Capacity Building Project for Fish Collectors

ozadars · Apr 3, 2016

Hello everyone,

I am a designer working on environmental and social sustainability projects in developing countries. There is a shift towards sustainable production and consumption in many sectors. For example, specialty coffee got popular as an alternative to commodity coffee due to its quality and fairness to the farmers. Unfortunately, such innovations in supply chains haven't happened much in the marine ornamental trade. The livestock collectors in developing countries are underpaid and the working conditions are very problematic. Many risk their lives everyday, as there is no safety regulations. In addition to that, consumers in the Western countries are very detached from the reality of the collectors. Thus, we are not able to make very conscious decisions when buying a new coral or fish.

The project I am working on at the moment aims to build a community centre for the collectors in Bangaii Island where they can discuss issues related to their jobs, can collectively share equipments, get training from experts on safety and handling of the livestock. Eventually, our aim is to add tanks for collectors to safely stock their fish and design a system for captive breeding of Bangaii Cardinalfish. Transition from wild-catching to mariculture or aquaculture is vital for the collectors as everyday more and more reefs are dying. Captive breeding would also help improve the working conditions of the collectors, help them get more income for their work.

I wanted to start this thread to hear you opinions about our project as fellow reefers. How much are you aware of the working conditions of the collectors? What do you think needs to be done to raise awareness? Do you think us consumers are too detached from the reality of these communities? Also, if it would be possible to design a product that would help the collectors to breed bangaii cardinals small-scale?

Matze · Apr 4, 2016

Hello

first of all that is a great project and am sure the people there will profit from it as will do the nature.

In my opinion we as reefing community do not know much more about the things happening in the countries of origin of our livestock. Sure if a fish dies we think of zyanide usesage during the catch or stuff like that. But to be honest, I think that is about it for most of us.

We can't imagine under what conditions the people back there have to work, so that we can get our 5$ green Chromis (stupid example I know). So the questions about, what do they earn, how do they work, what kind of security they have, can nature withstand their impact and so on and so forth.

In my opinion we would need something like the bio lable,we have for meat in the E.U.
With that you can follow back the origins of the meat (in equal our livestock) back to it's very origin. So we had the chance to see how things go their way.

Another thing would be to ensure to offer people working in the catching buisness more knowledge and money.
That will come down to us paying more, but in the long term could save us a lot.

I'm conviced just offering a propper breeding protocoll and a proofen breeding system would be enough.
As long as we keep breeding fish and propagating corals in the countries of livestock origin, people there will accept anything, the trade demands.

Chibils · Apr 4, 2016

I think it's a great idea, and I also think this is not a one way street. Many [most?] people in the hobby have no idea or very little idea how these fish are collected. I even know very little as someone who browses these boards daily. Like specialty coffee, you must make people aware of the conditions and make them want to change or improve them. But you cannot make people want things, so you will have to inspire them to be a part of the change. Without changes to the consumer's mindset - that is, understanding the improvements to collectors' lives, they will not want to pay extra for fish caught by better-paid collectors. They will move on to the LFS or online retailer who sells the cheap fish. If they don't know about your efforts, they will only see a higher mark up for the vendor instead of better pay and investments in someone else's life.

So you must inspire the hobby and vendor end. I don't think specialty coffee would be as popular if not for the "Fair Trade" stamps and accompanying info. People like to know that they're getting more when they pay more. In this case, the "more" is the assurance that the fish they are buying was genuinely collected by a guy with better, safer equipment and better pay - or whatever it is the standards are. If people walk into their LFS and see healthy fish in a tank plastered with the equivalent of "Fair Trade" slapped on it they would be more inclined to pay more for them.

Sorry, I know this is only partially related. I started off replying to your OP but went on a tangent toward what Matze was saying.

ozadars · Apr 5, 2016

You are both absolutely right. The awareness needs to be raised about the social issues caused in developing countries as a result of our actions in this hobby. Although it is a very established sector, it is also sad to see how detached we are from the reality. We have been too busy trying to create a reef ecosystem in our safe houses that we usually do not think what is happening on the other side of the world.

