MAC NEEDS NEW LEADERSHIP

[clarionreef]

Mac has failed a mission that could've been run so much better and produced so much more for now.

Like a football team that doesn't make the finals or a like a CEO that can't get the company back in the black, in our culture failings are met with changes in senior management.
I have always wondered about how Democratic this group was....
Does it ever change anything despite a chronic series of failure that has alienated real believers and genuine reformers?
Is the BOD in fact just a rubber stamp like so many BODs in so many front organizations?
Its had the same lack-luster performance for 7-8 years now.
Why not a change in leadership?
Eric Cohen would make a far, far more effective leader as the current one...and if not? If not...a system of changing the guard to find another one then.
The president for life system they have now has simply not allied with the trade well at all and as a result, has not succeeded in reforming it.

Steve

 

[bookfish]

Seconded

 

[spawner]

Living on soft money tends to drive one to socialism, you get use to the government check.

 

[clarionreef]

Living on soft money...

You mean you even have a term for it?
What we have been conditioned to believe is that this is 'as good as it gets.'
That no one really believes it anymore but we must play along and appear to be supportive.
That we must have it...or we will be shut down....that this is the last chance and that they are the only game in town.
Well....they had free reign for a long time. They liquidated budget after budget to no acclaim and all I know that when they fail and collapse, they will blame the trade for not supporting them.
The firings of everyone in sight w/ experience and the staffing with newbies and neophytes in this struggle condemn them to even more irrelevance and ineffectiveness for the coming year.

Local organizations and local champions are emerging to replace this old semi-eco guard and its about time!
How bout a show of support to forward to all the Board of Directors of the Marine Aquarium Council?
They can
1. break mission....
2. select a new leader...
3. give greater autonomy to the local offices...
4. more money to the locals to do monitored fieldwork with...
and expect better results within 3 months.
Lets create an archive with this thread and send it to em.
Steve

 

[StevenPro]

No offense to Eric as I have found his posts to be some of the most enlightening, thoughtful, conherent, and of reasonable tone in this forum, but it would be a tremendous conflict of interest to have someone, anyone actively involved in the industry heading MAC. I doubt this movement to replace Paul Holthus with Eric would go anywhere. I would not be surprised if this very thing was prohibited in the charter/by-laws of MAC.

 

[dizzy]

No offense to Eric as I have found his posts to be some of the most enlightening, thoughtful, conherent, and of reasonable tone in this forum, but it would be a tremendous conflict of interest to have someone, anyone actively involved in the industry heading MAC. I doubt this movement to replace Paul Holthus with Eric would go anywhere. I would not be surprised if this very thing was prohibited in the charter/by-laws of MAC.

Now there's a possible freudian slip.

 

[sdcfish]

I agree........having myself as the President of Mac would seem to be a conflict of interest. While I appreciate the motion, my preference would be to be more involved on the bod of MAC and help guide them to success. We can leverage our contacts with our customer base and reach out to 1000 or more dealers across the country.

Again, thanks to Steve for his support, and his continued passion for a "cleaner" Indo-Pacific.

Best regards

Eric

 

[clarionreef]

Steven,
Of course I can see a reason to have conflict of interest rules in a group like this.
But likewise, I cannot understand the need for uninvolved, dis-connected and inexperienced people who haven't got a clue as to how to proceed. We got that already and need to try something else.

Drag John Tullock away from his orchids then. He was a first choice anyway!
Steve

 

[clarionreef]

From: PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE - view profile
Date: Sun, Dec 6 1998 12:00 am
Email: [email protected] (PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE)
Groups: torfree.fccs.news.misc

PADLOCKED: PUERTO PRINCESA EXPORTER OF CYANIDE-CAUGHT FISH

Puerto Princesa City, Dec. 6, 1998 - Mayor Edward Hagedorn yesterday
ordered the closure of a live fish export firm caught red-handed with 150
pieces of live fish found positive for sodium cyanide, as the government
launched an all-out campaign against all forms of illegal fishing in the city.


The city government also revoked the business permit of Sea World Marine Products, a trading firm engaged in exporting live fish to Taiwan, Hong Kong
and Japan.


On Nov. 17, elements of Bantay Puerto led by Benito Clark Marcelo, chairman
of Baywatch, intercepted 150 live Lapu-Lapu locally called "suno" being
transported from sitio Sabang on the city's western coast to a buying
station in barangay San Pedro.


Brought to the city's cyanide detection test (CDT) laboratory, the fish
were found positive for sodium cyanide.

