I have to get something off of my chest that really has been bothering me. Of course, I’ll once again start with my famous disclaimer that this is MY opinion, and I don’t pretend to speak on behalf of anyone else, nor am I putting myself or my company up on a pedestal here. This applies to all of us.
First, a bit of background:
As you know, Unique Corals in general, and myself in particular, have been rather staunch supporters of captive propagation, sustainable sourcing, and responsible handling of animals in the hobby. We took a very solid position about this from day one of our operation, and have gone to great effort to support responsible operations within the industry whenever possible. We were the first organization to offer “eco-labeled” fishes from Papua New Guinea back in 2012, and have continuously supported global and domestic coral and fish propagators, such as Dan Rigle, Mark Poletti, ReefGen, Sustainable Aquatics,ORA, responsible mariculture facilities in Bali, and highly regarded, eco-sensitive collectors in Australia. We propagate a significant percentage of our corals “in-house” as well.
The "Golden Nugget Wrasse" from PNG...Gone forever?
Ecolabeling...A great idea- just a few years too early- and a few bucks too much, I guess.
Although we’re by no means operating even close to 100% fully-sustainably-sourced livestock in our product inventory, we believe that we have been supportive when possible, proactive when necessary, and outspoken often in support of the sustainable aquarium trade. We have been highly transparent in discussing our successes, failures, and challenges towards fulfilling our mission statement of providing a “conscientious, sustainable, and responsible” source of marine livestock for the aquarium hobby. Let’s hit the “outspoken” part this morning, as I would like to relate a story that hit me in a bad way yesterday, and I’ll share my thoughts with you (I mean, when have I ever been shy about that? LOL).
So you know, UC is a big supporter of ORA in Florida, and we have proudly offered their corals and fishes on our website. Their mission, focus, and great work in captive propagation have been legendary and, really, exemplary. For years, ORA has delivered on the promise of responsible, sustainable propagation of marine animals.
I was talking with one of their personnel yesterday, and I was inquiring about wether or not there were any more tank-bred Mandarin Dragonets available from them. They just sort of fell off the radar after initially launching with such fanfare a few years back! I was told that the breeding program has been retired until “absurdly inexpensive wild-caught Mandarins stop flooding the market.” The response both saddened and angered me. She went on to explain that verbal support for the captive-bred Mandarins within the hobby was initially great, but that, ultimately, retailers and consumers didn’t want to pay the much more expensive price for a captive-bred fish, and that they (ORA) did not see an economically viable way to keep producing them.
The object of my disappointment. The captive-bred Mandarin. Too much? Really?
To put it simply, the mass market didn’t want to pay $40 for a captive-bred fish they could get for $12 from wild-caught sources. If I may interject with some emotion…That sucks. Actually, I used more colloquial phrasing when discussing this with my colleagues, but that’s essentially the gist of it!
Time for me to give us a collective spanking…
Shame on us, as a hobby, for not doing more to support efforts like this. Granted, Mandarins are not for everyone, and even the captive-bred ones had to be fed generously and frequently, but to NOT support what amounted to a groundbreaking effort in sustainability from a globally-recognized leader in the trade is nothing short of astounding.
Should I be shocked? Not really. I mean, when we offered the first eco-labled fishes from PNG in 2012, we received similar pushback from many consumers. Why would they want to pay twice the price for a fish they could pick up anywhere much cheaper? Just because the fish was collected on a quota and handled differently was not a significant enough factor to justify the higher price. As a result, the collectors, EcoAquariums PNG, had to suspend their operations. Sales just couldn’t justify the expenses associated with the operations. Sad.
Look, I’m a business person, and I get it; The old expression that “business without profit is like eating soup with a spoon” makes sense (unless you’re talking about Chunky soup, lol). But seriously, we talk a great game in the hobby about how supportive we are of sustainable efforts, yet we failed the Eco-labeled fish and the ORA Mandarins big time. How short-sighted…Especially when we (the hobby and industry) are facing- right NOW- proposed legislation that could severely curtail the importation, possession, and trade of marine life in this country. The very existence of our hobby is under threat by people who have no clue just how responsible we really are…Yet we show extreme hypocrisy by failing to support a great effort because the fish are “too expensive.”
