Hello everyone. My name is Eddie Hanson and I'm an Indonesian coral exporter working out of Bali. Some of you may remember me back in the days when I used to have a reef shop called Tropical Paradise in the SF area. About 4 years ago, I had an opportunity to go to the Kingdom of Tonga to run a collection/export station.
One of the main problems that I saw right away was that the divers were never trained on the corals. They simply went out and collected what ever was around. On my first collecting trip, I threw back 90% of the corals. For sure most these corals would have ended up at some wholesaler or retailer unable to sell and eventually die. The guys were collecting corals that were not suitable for the aquarium trade. Of course these were experienced coral divers that had worked for other exporters before. The lead diver even worked for Walt Smith in Fiji. But in a matter of months, with me going out with them everyday for training, they started to catch on what is good and what is bad. So instead of taking 90% of corals around them that was not suitable, we were only taking 20%. More work but we were actually "less destructing the reef". I spent a lot of time with the divers and they all had nothing good to say about their former boss, Walt Smith. They used to tell me how they used to go to one area and wipe out all of the one species. I asked about some of the Indonesian corals, they said that Tonga used to have, but Walt took it all and there is no more. Walt Smith was one of the first exporter and collector, so there were really no regulations, so he simply did what he wanted. This is all coming from the divers, not other exporters or customers or anyone.
After I felt the divers can go collect on their own, it was time to work on fish. We had 5 divers total. We brought in 3 legal Filipino divers to train and work together with our Tongan divers on how to catch fish using nets. The trick was to teach our local divers, because eventually the Filipinos would go home after their contract. I took two of the more veterans of our diver crew and teamed them up with the Filipinos. At this time I teamed up with my friend who has a huge wholesale operation in northern California to bring in famous Steve Robinson to train our Filipino and Tonga divers how to catch fish without destructing the reefs. Robert (owner of Aquatic Specialties and Pets) and I wanted to make sure that any bad habits the Filipinos had, wasn't going to
be used in catching ornamental fish in Tonga. Steve is the expert in this field. Years ago, he was taught by Australians using nets and took his knowledge to PI. It was all cyanide back in those days and thanks to him, much of the fish collection is now net caught. Heck even my Filipino divers heard of Steve Robinson, just by reputation.
While this was going on, I also started an aquaculture project. Actually other companies were already doing it, just not so successful. We needed a place and ended up renting space from the Fisheries Clam Farm. Years ago, the Japanese had given this clam farm as a gift to Tonga. They trained the locals but after the Japanese left, things fell apart. The farm is a state of the art facility and had huge amount of potential. We dumped money and man power and cleaned up the place. We had a deal with the fisheries. We would pay rent and maintain the facility, although only half of the tanks were ours, and all the clams spawned we were going to share. So the fisheries loved me from the start. They had all to gain and nothing to loose. Daniel Knop even came out to consult. He went out with my divers and took a photo of the rare Tevora clam, which he really wanted for his next clam book. No one had an updated picture. He was very happy. I also had Anthony Calfo come out to help me with the aquaculture. I can grow corals in captive tanks but can I do it in the field? If I'm not sure, I get people that know to help me. The process was simple. We would get pieces from wild colonies and make broodstock. After these grow out, we would cut pieces and mount them on cement disks and grow these out for sale. But finding a place to grow the corals was more tricky than I thought. The first place was too shallow, the second place had too much sediment, the third place had too much algea and huge starfish that would eat the corals! Then finally I found a place where we could leave the corals alone for months at a time and grow nicely. I brought some samples to Macna at that time to see what kind of response I would get. People loved it. I even brought out my Tongan partner to the show so he can see what was happening on the otherside. The organizers were delighted that an exporter from overseas had come to the show. After the positive response of the aquaculture, we went back to Tonga to start production. We got permission from the fisheries to grow our corals in the certain area. No one was allowed to go there, but us. I had big plans to repopulate areas of damage left by Walt Smith.
Unfortunately, this is where I got screwed out of my Tonga operation and left. That was nearly around 3 years ago.
I'm now in Indonesia and have been here a year exporting super high quality corals. Actually my concept of aquaculture is even better than the concept that was developed here years ago. The "farmers" have to maintain and constantly clean the racks because of algea problems. My corals in Tonga needed no maintenance! I don't have an aquaculture license yet so I can't implement any of my ideas but once I do get it - watch out! I have a special project that will rock the industry!
So now I'm minding my own business in Indo, getting ready to leave for Vietnam in a day, and my friend Robert sends me a link to this thread. He says"you got to hear this crap!"
So here I am posting, and I haven't posted since the TP days when I used to sponsor.
So Mr. Smith,
What have I done to offend you so wrongly? I haven't been in Tonga for three years. I don't know what is going on? All I know, is that my aquaculture project went down the tubes and my partner no longer rents the fisheries clam farm. Everything is back to "normal".
I don't even know you. The only time we ever spoke was when you called me up from LA and asked me to sell fish to you exclusively. I brought in professional divers so we can export fish overseas, not to supply to my competitor. Where did you get the galls to ask me not to sell to anyone in LA? You should've just been glad that I was selling you corals and some leftover fish because your operation was dead at the time. All you were really sending was liverock. Actually we hardly ever sold rock. It was a loosing deal for us and we would only collect a few pieces when my customers requested it.
You neglected Tonga and focused all of your attention on Fiji. Heck you even lied to my friend a long time ago when we went to visit you at Pacific Aquafarms. There was this beautiful new rock that was displayed in one of your tanks. You called it Kaelini from Fiji! You never gave credit in the beginning for Tonga. So then I show up and start doing something good for everyone (we had at one point 28 employees. When I first got there, there were less than ten with part time divers), and you get upset 4 years later!
Now that you are loosing liverock quota, somehow it is my fault? How dare you bring me up in your problems! Where were you when I used to entertain all guests that used to come to the clam farm? The fisheries were proud that their clam farm was up an running. It used to be one of the "monkeys" on their backs. The government used to get on fisheries case about the condition of the farm. Now that I showed up, everyone was sending any people of importance my way. They were actually now proud. I used to have many meetings with my partner and the minister of the fisheries to talk about the future of the coral trade. I can tell you that there were very little guidelines even just a few years ago. Where were you?
Fellow reefers, for hobbyists Walt Smith is a hero. Because you guys don't know what goes on behind the scenes. I used to think he was the god of corals and had huge respect for him. Then I got into the business and found out the truth. I have heard the term "crowbar Walt" too many times on the field.
And oh by the way Walt, if you are such an expert on aquaculture, and I'm such an idiot, why was I asked to come to PNG to consult in an aquaculture project and not you?
Cheers Walt, we can talk man to man when we meet.
For everyone, I'm sorry for the extra long post. I apologize as I didn't plan on my first post on RC being so negative.
Cheers,
Eddie
It's a challenge I used to be up for all the time, but I don't have the space anymore.
