HOBBYISTS’ PREFERENCES MS thesis by Liliana A. Alencastro

[spawner]

Jenn there is no doubt that this is a skewed data set. This can be a problem when a research group is not completely atuned to the industry it studies.

The trade in ornamental reef fish has been the subject of efforts by the Marine Aquarium Council (MAC) to implement a certification and labelling scheme for a number of years, as regularly reported in this bulletin. In a study independent of MAC, Liliana Alencastro et al. examine the degree to which an eco-label on ornamental fish might be important to hobbyists — that is, whether hobbyists are willing to pay a premium for such a label. The results give an indication of how well a certification program such as the MAC scheme is likely to work, or alternatively, an indication of how much outreach to consumers will be needed to make it work.

Here is a paper from the Thesis.

http://www.spc.int/coastfish/news/LRF/1 ... castro.pdf

Presentation of the data at MO04 in Hawaii
http://agsurveys.org/hobby/MO%202004.htm

 

[Anonymous]

90% of all 'hobbyists' don't even care about what their fish require-for most it's a matter of 'replace when dead'

I think that is nonsense Vitz.
There is no doubt that customers come in to LFS and get sucked into buying a tank and then get sucked into buying fish that they are incapable of keeping or in fact anyone is capable of keeping.
I don't believe for one minute that hobbyists dont care what their fish require. I believe they are concerned about the welfare of the critters in their tanks.
However, I agree that many of them are ignorant about the use of cyanide to catch them and if they were aware they would be outraged.

really ? -let's see, i've based that conclusion on about 30 years in the hobby, and 20 years at least in the biz, having worked in every aspect of the custody chain, with the exclusion of collecting, and including a present job in e-tail-i spoke with 700 hobbyists last month, (took 700 calls as a tech support csr) as part of my regular job


what do you base your conclusion on?

 

[Anonymous]

and the subject of this thread is a shill for MAC, imo

 

[PeterIMA]

I took a look at the paper and the powerpoint using the links provided. Some of you have stated you think the survey was biased. My question tied to my previous posting is: Do you think that MAC Certified fish meet the criteria stated in the survey to justify hobbyists paying more for MAC-Certified fish?

Peter Rubec

 

[clarionreef]

Hmmm...
I think that hobbyists care about reefs about as much as the rest of the chain of custody and....reform groups included...ie, not much at all.

John Tulluck was very disappointed in hobbyists and all the rest [ sellers and NGOs] at the end of his career here.
And like Vitz, as a dealer in netcaught fish for decades, I know good and well how un-interested the mass public is in this stuff.

When money focused groups cash in on the issues and problems and loot them for personal motivations...this does a great deal of damage to their public image and "eco-FICO" score.
Like corrupt politicians, pac groups, lobbyists, loggers and their front groups etc. etc...once you earn a loss of trust, its very hard to get it back.
Steve
PS And as an aside;
I think that fisherfolk care about the reefs in about the same proportion of scientists that care about them. Both need to hang out more and understand each other more.