We need to, as a dear friend says, “get over ourselves” here. We think nothing of shelling out hundreds of dollars per “eye” (they are NOT EYES! They are MOUTHS! Sheesh!) to some vendors for a chalice that, in reality, was not “propagated”, but simply hacked off of a wild colony that was pulled from the reef weeks before and “marketed” as “LE”, but we will not support a fish that was painstakingly bred, reared, and marketed by dedicated professional fish breeders. An effort that, if accepted more widely, would have not only helped ease pressures on wild stocks of a fish with a difficult reputation, but would have sent yet another firm message to our hobby’s detractors.
HOW MUCH for an "eye?"
It baffles me.
But it’s not all doom and gloom.
In our defense, we’ll pay hundreds of dollars for captive-bred Clownfish, and you typically have to look kind of hard to find wild Percs and Ocellaris these days, so bravo to us! Breeders are supplying an ever-increasing quantity of captive-bred Clowns to the market. That’s awesome. And firms like Sustainable Aquatics are offering more and more captive-bred varieties of other fishes, and larval-caught, tank-reared fishes of al sorts.
The “frag swap” has been a part of reef keeping culture for years, and it’s one of the most pervasive, yet under -reported (to the non fish-keeping world) rituals of our hobby. Pretty much as sustainable as it gets- reefers trading and selling stuff they grew in their own reefs! Do you even realize how important that is?
Bravo.
Look, I will dish it out, but I will also take it…and give compliments where deserved!
The frag swap- our greatest hobby tradition!
As vendors, industry types, store owners, and consumers, we need to do a better job to promote sustainability. We need to, as Bob Fenner often says, “Vote with our pocketbooks” and, once in a while, feel a bit more pain and pay for something that’s more expensive because of what it represents, not because “&^&*^^&*%&*^ Coral .com” is telling us that it’s an “LE.” No one said that this hobby is cheap…a viable, responsible, sustainable market comes at a price.
If we don’t pay some of that price now, there is a good chance that we’ll pay it later- in the form of a highly restricted, highly regulated activity that could be a shadow of what it is now. And more important, the animals which could have been spared collection off of the wild reefs of the world will pay an even heavier price, even potentially disappearing under other environmental pressures that couldn’t be simply “regulated away” like our hobby can be.
We need to step up and redouble our efforts to support those who are doing their best to breed, propagate, and rear fishes and corals. It’s our hobby future, and our childrens’ hobby future as well.
Let’s not blow this.
Regards,
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
First, a bit of background:
As you know, Unique Corals in general, and myself in particular, have been rather staunch supporters of captive propagation, sustainable sourcing, and responsible handling of animals in the hobby. We took a very solid position about this from day one of our operation, and have gone to great effort to support responsible operations within the industry whenever possible. We were the first organization to offer “eco-labeled” fishes from Papua New Guinea back in 2012, and have continuously supported global and domestic coral and fish propagators, such as Dan Rigle, Mark Poletti, ReefGen, Sustainable Aquatics,ORA, responsible mariculture facilities in Bali, and highly regarded, eco-sensitive collectors in Australia. We propagate a significant percentage of our corals “in-house” as well.
The "Golden Nugget Wrasse" from PNG...Gone forever?
Ecolabeling...A great idea- just a few years too early- and a few bucks too much, I guess.
Although we’re by no means operating even close to 100% fully-sustainably-sourced livestock in our product inventory, we believe that we have been supportive when possible, proactive when necessary, and outspoken often in support of the sustainable aquarium trade. We have been highly transparent in discussing our successes, failures, and challenges towards fulfilling our mission statement of providing a “conscientious, sustainable, and responsible” source of marine livestock for the aquarium hobby. Let’s hit the “outspoken” part this morning, as I would like to relate a story that hit me in a bad way yesterday, and I’ll share my thoughts with you (I mean, when have I ever been shy about that? LOL).
So you know, UC is a big supporter of ORA in Florida, and we have proudly offered their corals and fishes on our website. Their mission, focus, and great work in captive propagation have been legendary and, really, exemplary. For years, ORA has delivered on the promise of responsible, sustainable propagation of marine animals.
I was talking with one of their personnel yesterday, and I was inquiring about wether or not there were any more tank-bred Mandarin Dragonets available from them. They just sort of fell off the radar after initially launching with such fanfare a few years back! I was told that the breeding program has been retired until “absurdly inexpensive wild-caught Mandarins stop flooding the market.” The response both saddened and angered me. She went on to explain that verbal support for the captive-bred Mandarins within the hobby was initially great, but that, ultimately, retailers and consumers didn’t want to pay the much more expensive price for a captive-bred fish, and that they (ORA) did not see an economically viable way to keep producing them.
