a standard? And knowing that no organization lacking government backing will be able to effectively create voluntary reform?


IMHO, AMDA's greatest potential strength is its knowledge and experience about this unique industry. Collectively we know more about how to run a successful MO shop, (both economically and environmentally), than all the NGO's, big box stores, and beauracrats put together. We've handled more Marine Organisms than anyone in the world. As a whole the knowledge and experience of this unique group far exceeds anything out there. If that can be harnessed and organized into a simple resource available to members, to run their shops better, to compete in a tightening marketplace, and to stay abreast of the changing politcal pressures, that would be worth the fifty bucks to me, and I could care less about the sticker. The big problem with AMDA is getting the group to recognize its limitations, and to realize what it can and can't do.

 

[Anonymous]

...what kind of an organization we would like to become. That's it. So if you are looking for a good reason to join, the only one I can give you is because you are interested in being involved in an organization that is interested in maintaining and protecting the independent retail segment of this industry (your potential customers), and acting as a watchdog for all of the eco groups that are popping up. Nothing more, nothing less.

...The only chance AMDA has to become strong is to morph into an organization that helps to protect retailers from parasitic practices. The greener than thou, we care more attitude has become the intellectual property of others now...

www.amdareef.com[/url]":2i4n09vs]Our mission: To promote environmentally responsible marine aquarium keeping as an entertaining, educational, and worthwhile leisure time activity.


Our goals :

-Establish a network of retail stores who conduct business by AMDA
Standards of Practice;

-Raise public awareness of the industry¹s role in marine conservation;

-Provide up-to-date information on proper animal husbandry;

-Ensure the health and quality of marinelife through responsible handling
and husbandry practices;

-Encourage responsible husbandry through education and training;

-Support supply of captive bred marine organisms as an alternate source
of marinelife for aquariums

I know this will no doubt be met with a great deal of "outsider go home" talk, but the AMDA I know and respect never forgot to factor the animals and the environment first in the equation. Please remember that.

Only a hobbyist, yet respectfully submitted,
Lee

Lee,
I agree with you completely. And here is our logic behind our position. There isn't a single entity out there that is forced to keep their stores to a higher standard than the brick and mortar, open full time to the public retailer. Few people walk into a wholesalers facility on a daily basis, and those that do know what to expect. No one cares if there is algae in the tanks, and water on the floor, and every one expects to see some damged fish, and quite a few barely hanging in there ones. Even fewer people walk into an etailers facility, and again it doesn't matter what it looks like, and the number of dead fish, or diseased and damaged corals, that are there, it only matters what healthy ones ship out.

A storefont must be adequately presentable to an uneduacated public. The floors must be spotless, the tanks must be algae free, people get freaked out over the dead feeder goldfish for goodness sake. In the light of the increasingly educated public, and the move for retailers to constantly be offering more, and customers demanding more, and the bar to be consistently raised; a dirty shop, with sick and diseased fish, nasty tanks, and a smelly dank atmosphere will be policed by the public at large far sooner than by any organization. The marketplace will weed out the death traps, and customers will be free to make their own choices.

By that rationale, we feel that the independent brick and mortar stores are the best possible avenues for promoting our goals. They are the most visible, and have the most at stake. So to clarify, the animals and the environment are our goals (always have been, always will), and the brick and mortar stores are the avenue that we think makes the most sense (given our limited capabilities) to pursue them through.

 

[MaryHM]

This thread was started to pry into AMDA business by others.

How asking about elections is prying into AMDA business is beyond me. For the record, the current BOD has been the LEAST transparent one to date. No board minutes posted on the website, no newsletters (maybe 1). I swear, you can sit here and pry into MAC business all day and that's hunky dory. But let someone put a bit of the spotlight on your organization and you cry foul. Reminds me of how other NGO's in here like to speculate about the motives of other NGO's, but pick up their toys and go home when someone turns the spotlight on them.

 

[Anonymous]

This thread was started to pry into AMDA business by others.

How asking about elections is prying into AMDA business is beyond me. For the record, the current BOD has been the LEAST transparent one to date. No board minutes posted on the website, no newsletters (maybe 1). I swear, you can sit here and pry into MAC business all day and that's hunky dory. But let someone put a bit of the spotlight on your organization and you cry foul. Reminds me of how other NGO's in here like to speculate about the motives of other NGO's, but pick up their toys and go home when someone turns the spotlight on them.

Maybe there hasn't been anything worth posting? This is a rebuilding year (or maybe the last three). The question of whether to join is a bit like asking whether or not you should buy season tickets for one of your teams, after coming in last place. You do it either because you are a fan, or just to see what happens.

I would say that this has been one of the most transparent. I for one have never failed to answer any question asked of me. But when you have no one on the board with the technical know how or time to update a website and publish a newsletter, you just don't get either. Honestly speaking it has been difficult enough to simply have a BOD meeting.

 

[Anonymous]

Rover,

Thank you for the insight. I think that is great logic. Is that being marketed to your target audience? In keeping with that logic it seems that several benefits could easily be recognized by your members with a little work. Perhaps shared mortality information by supplier, bulk purchasing of livestock from those suppliers deemed best and most ethical, etc. could be marketed as benefits of AMDA membership? Has AMDA inquired about getting bulk pricing breaks from importers/wholesalers that would be inline with what the drop shipping livestock etailers are getting, for instance? Perhaps AMDA could set up their own vertically-integrated supply chain to assure the steady supply and the first pick at healthy livestock in a Co-Op fashion? Perhaps a series of advertisments in hobbyist literature stating where the AMDA stores are and advantages of shopping with them?

Sincerely,
-Lee

 

[Anonymous]

Rover,

Thank you for the insight. I think that is great logic. Is that being marketed to your target audience? In keeping with that logic it seems that several benefits could easily be recognized by your members with a little work. Perhaps shared mortality information by supplier, bulk purchasing of livestock from those suppliers deemed best and most ethical, etc. could be marketed as benefits of AMDA membership? Has AMDA inquired about getting bulk pricing breaks from importers/wholesalers that would be inline with what the drop shipping livestock etailers are getting, for instance? Perhaps AMDA could set up their own vertically-integrated supply chain to assure the steady supply and the first pick at healthy livestock in a Co-Op fashion? Perhaps a series of advertisments in hobbyist literature stating where the AMDA stores are and advantages of shopping with them?

Sincerely,
-Lee

AMDA is a volunteer organization run by busy people in their spare time. In other words, things happen very slowly. All of those issues have been discussed.

 

[dizzy]

I think it is time we give Drew Weiner a plug. He was at MACNA and has written a piece with Eric Borneman that was just published in TFH. He is already on the speakers list for MACNA XVII in Washington DC. Groups such as his seem infinitely better prepared to take on the challenges of reforming this industry than AMDA ever can. When Mark SS was leaving AMDA to join MAC full time he agreed that AMDA's time would be best spent on helping retailers to survive the coming changes. We have groups who are well paid to care more. I invite Drew to join in the discussions and share his visions with this board.
I have posted his contact information for JT and others below.

Drew Weiner
Director
Reef Protection International
300 Broadway, Suite 28
San Francisco, CA 94133
ph: 415-699-2091
fax: 415-788-7324
[email protected]
**a project of the Earth Island Institute**

 

[clarionreef]

Agreed Mitch,
They all need to meet Drew and see what we have been dealing with.
Steve