Earlier today, I channeled my inner Fellman, and had an idea. With all the threats to our hobby, what can we the hobbyist do? Posting to NFWS pages and donations to PIJAC are essential, but what more can we do?
Then it came to me. MACNA 2015 is in DC this year, the seat of our Government. Why dont we as hobbyists, along with MASNA, PIJAC, and all the other advocates for our hobby reach out to legislators, and get them to attend MACNA 2015.
There we can show them, in living color, what we as hobbyists stand for. How companies like Sustainable, ORA, and others breed fish so we dont have to harvest from the oceans. How we take steps in our selections of fish that arent captive bred yet to make sure sustainable, responsibly harvested fish are the ones we put into our tanks. How active we are as a group in shaming those who put money ahead of athe law and animal welfare. How we captive propigate corals to reduce demand on ones in wild (like the 20 named in the ESA case) and how we as hobbyist can resplenish the reefs through captive propigation. This seems like the ideal time, with all the people, technology, and skill all in 1 place to show them that we arent talking the fish tanks at the local Petco, we are serious skilled aquarists, who put the welfare of the animals and the oceans first.
2016 is also an election year, so the sheer numbers would also show what kind of a voter base the aquatic hobbyist is, and that could only help the cause.
Perhaps MACNA 2015 could be a stepping stone to saving the hobby for us all.
Then it came to me. MACNA 2015 is in DC this year, the seat of our Government. Why dont we as hobbyists, along with MASNA, PIJAC, and all the other advocates for our hobby reach out to legislators, and get them to attend MACNA 2015.
There we can show them, in living color, what we as hobbyists stand for. How companies like Sustainable, ORA, and others breed fish so we dont have to harvest from the oceans. How we take steps in our selections of fish that arent captive bred yet to make sure sustainable, responsibly harvested fish are the ones we put into our tanks. How active we are as a group in shaming those who put money ahead of athe law and animal welfare. How we captive propigate corals to reduce demand on ones in wild (like the 20 named in the ESA case) and how we as hobbyist can resplenish the reefs through captive propigation. This seems like the ideal time, with all the people, technology, and skill all in 1 place to show them that we arent talking the fish tanks at the local Petco, we are serious skilled aquarists, who put the welfare of the animals and the oceans first.
2016 is also an election year, so the sheer numbers would also show what kind of a voter base the aquatic hobbyist is, and that could only help the cause.
Perhaps MACNA 2015 could be a stepping stone to saving the hobby for us all.