The object of my disappointment. The captive-bred Mandarin. Too much? Really?
To put it simply, the mass market didn’t want to pay $40 for a captive-bred fish they could get for $12 from wild-caught sources. If I may interject with some emotion…That sucks. Actually, I used more colloquial phrasing when discussing this with my colleagues, but that’s essentially the gist of it!
Time for me to give us a collective spanking…
Shame on us, as a hobby, for not doing more to support efforts like this. Granted, Mandarins are not for everyone, and even the captive-bred ones had to be fed generously and frequently, but to NOT support what amounted to a groundbreaking effort in sustainability from a globally-recognized leader in the trade is nothing short of astounding.
Should I be shocked? Not really. I mean, when we offered the first eco-labled fishes from PNG in 2012, we received similar pushback from many consumers. Why would they want to pay twice the price for a fish they could pick up anywhere much cheaper? Just because the fish was collected on a quota and handled differently was not a significant enough factor to justify the higher price. As a result, the collectors, EcoAquariums PNG, had to suspend their operations. Sales just couldn’t justify the expenses associated with the operations. Sad.
Look, I’m a business person, and I get it; The old expression that “business without profit is like eating soup with a spoon” makes sense (unless you’re talking about Chunky soup, lol). But seriously, we talk a great game in the hobby about how supportive we are of sustainable efforts, yet we failed the Eco-labeled fish and the ORA Mandarins big time. How short-sighted…Especially when we (the hobby and industry) are facing- right NOW- proposed legislation that could severely curtail the importation, possession, and trade of marine life in this country. The very existence of our hobby is under threat by people who have no clue just how responsible we really are…Yet we show extreme hypocrisy by failing to support a great effort because the fish are “too expensive.”
We need to, as a dear friend says, “get over ourselves” here. We think nothing of shelling out hundreds of dollars per “eye” (they are NOT EYES! They are MOUTHS! Sheesh!) to some vendors for a chalice that, in reality, was not “propagated”, but simply hacked off of a wild colony that was pulled from the reef weeks before and “marketed” as “LE”, but we will not support a fish that was painstakingly bred, reared, and marketed by dedicated professional fish breeders. An effort that, if accepted more widely, would have not only helped ease pressures on wild stocks of a fish with a difficult reputation, but would have sent yet another firm message to our hobby’s detractors.
HOW MUCH for an "eye?"
It baffles me.
But it’s not all doom and gloom.
In our defense, we’ll pay hundreds of dollars for captive-bred Clownfish, and you typically have to look kind of hard to find wild Percs and Ocellaris these days, so bravo to us! Breeders are supplying an ever-increasing quantity of captive-bred Clowns to the market. That’s awesome. And firms like Sustainable Aquatics are offering more and more captive-bred varieties of other fishes, and larval-caught, tank-reared fishes of al sorts.
The “frag swap” has been a part of reef keeping culture for years, and it’s one of the most pervasive, yet under -reported (to the non fish-keeping world) rituals of our hobby. Pretty much as sustainable as it gets- reefers trading and selling stuff they grew in their own reefs! Do you even realize how important that is?
Bravo.
Look, I will dish it out, but I will also take it…and give compliments where deserved!
The frag swap- our greatest hobby tradition!
As vendors, industry types, store owners, and consumers, we need to do a better job to promote sustainability. We need to, as Bob Fenner often says, “Vote with our pocketbooks” and, once in a while, feel a bit more pain and pay for something that’s more expensive because of what it represents, not because “&^&*^^&*%&*^ Coral .com” is telling us that it’s an “LE.” No one said that this hobby is cheap…a viable, responsible, sustainable market comes at a price.
If we don’t pay some of that price now, there is a good chance that we’ll pay it later- in the form of a highly restricted, highly regulated activity that could be a shadow of what it is now. And more important, the animals which could have been spared collection off of the wild reefs of the world will pay an even heavier price, even potentially disappearing under other environmental pressures that couldn’t be simply “regulated away” like our hobby can be.
We need to step up and redouble our efforts to support those who are doing their best to breed, propagate, and rear fishes and corals. It’s our hobby future, and our childrens’ hobby future as well.
Let’s not blow this.
Regards,
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
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