Palau Biotech Marine Tropicals?

[mkirda]

Can anyone tell me anything about this company?

They are apparently out of business, but I was interested in:

Whether they cultured coral frags.
Whether they ever shipped them out.
What sort of corals did get shipped.
If anyone might have some impressions on the quality of the corals.
Pics?

I seem to recall something about coral frags coming out of Palau, but cannot find any additional information.

Regards.
Mike Kirda

 

[sdcfish]

Hey Mike,

The guy you would want to speak to is Larry Sharron. He pretty much knows everything that ever happened down there.

It was about 15 years ago we started importing from Palau and have received many cultured corals, polyps, leathers, clams etc.

I have never heard of the name you mentioned, but who really knows?

Give me a buzz for further info. Palau is still shipping fish and inverts weekly.

Best regards,

Eric

 

[alfaman]

hi all

seems like Palau Aquaculture is the sole exporter from Palau.
Larry is in Palau no more.
their clams are awesome.

 

[Kalkbreath]

Can anyone tell me anything about this company?

They are apparently out of business, but I was interested in:

Whether they cultured coral frags.
Whether they ever shipped them out.
What sort of corals did get shipped.
If anyone might have some impressions on the quality of the corals.
Pics?

I seem to recall something about coral frags coming out of Palau, but cannot find any additional information.

Regards.
Mike Kirda

Lets sea......Ill put down my cyanide tainted boxing gloves for a moment .....to answer every thing you ever wanted to know about Palau Biotech Marine Tropicals................Larry and an Asian named Whilly Tan {msp} set up both fish and coral collection as well as aquaculture..........Whilly was a big time clothing exporter............The company first ran into problems when their collectors were fishing too close to the hotels and this was effecting the fish populations which the tourist industry complained about.........The Tourism Association ended up banning the colllection of fish .... Larry opened up Baleau Aquaculture {thats who sold cultured corals in Palau.....}to focus on cultured corals now that fish exports were banned......then the big Whanmmy the bleachings......water temps got too hot 82 degrees{how hot is your tank}? this killed off most of the wild coral and most of the aquaculture stock{remember the awesome neon green sinulara?} Did Garf ever get around to restocking the wild populations ? Larry sold the business to a Japanese Doctor and then Larry moved on to Tonga and then Vanuatu.....to work with Seagrest........any questions?

 

[mkirda]

any questions?

Nope. That about does it.

Thank you very much for the reply.

Regards.
Mike Kirda

 

[ERI]

Eric,

You haven't even been in business for 15 years!!! When did SDC make the transition from a jobber working out of Universal Marine Imports to a wholesaler - wasn't it about 1995/96 when ERI International began? Prior to that most of what you saw coming in from Larry in Palau was when he was shipping in the old days while you were working at UMI. That was when we used to get large volumes of fish, corals, and clams. In more recent times he was shipping a few cultured corals from Belau Aquaculture which became defunct after I got him a job and he moved to Tonga.

I met you about 10 - 11 years ago when you were delivering fish for Mark Nelson. Were you even in the trade 15 years ago?

Rob.

 

[Kalkbreath]

Now, now boys........take it outside.........{or better yet to the soccer field!} :wink:

 

[sdcfish]

Kalk,

You seem to know a heck of a lot about what's going on in LA? I wish I knew who you were so I could at least have a clue

Seems like Rob is/was having a bad day or something....I have no idea what made him post such a message.

As my friends and fellow comrades know, my Father owned the largest Tropical fish stores (Two) in the San Fernando Valley when I was a kid where I worked there for $2.00/hr. My brother and I who started Sea Dwelling Creatures, Inc. have been around this industry oh....for "about " 30 years (But please don't hold that number against me...give or take a few months). Our partner Brad was our next door neighbor since birth, so between the three of us, we are dedicated as hell to give this industry the best product possible. Our customers know all about that. We are just a bunch of fish geeks ourselves who get to be the lucky ones and make this our careers. Believe me that I every day I walk through the warehouse writting my "hotlist", it's just reminds me how lucky I/we am/are.

Kalk, if you have a soccer team, then you can join the new league whilst still in it's infancy stages.

For the record, my employees talked me into playing with them ( I grew up playing soccer) and after I faxed all the wholesalers in LA, we now have seven teams playing pre-season soccer games. The first two games were us against Underwater World. First game we lost, second game we won. It's really been fun so far. We are calling it TFWSL....Tropical fish wholesalers soccer league. We plan on setting up a schedule next week and starting a season ending with a big barbeque bash. Trophies, food, music, beer, etc....That's what I am talking about!

I wil try to post some pictures of our games on the web here for all to see.

Just a quick plug....new website just up...still under contstruction, but hopefully it will have progress....check it out. www.seadwelling.com

 

[ERI]

It was about 15 years ago we started importing from Palau and have received many cultured corals, polyps, leathers, clams etc.

Like I said, SDC was not even around 15 years ago and certainly was not not importing from Palau, or anywhere else for that matter, in 1988. If you recall, the first Palau imports either you or I saw were in the early '90's when Larry/Brian Momsen were shipping to Universal Marine Imports on a large scale every week. I think that that original company (correctly described by the Kalkman) in Palau was already out of business by the time Scott even starting jobbing out of the UMI warehouse under the name SDC.

 

[jamesw]

Hi Rob,

Back when I was in school at Berkeley, I used to visit Eric's (not SDC Eric) Barrier Reef in Blackhawk. Didn't you guys hook up later for the Flying Fish thing? I always wondered about that because Eric went to school w/ my GF at Monte Vista...

Then there was Reef Science International in San Ramon. They used to import an AMAZING selection of clams, captive grown frags, and zooanthids from Palau. Were these guys from the company in question? I always assumed they were from Belau Aquaculture. It was an amazing experience to visit there - like a kid in a candy store.

Just curious about the history.

Cheers
James

 

[Anonymous]

Wasn't Reef Science in Danville James?

 

[Anonymous]

Kalk,

You seem to know a heck of a lot about what's going on in LA? I wish I knew who you were so I could at least have a clue

Its no secret around here Eric, he owns or is partners in Cappucino Bay in Marietta Georgia.

 

[dizzy]

There was an ad for Carib Sea or something in FAMA that mentioned that Cappucino Bay was owned by some dude named Jeff I believe. Maybe he had a partner named Bobby or something like that. Jenn are you out there to fill us in?

 

[Kalkbreath]

I feel so naked and exposed!!! Yes , I own a retail store in Atlanta Ga...............I started this store because of my existing connections in the industry ........and I am about to start something much much bigger..... :wink:

 

[dizzy]

Well Jeff welcome to reefs.org. It must be nice to get out of that closet.

 

[Kalkbreath]

Well Jeff welcome to reefs.org. It must be nice to get out of that closet.

......."Actually its a rock"......and its" under" not "out"....... :wink: .......