MAC News 3rd Qtr

[Gatortailale]

International Certification for the Quality and Sustainability

of Marine Aquarium Organisms from Reef to Retail

 

MAC News    3rd Quarter 2004

 

Directors Note

 

Among the recurrent questions posed to the Marine Aquarium Council (MAC) these days are Where are the MAC fish? and Why does it seem that MAC is working so hard to get the industry certified, especially retailers, when the supply of certified animals is limited? In fact, MACs approach has always been to build up the demand and the supply of MAC Certified organisms simultaneously. However, progress in developing supply has been slower than anticipated. The lag is due primarily to the need for hands-on work with communities to develop collection area management plans and the need for training of collectors in responsible fishing and post-harvest practices. When MAC was established, the focus was on engaging partner organizations to undertake the village-level work. We have learned that MAC must take a more direct role in working with these rural communities if a sustainable supply of marine ornamentals is to be achieved on a meaningful scale and within an acceptable timeframe. As you will read below, these efforts are ramping up as we are able to secure resources. As a result, the level of supply-side activities - and outputs - is growing.

 

Another common question is What are the benefits of MAC Certification for a retailer when there arent a lot of MAC Certified fish available? Patrick Donston - owner of the MAC Certified retail shop Absolutely Fish in Clifton, NJ, and Pet Product News 2003-2004 North America Retailer of the Year - discussed many of the benefits in the article The Retailer of the Year Gets Even Better with MAC Certification. He notes, Since we became a MAC Certified facility, my customers are buying healthier fish and the services we provide are enhanced.  Since that article appeared, Donston has realized additional benefits from being MAC Certified. He recently reported that after MAC Certification his profits in marines went up significantly. In addition to increased profits, he said, he had better knowledge of what to buy from whom and the staff had better husbandry practices, all resulting in a better quality animal to the hobbyist.

 

Besides benefiting their customers and their business, retailers becoming MAC Certified provide incentives for exporters and importers to facilitate the flow of MAC Certified organisms into the market. An increased number of MAC Certified retail stores seeking MAC Certified organisms will also encourage collectors and their communities to seek out and adhere to MAC Certified reef management and collection practices as they come to realize that the market wants healthy, responsibly caught organisms.

 

MAC Training Teams Begin Work in Palawan and Tawi Tawi

 

In spite of challenges posed by rough seas, MAC Training Teams began work in two new areas in the Philippines through a USAID-supported project "Transforming the Marine Aquarium Trade" (TMAT). The recently translated MAC training manual for collectors is a key component of these training efforts.

 

Nine MAC trainers, an area manager and three community organizers began training in August in Simunul, Tawai Tawi province. More than 200 people attended the project launch, including the mayor, chief of police, municipal planning officer, agriculture and fisheries officials and trainees from three villages. The mayor is heading the committee responsible for developing the collection area management plan (CAMP) for the collection sites.

 

Eighteen other MAC trainers, an area manager and a community organizer began work at six sites on Cagayancillo island in the province of Palawan. More than 100 people attended the September 3rd launch of the project, including the mayor, municipal officials, village leaders and collectors. The event provided an opportunity for MAC and the mayor to address questions about the project. Among the keys points made were the following:

 

MAC works to change cyanide fishermen into net fishermen in order to protect coral reefs.

MAC does not buy or sell fish, but helps link MAC Certified collectors to MAC Certified buyers.

The MAC Standards address the sustainability of the communitys resource and livelihoods.

The number of collectors to be trained is determined by selection according to objective criteria and by the limits of resources and logistics.

While training of the collectors in some of the villages was slowed by the activities of a local fiesta (Sept. 1-10), the collectors and the collection sites have achieved significant headway in preparing for MAC Certification. The mayor assigned his Municipal Agricultural Officer to lead community organization efforts needed to develop a CAMP for the collection sites. Reef Check began surveying all of the sites using the Marine Aquarium Trade Coral Reef Monitoring Protocol (MAQTRAC) to provide scientific resource assessment data.

