FORCING FIJI

[clarionreef]

People,
So our friends at MAC have been busy in lots of places.
Fijis fishery dept mandates co-operation and compliance w/ MAC certification to be issued permits to export now.
OK so, some Fiji outfits are owned by certified importers looking for better image points and all the fish are netcaught anyway...not so big a deal.
However, this was but a sample of what was to come...and its it coming to light now;
No less then a plan to extort compliance from the trade to 'go thru them' and give them a credibility they never earned in the field.
Ironic...a Philippine collection depot kicks them out for gross cultural insensitivity and technical incompetence...as stateside politicians swallow their schtick hook, line and sinker.
I thought the worth of a policy was in its implementation...not its rhetoric. I guess I was wrong.
Fijian Fisheries can now imagine themselves to be more modern by accepting this free eco-makeover.
Environmental rhetoric without deeds can pay off very well it seems.
Steve

 

[aquatic ian]

why is it that fiji fish are asumed to be non chemical caught ? is it that the required chemicals arnt readilly available ?

just curious

 

[clarionreef]

No,
Its just that the business people are the ones who introduce the poisons to the divers and in Fiji no one has done that like they do in the Philippines and Indonesia.
Steve
PS. This should help to explain some of the highly charged debates here as this routine coral reef assault is promoted and financed by the movers and shakers in the industry itself. A number of them serve on the MAC board of directors.

 

[Anonymous]

Steve,
Does this mean that only the 4 mac certified importers can get Fiji livestock? And we know only the 6 mac certified retailers will get mac certified livestock.
What threats does this pose other than the obvisous, Fiji livestock only threw threw mac?

 

[clarionreef]

Sally,
No , not at all.
Right now the MAC certified exporter in Manila ships cyanide fish to anyone. The facilities are certified...not the fish.
THERE ARE NO FISH...Thats the fraud of this whole thing!
The manipulation of the Fijian Fisheries Dept. is limited to the issuance of next permits to Fiji exporters only. Obviously they will have to sell to other customers to stay alive as there are too few MAC dealers. This is however the beginning of a move to build momentum by starting with the easy one...Fiji.
Trying to corner supply and manipulate people into dealing with their seal of approval is a response to failing in the real marketplace and in the field where the supply comes from.
Promising higher prices to divers and shippers has long been a mainstay of their recruitment pitch. Never delivering on it however, has caused a lot of bad blood between them and those folks.
This is a pure "city boy" group with high ambitions of controlling a
field based trade to bow to their will.
Lying and falsifying the issues to government authorities is the tactic we now see on the upswing. Threatening and scaring people to join them will increase now.
Mark this warning.
Steve

 

[Anonymous]

Steve,

Instead of running attack ads why not take your experience and get a few like minded people together and compete against those NGO's you disagree with? You and your like minded friends could: form an NGO, write some grant applications, get some public funding, and do things as you see fit. As you've said before you've got a lot of experience, on both sides of the fence, with NGO's.

Competition is the American way.

-Lee

 

[clarionreef]

Lee,
I'm serious.
Help me sell my business or bulk sale on the facility and I'll be happy to go!
I'm tired of this end anyway and would love to work the far side again.
Steve
PS.
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY GLARING HOLES AND THINGS TO EASILY ATTACK?
The answer comes from non aquarium fish people posing as the real thing.
Think of it in your own line of work Lee. I know I could try and fake your job...but you'd see thru it right away. All of you. Is it not the same with what you do as well?