Do you have any ideas how this awareness can be raised within the hobbyists?

Matze · Apr 5, 2016

I think that ain' t to hard.

First thing would be to create a list of standarts of work safety, payment, working methods.

If done so, figure out, how much money there has to be on top any coral, fish, clam, what so ever. With that information, you'll be able to start advertising in forums, magazins and all that media. Maybe do a couple of meetings in LFSs and talk to the people personally. They will quickly understand, why their wrasse is now 10$ more expensive.

After that's all done and the people more and more accept it, I would go for an actual application to start a program like Fairtrade.

People in the hobby ain't stupid or careless when it comes to those things. If one offers a solution and it explains it well, that new way will be accepted in a very short time.

Chibils · Apr 5, 2016

Agreed with @Matze. I think the issue in gaining trust (absolutely critical) is setting clear clear clear standards for what constitutes "fair trade" collection and enforcement. If people don't have faith that "the system" is working, they won't be willing to pay more for it. If they think it is, I think many would gladly pay more for their critters.

The next issue is going to be education. Getting in front of prospective buyers who may not even know the fish are wild collected (and almost certainly don't know the conditions of it) and explain what you're doing and why it's important. Like you say, we're totally detached from it. I've never been snorkeling, never seen a real reef, etc. I just walked into a fish store one day and fell in love with the little fishies and crabs and such. I certainly don't know much about how the industry runs, because I don't see it. All I can see is the store front where the fish end up.

ozadars · Apr 16, 2016

UPDATE: 16.04.2016

We had a meeting with one of our partners in Indonesia; Yayasan Alam Indonesia Lestari (LINI) aka Indonesia Nature Foundation. They are one of the only non-profit organisations in Indonesia with a social and environmental sustainability focus to marine ornamental trade. They have an Aquaculture and Training Centre in Bali where they give training to the local communities and also do research on breeding species for the aquarium trade.

Their activities are very important as they also give training to the local communities how to handle the caught fish/corals, how to ship them and so on. Thus, they help us get healthier animals. At the moment they have a captive breeding program for bangaii cardinals and recently they shipped 400 cb bangaiis to UK. One of their biggest challenges is that they don't have much connection with the consumers. Thus, their captive bred bangaiis are sold to exporters where they get mixed up with wild-caught ones.

Based on the LINI Aquaculture and Training Centre, we decided to design a similar but much smaller model that is cost-effective and scaleable. LINI Aquaculture and Training Centre has a great impact on the sustainability issues of our hobby. However, at the moment it is located only in Bali and it would be very expensive to replicate the same model. We want to research and design a new model that;
- meets the needs of the local collector communities (quarantine, holding tanks, shared equipments, etc.)
- becomes a platform where they can exchange ideas and find collective solutions to their problems
- becomes a community training centre (through local NGOs and universities)
- becomes an aquaculture research centre (shift towards captive bred)

As Indonesia and many other countries where aquarium fish are collected consist of thousands of small islands, it is necessary to design a low-cost and scalable model. Aquaculture is of course our ultimate goal but initially we aim to create an empowering space within every community based on knowledge sharing.

ozadars · Apr 16, 2016

Some photos from the LINI Training and Aquaculture Centre in Bali:

Matze · Apr 16, 2016

That is so cool

Awesome what the people over there are doing! Is it possible to send me a contact of them? A buddy of mine owns an aquarium business and is really interested to see, if he could provide some cb animals here in Germany as well as inform people about it

Also if you would like me to, I could send you some information about how to obtain a Fair Trade type status in europe.

Really awesome to see this going on

ozadars · May 2, 2016

I will post all updates under this thread, however you can also follow us on Facebook to receive news about the sustainability issues of marine aquarium industry.
https://www.facebook.com/fairreef/