 

Elsewhere in the Philippines, collectors and their communities in Marcilla, Northern Palawan, and Camotes, Cebu Province, are working steadily towards achieving compliance with the MAC Standards for their collection areas and operations.

 

Collector Training, Management Plans Advance in Indonesia with Industry Support

 

MAC staff and its partners, joining together with Indonesian export companies, are making steady progress preparing collectors and collection areas for MAC Certification in Indonesia, particularly in the Districts of Tejakula and Gerokgak, in Bali.

 

MAC Indonesia Country Director Gayatri Reksodihardjo-Lilley and senior staff of the Department of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (DKP) held discussions on the draft collection area management plan (CAMP) for Tejakula. Meetings on the CAMP were also held in the districts nine villages and documentation training for collector coordinators was held in August.

 

In nearby Gerokgak District, collector groups have been established in Pejarakan and Sumber Kima. Ten collectors from Les and Tembok, Tejakula District, who have been trained to help educate other collectors about non-destructive fishing practices, conducted the first-ever net training for the collector's group in Pejarakan. The 45 collectors attending the July event were initially reluctant to believe that nets alone could be used to catch sufficient fish, as they were familiar only with the use of cyanide. After viewing a film on making and using a barrier net and practicing making a net and using it, they realized that net collecting is not as difficult as they had imagined. Six of the trainers from Tejakula also provided training to 25 fishermen from Sumber Kima.

 

Two members of the collectors group from Pejarakan received additional training from a leading export company in Jakarta. The collectors learned about screening, holding and packing techniques at the exporters facility at the companys expense. After the Jakarta training, the export companys owner visited Tejakula District to train 10 people from the local collectors' communities on screening and packing.

 

MAC and its partners are also actively working in Jakarta Province on the island of Java and Lampung Province on the island of Sumatra. MAC and the non-profit conservation organization TERANGI (i.e., Terumbu Karang Indonesia, or the Indonesian Coral Reef Foundation) have helped to establish the collectors group of Pulau Panggang in the utlization zone of Pulau Seribu National Park, Jakarta Bay, in coordination with the responsible government agencies. TERANGI has started scoping activities in Lampung, and a local NGO partner has been identified to conduct socioeconomic surveys for selected sites within this province.

 

MAC Initiates Dive Safety Training Module for Collectors

 

Few aquarists realize the dangers faced on a daily basis by the collectors who catch the fish for the trade. In contrast, the collectors are acutely aware of the risks involved, since many of them have had friends either paralyzed or even killed because of unsafe diving practices. They have often witnessed, or experienced for themselves, the results of diving too deep for too long, with limited or faulty equipment, and without emergency procedures if anything goes wrong. Many people, including an extended family and friends, depend directly on the income of a collector, because work opportunities are so few. Therefore, the impact of a dive-related injury or death can be far-reaching and devastating, well beyond the collector's immediate family.

 

With these realities and the requirements of the MAC Standards in mind, MAC developed a health and safety diving component to the MAC training that collectors receive. Using trained dive instructors, who are also conversant with the limitations and needs of poor, uneducated fishermen, MAC Indonesia is initiating a dive safety module using language and pictures that the divers can understand. The training is in its early days, but has so far been welcomed with great enthusiasm by the participants who comment that they now have a better understanding of why dive accidents so often occur and what they can do to prevent them.

 

MAC Indonesia has gone further and introduced the collectors of one area in north Bali to the possibility of receiving treatment for decompression sickness in a hyperbaric chamber, some three hours by road from the collectors' village. Modern hospitals have traditionally been avoided through fear and ignorance, an injured diver preferring to take his chances with local treatment. Also, the cost of any treatment there was assumed to be well beyond the means of a villager. A small group of collectors was encouraged to visit the hospital, accompanied by MAC staff, to demystify the decompression process. This group of collectors, on its own initiative, then booked 20 of its members to receive treatment in the hyperbaric chamber and also requested comprehensive health checks. The hospital gave a discount rate for the fishermen. The money to accomplish this first visit was raised by the fishermen themselves - a testimony to their eagerness to embrace this new opportunity They have since returned to the village and spread the word about the chamber, thus helping to dispel many of the myths and fears previously held by their community about this potentially life-saving treatment that is available to them.

