You like your big MAC , rare, eh! Certification

[kylen]

I know it's not a perfect system...but when do you think we will have 10,000 stores certified? Many people cheat at all aspects of business and life. Kind of like the IRS or in Canada the CCRA. Knowing that you can have your taxes audited is enough for me to make sure everything is in order. It probably won't happen, but on the other hand it may. Maybe I am a bit to honest...or naive.

Naesco...is post auditing done for ISO? If so, then how is that process done? MAC certification is closely modelled to this certification.

 

[naesco]

ISO standards are subject to audit.
In the MAC case from time to time MAC 'inspectors' will verify compliance with the MAC standards.
If you cheat you will be out. It is that threat that will keep the fishers honest and they are the most important part of the chain. A little extra bucks for their fish won't hurt either.
Training will have to be improved and a fast track sustainability analysis done in the areas to be fished to allow for the increased demand I see for MAC certified product.
It will take a while to take the bugs though.

 

[Anonymous]

MAC will still allow suppliers to sell both certified, and noncertified fish.only the certified batches need to follow the tracking protocal.this still allows for an operation to carry the sticker, and sell cyanided fish.


it also will make proper tracking of the fishes on an individual level even more difficult.any supplier can sub doa's between batches w/out being detected.

example:
50 fish in batches a&b, each-a is cyanide caught, b isn't.10 fish from b die on the first day(for whatever reason).they are not listed by the collector.

the collector then adds 10 fish from a to b, and writes off the 10 deads from a.


'nuff said-the plan is totally unrealistic

 

[StirCrazy]

Mary every electrical product that enters the US and Canada must have a UL or CSA sticker (certification by a private body whose certification is accepted by the US government.

the UL and CSA programs are federal programs contracted to a privat firm to handle it for the goverment.. wrong analogy again.. if the govermemnt set up the certification and contracted it to MAC with strict guidlines, then it would be the same. And for what it is worth I thi8nki this is the only way it would ever work.. the problem with MAC is they have no leagal power to go after people who don't conform and quite frankly thinking you can do any sweeping reform with out some sort of leagaly binding legaslation is a joke.. face it 90% or more people in this hoby coulden't care how there fish were caught as long as they can get them cheep. The amount of honest LFS is probably even lower, and I have no ilusion that they will do as Vitz said.. carry both the MAC sticker and cyanide fish in ajacent tanks or even in the same tank :roll: (Ie.. as a MAC fish is sold a cyanide fish replaces it to maximize profit, if you know what I mean...


Steve

 

[dizzy]

The goal of everyone in the industry should be to clean up the entire fish supply and not just the MAC fish. MAC should have been putting its efforts into teaching divers to use nets to catch the fish and developing a good cyanide test. If all the fish were being caught with nets and harvest limits were in place to assure sustainabilty, there would be no reason for stores to cheat. Trying to keep track of every fish that moves through the chain of custody makes no sense. All it will do is cause cheating and add cost.

MG

 

[clarionreef]

Wow Dizzy,
You sure are smarter than you look!
The wisdom and logic of your thread...guarantees that it will be passed over by the eco-reform incs. that have sprung up to service the perpetuation of ills in the industry.
In the outset of the IMA training movement 17 years ago, I used to say things as crazy as you. My favorite and most unpopular line was..." We need to do the job so well that we make ourselves obsolete and put ourselves out of business..."
Little did I relize that 17 years later, we found that the IMA prospered as much as the reefs failed and cyanide flourished unchecked.
MAC must repudiate the habits, dogma and errors of the previous reform administration and measure success in the extent they convert, implement and achieve things in the field...not just on paper.
If the trade converted to nets and became sustainable...why the need for an endless paper trail indeed?
My fear is that the paper will substitute for reality and reflect the use and abuse of endless loopholes in certification schemes.
Filipinos not only wrote the book on shining on and fooling naive outsiders, they even have their own words for it.
Manila exporters believe in this whole thing far less than some well meaning trade people in the West. They speak of giving us a "moro-moro" .
They're going to shake our head, take our bread and pin that certificate on the wall...along with all the other certificates they have collected since the first ones were printed in the Marcos time certifying cyanide free fish.
Think not that this is a novel idea. The first ones can be found in a FAMA magazine from way back in 1983!
Lets just adopt a less elitist, pro fisherman approach and train and solve the problem! [ instead of killing more trees thru squandering tons of paper in an endless and fruitless search for credibility.] Figure lie and liars figure. I want to see it all on video this time!
Steve of CORL