According to cyanide detection lab staff, fish or marine products containing
.2 or more parts per million of cyanide are deemed positive and unfit for
human consumption. The fish samples taken from Sea World Marine Products
recorded a high of 89.25 parts per million.

Hagedorn commended the sustained efforts of Bantay Puerto and elements of
the Philippine National Police in protecting the marine resources of the city.


He also appealed to other local government authorities and law enforcement
agencies to strictly monitor the live fish trading in their respective
areas. Hagedorn offered the use of the city's CDT lab in their drive
against illegal fishing
....end....

....now with the CDT gone and the MAC fig leaf in place....news like this is harder to come by.
I wonder how often they get away with it all now with the real CDT gone and the lack of one provided by MAC in its place.
Oh yes....the CDT was killed off in favor of the current nothing.
Strange way to reform things!

Of course the cyanide trade breathes a lot easier now....which may have been the point all along. MACs greatest support is in fact from the leading exporters of cyanide trade.
The delays, the years of no pressure, the obfuscation, the watering down of passionate groups, the sopping up of the funding and the substitute of nothing they fear....has made the leader of MAC a hero in their eyes.
This is his legacy....6 years of delaying a change whos time had come.
Steve

 

[clarionreef]

WASHINGTON (March 19) -- MAC Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday dismissed suggestions that the Bush White House, hampered by a weak response to Hurricane Katrina and stumbles on policy questions, needs a shake-up.

"I don't think we can pay any attention to that kind of thing," Cheney said on RDO'S .... "Face the Nation."
"The president has got a job to do. ... He ignores the background noise that's out there in the polls that are taken on a daily basis."

Bush's job approval in March was at 37 percent, which tied for his lowest rating in the AP-Ipsos poll. Senior Republicans and others have said the Bush team may need an infusion of fresh blood and ideas.

See? Its a normal thing.

 

[PeterIMA]

Steve, You missed the main point. The President is expected to replace staff close to him but stay in power. Isn't that what the MAC has been doing?

I takes more than low opinion polls to replace the President (usually a federal election). I expect that an election by the MAC BOD will be needed to replace Paul Holthus.

Peter

 

[dizzy]

Peter the president is usually replaced in four years if he is not doing a good job, via an election. Two four years terms is the maximum length of service and there is a very good reason for this. Too much power concentrated in the hands of to few is never a good thing. We have no way of knowing if the MAC board is satisfied or not.

 

[clarionreef]

"We have no way of knowing if the MAC board is satisfied or not."

Especially if they are an impotent rubber stamp.

This could test if they are or not. Perhaps it is they...who are on trial.
If they feel that their wishes are never respected, they could also resign in protest.
If they feel that MAC actually has potential with better leadership, then they can exercise what Democracy their rules allow.
Remaining there....silent as their Rome burns hardly helps them either.

Steve

 

[aquaticvet1]

Mods,
In the spirit of "the new beginning" this thread should end as well . Steve's rhetoric no longer counts.

Race

 

[bookfish]

Perhaps this thread would have ended with Steves last post...

 

[aquaticvet1]

Bookfish ,
I just want to make sure . There have been a whole lot of "perhaps" only to wake up to more insults . I want it to be over tonight and so does the hobby .

Race

 

[bookfish]

Based on your last post, I am aware that you want this thread to be over. I share your desire to see insults minimized or eliminated on this forum and will continue to make that concern a focus. I will not lock, delete, edit or change this thread unless I feel it is needed. If you feel there is a post in a thread that is insulting you directly please PM me immediately.Thx-Jim

 

[aquaticvet1]

Fair enough,
All I ask Bookfish is that when and if the rhetoric begins , please allow me to bring out the gattling guns. The industry has all it can stanz and it can't stanz no more.

 

[Anonymous]

Fair enough,
All I ask Bookfish is that when and if the rhetoric begins , please allow me to bring out the gattling guns. The industry has all it can stanz and it can't stanz no more.

All that is required is that you abide by the user agreement that you agreed to when you registered on RDO. You are responsible for what you choose to post regardless of what anyone else posts. If your 'gattling guns' fall within the bounds of the UA, fine, if not, not fine.

This forum will be smoother and more effective if people don't try vigilante moderating. If there is a problem PM an admin or forum moderator. If there is a thread you think should be over, bumping it up is a sure way to get it to get more, not less, attention.

As an aside Race, I think you are doing yourself a disservice when you write from the perspective that you speak for the industry or for the hobby, just as Steve does himself a disservice when he does the same.

 

[bookfish]

I understand what you're saying and I do try to maintain a level playing field for all participants in this forum.