 

These small successes are significant, potentially helping to improve living standards and save lives, and MAC Indonesia feels confident that the collectors who have completed the dive safety training process will at least be more capable of evaluating and then minimizing the risks they take daily to supply the aquarium market.

 

MAC Pacific Efforts Continue in Fiji, Tonga and Solomon Islands

 

MAC is completing work with one company and beginning work with two other companies and their communities in Fiji to achieve compliance with MAC Standards. The development of collection area management plans (CAMPs) has begun for the sites used by the two new companies.

 

MAC is also working with a range of stakeholders in Fiji on issues such as the sustainability of coral and live rock collection. In July, MAC participated in a workshop on Fijis Non-detriment Finding Methodology for Extraction of and Trade in Marine Aquarium Species to which international representative were invited. MACs Executive Director Paul Holthus attended the meeting, as well as MAC Pacific Program staff and Reef Check Director Gregor Hodgson, PhD.

 

Elsewhere in the Pacific, MAC collector trainer Chris Beta is working with three companies in Tonga, and CAMPs for Madou and Rarumana in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands will be initiated towards the last quarter of the year.  

 

Hawaii Industry Efforts Advance in Kona

 

MAC North America Coordinator Mark Schreffler is leading MACs activities in Hawaii, with support from US NOAA, the Castle Foundation and The Nature Conservancy. He met with a Kona exporter to facilitate that companys efforts to prepare its facility and collectors to become MAC Certified. The company is making progress on its documentation system and facility to meet the requirements for MAC Certification. A number of other Hawaii collectors/exporters have signed the Statement of Commitment to work toward MAC Certification.

 

Florida Industry Supports MAC

 

About 15 Florida industry members attended a MAC Certification Seminar at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa on July 21. MAC North American Coordinator Mark Schreffler and Communications Director Sylvia Spalding conducted the session with assistance from Alan Heath of MAC Certified Venice Pet Center (Florida) and Rick Preuss of MAC Certified Preuss Animal House (Michigan). The overall response from the industry in Florida was very positive. Many retailers and collectors who couldnt make the meeting expressed strong interest in working with MAC.  

 

While in Tampa, Schreffler and Spalding visited MAC Certified Venice Pet Center and MAC Certified Segrest Farms. They also held consultations with several companies from Tampa through Miami who are committed to becoming MAC Certified.

 

MAC Works with Schools and Teachers to Educate Future Hobbyists

 

The success of MACs mission to conserve coral reefs by creating standards and certification for the marine aquarium trade ultimately relies on informed consumers who will use their purchasing power to demand MAC Certified organisms. MAC is working on many fronts to educate consumers about the marine aquarium trade and the role of MAC Certification in conserving coral reefs. The main focus of this outreach is to existing consumers through hobbyist publications, marine aquarium societies, marine hobbyist conferences, point-of-purchase handouts, product inserts, etc.

 

MAC is increasingly engaging educators to inform young hobbyists and future hobbyists about marine aquarium trade issues and MAC Certification. MAC has worked with the World Wildlife Fund, Ocean Futures Society, public aquariums and others to develop a MAC component in lesson plans and educational publications about coral reef ecosystems and the international trade in reef resources. MAC has also partnered with Alexander Gould, the voice of Nemo in Finding Nemo, and Rolf C. Hagen Corp. to produce a five-minute informational video on the trade and MAC Certification that can be used in classrooms, public aquariums and retail outlets. The video and other resources for educators are available on CDs produced by MAC and by NOAAs Coral Conservation Program.

 

In July, the 400 marine science educators attending the National Marine Educators Association (NMEA) conference in Tampa, Florida, learned about MAC Certification at the MAC booth, through promotional materials distributed at the conferences Seafaire/Sea Swap and at a standing room only presentation given by MAC staff and MAC Certified retailer Rick Preuss. The presentation provided advice to educators who use or are interested in using marine aquarium tanks as a teaching tool in their classrooms. Tips on keeping a healthy aquarium as well ideas on lesson plans encompassing both the hard sciences (e.g., biology) and social sciences (e.g., the effects of the global market on ecosystems in supply countries) were conveyed. The educators had very favourable responses to the presentation and to the handouts and CDs they received. MAC Certified Venice Pet Center provided example organisms and equipment used during the talk.

 

MAC Outreach Around the World

 

In North America

 

The first of four articles from the Marine Aquarium Council for Tropical Fish Hobbyist (TFH) magazine appeared in the September issue. It featured the MAC Certified shop Absolutely Fish of Clifton, NJ (and owner Patrick Donston, Pet Product News Retailer of the Year in 2003-2004).

In the October TFH issue, J. Charles Delbeek says: As marine aquarists, it is our responsibility to ensure that our hobby conserves the reef ecosystems that provide us with many of the animals for our aquariums. We can do this by supporting the Marine Aquarium Council (MAC) and the suppliers of MAC Certified organisms. The quote appears in a full-page ad for MAC Certification provided by TFH that also features photography by Delbeek.

The North America Certified Industry Group (CIG), consisting of the MAC Certified importers and retailers in the United States and Canada, are holding regular meetings to discuss MAC Certification issues, such as facilitating the flow of MAC Certified organisms from Reef to Retail.

MAC North America Coordinator Mark Schreffler and MAC Board Member John Brandt attended the Marine Aquarium Conference of North America (MACNA) Sept. 10-12 in Boston. Schreffler staffed the MAC booth and delivered a presentation on the monitoring and managing of coral reef fisheries using the Marine Aquarium Trade Coral Reef Monitoring Protocol (MAQTRAC) on behalf of Dr. Gregor Hodgson, Reef Check Director.

Potters Zoo (Lansing, Michigan) has been provided with collector artefacts, a video and other MAC materials for its upcoming coral reef exhibit, which will include a section on MAC Certification. The exhibit will be the largest coral reef display in a Michigan zoo.

On Sept. 10, Associate Professor Ileana Clavijo of the University of North Carolina in Wilmington gave a presentation on MAC Certification and aquaculture at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. The targeted audience consisted of local fish store representatives, hobbyists and college aquaculture students.

The Marine Aquarium Society of Toronto included a presentation on MAC Certification in their Sept. 11 meeting.

In Europe:

 

The Silvertown Aquarium in London is working on an acquisition policy for marine aquarium organisms that has strong support for MAC Certified products.

In Asia:

 

MAC helped organize the China International Recreation Fisheries and Aquaria 2004 Conference, Sept. 9-12, in Guangzhou, China, and MAC Asia Director Rezal Kusumaatmadja made a plenary presentation on MAC work with collectors and communities that supply marine ornamentals.

In the Pacific:

 

MAC Executive Director Paul Holthus made a presentation on MAC Certification progress to the representatives of fisheries departments from around the Pacific and international organizations at the Heads of Fisheries meeting, Aug. 30 to Sept. 4 at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) in Noumea, New Caledonia. He also provided an overview of the MAC work to develop international standards for the trade in live reef food fish.

Interest in MAC Aquaculture Standard Increases

 

The MAC Mariculture and Aquaculture Management (MAM) Standard is gaining increasing interest worldwide. Comments on the fourth draft of the Standard were received from the 60-member MAM Standards Advisory Group (SAG) over the past few months. MAC Certification Systems Director/Europe Director Peter Scott has incorporated these into draft Issue 5. MAC will work with three Hawaii aquaculture companies to test the draft Standard and gauge its applicability and feasibility.

 

Pet Industry and Government Resource Agencies Unite to Create a New 'Habitattitude™' on Aquatic Invasive Species

 

The Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (PIJAC), a co-founder of MAC, has joined with federal agencies to help consumers prevent the release and escape of non-native plants and animals through Habitattitude™, a new public education and outreach effort. The government-industry coalition is formed from PIJAC, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Minnesota Sea Grant. Habitattitude™ encourages aquarium owners to avoid unwanted introductions of non-native species by adopting simple prevention steps when faced with an unwanted aquatic plant or fish:

 

Contact a retailer for proper handling advice or for possible returns.

Give/trade with another aquarist.

Donate to a local aquarium society, school or aquatic business.

Seal aquatic plants in plastic bags and dispose in the trash.

Contact a veterinarian or pet retailer for guidance on humane disposal of animals.

"Beginning this fall, when aquarium hobbyists go to purchase fish or plants for their tanks or ponds, they'll receive the Habitattitude™ message," said Marshall Meyers, PIJAC Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Habitattitude™ materials will be displayed in aquarium stores, aquatic retail outlets, hobby magazines and nursery and landscape businesses across the country, as well as on packaging of related products.

 

A new Web site, www.habitattitude.net, will help consumers to learn more about responsible behavior and how to prevent the spread of potential aquatic nuisance species. The site includes information on the U.S. federal and state laws and statutes that regulate the aquatic organisms, recommended alternatives to releasing plants and animals, instructions on how individuals and clubs can get involved and detailed information on some of the more problematic aquarium species that have created problems with aquatic ecosystems.

 

MAC in the News

 

“The Retailer of the Year Gets Even Better with MAC Certification,” by Sylvia Spalding. Tropical Fish Hobbyist. September 2004: pp 66-70.

 

“Healthy Reef, Healthy Fish, Healthy Hobby.” Tropical Fish Hobbyist, October 2004: p 71.

 

“The Responsible Marine Aquarist,” reviewed by Bob Goemans. Freshwater and Marine Aquarium. October 2004: p 92.

 

“ MAC Retailer Becomes MAC Employee.” Pet Product News. September 2004: p 17.

 

“Progress Report.” Zoological Society of London’s Marine & Freshwater News. September 2004. p 4.

 

“ISEAL Members’ News.” International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labeling (ISEAL) Alliance Newsletter. August 2004. www.isealalliance.org.

 

“MAC Continua Buscando un Test Seguro para el Cianuro,” by John Dawes. Animalia: 165.

 

“MAC: Coninua la Ricara di test affidabili par I cianuro,” by John Dawes. Hobby Zoo. July 2004: p 149.

 

Upcoming Events

 

Oct. 8-10: Backer’s 37th Annual Pet Industry Christmas Trade Show and Educational Conference (Chicago, Illinois, USA) www.hhbacker.com/

 

Dec. 5-10: Sixth International Aquarium Congress (Monterey, Calif., USA) www.iac2004.org

 

March 13-15, 2005: Global Pet Expo (Orlando, Fla., USA).

 

April 2-3, 2005: International Coral Reef Conferences of Paris (France) www.circop.com/US_default.html

 

May 7-8, 2005: 4th International Days of Saltwater Aquaristic (Strasbourg, France) www.recif-france.com/indexphp

 

May 9-13, 2005: World Aquaculture Conference (Bali, Indonesia)

 

June 24-26, 2005. International Marine Aquarium Conference (Chicago, Ill., USA)

 

July 11-16, 2005: National Marine Educators Association Conference (Maui, Hawaii, USA)

 

September 16-18, 2005: Marine Aquarium Conference of North America (Washington, DC, USA)

 

October 7-9, 2005: Backer Christmas Pet Trade Show (Chicago, Ill., USA)

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