AMDA DISTRIBUTES NETTING

[clarionreef]

Marine Ornamentals is over...finally.
On Monday...AMDA donated 100 barrier nets of the right kind to the village fishermans association in LES Northern Bali.
The director of the association...Ambrosius Ruwinjaharto was effusive in his thanks and said "He could go home now"...before the conference began.
Village fisherman know the importance of the proper Taiwan barrier net [ .23 mm diameter twine] and are getting enough to supply their divers who have all been using a material with only 50% of tinsel strength.
Now the barrier netting joins the handnetting and for the first time in a decade a village has both kinds at the same time!
Bundles of the barrier netting cost $250.00 each for 300 feet.They were 6' high and are cut into two 3' high lengths. Then the lengths are cut into 20 ft pieces per diver.
AMDA bought enough for 100 divers with the AMDA NET FUND...WHICH IS NOW DEPLETED.!
There are 60 more divers in need of the net soon as possible.
That would be $500. more. If anyone wants to get real and contribute more then words...heres the chance!
Buy a bundle and supply a village!
Click on amdareef.com and donate if you will.
Sincerely, Steve
PS There is so much that went on...and will wait for a report tomorrow. Its geting late. [Whats all this about pins and needles?]

 

[MaryHM]

Welcome back, Steve. Glad to hear about the netting. One question- I thought it had to be bought in 1000' rolls in order to make it worthwhile for the Taiwan factory to run it? Can you buy it in smaller quantities now?

 

[MaryHM]

I went to the AMDA site and don't see anything about donations on the home page. Got a link?

 

[clarionreef]

Hello Mary,
Something exciting happened [to me at least].
I was very happy to find a source of 1/2" monofilament netting AND that the price had fallen 50% for already imported material! Apparently the volume of live bait casting net fisherman has risen to the point that competition and economy of scale have brought down the price.
The upshot is that it is now cost-effective to buy it not in bulk but by the small bundle. This way anyone can contribute and make a significant difference rather quickly. A club or individual could sponser 10 or 30 collectors by contributing a 100' bundle [ $85.00] or a 300' bundle [$250.00].
Yes...we need an AMDA NET FUND link but for now anyone can send donations to the AMDA NET FUND which is seperate from the general account to the AMDA address.
The Taiwan negotiations for netting supply went nowhere for several months as they demanded a huge minimum run which would've cost 15K!
The Hawaiian dealer already imports large amounts of the netting and is a long time customer. For now...that was just wonderful and allowed our Bali friend to go back to Bali with more then words...ie. the netting he so dearly wanted from a conference in a fancy setting.
The netting supply was hidden...
on the same street that MAC has its Honolulu headquarters on...only 2 miles down.
We drove past it to get there and then past it again on the way back to the hotel. Instead of a field trip to the Waikiki aquarium or SeaLife park, our contingent took a field trip to the netting source and got all 'geeked up' on the variety of material found there..
The source is open now and I think we will be doing business for a long time.
Supplying net fisherman is a better and more intelligent strategy then certifying the facilities of cyanide fish dealers.
Steve

 

[MaryHM]

That is good news, Steve! You really need to set up a paypal account or something similar. If you want donations, it's the only way to go. People are too busy these days to sit down, write a check, and mail it through the <gasp!> real post office!!

 

[Anonymous]

The netting supply was hidden...
on the same street that MAC has its Honolulu headquarters on...only 2 miles down.
We drove past it to get there and then past it again on the way back to the hotel.

hehe

kudos Steve

 

[clarionreef]

Thanks for the suggestions,
At the coming up board meeting, it will be taken up. A pay pal account is no doubt just what is needed.

In the meanwhile...if anyone still uses paper to make donations with....send netting bundle donations to:

AMDA NET FUND
811 E, East Base St.
Madison, Florida 32340

We welcome responsible marinelife dealers with storefronts to join AMDA but a contribution to the AMDA NET FUND is a seperate account that anyone can contribute to; ie hobbyists, manufacturers, NGOs, reef people who don't like fish etc.

This is not an effort to improve the image of the trade...[ although that can happen]
Its an effort to remove as many collectors from the use of cyanide as possible as soon as possible. Any subsequent effort to survey areas, certify divers, eco-label fish etc. can only flow from cleaning the supply of cyanide fish in the first place. If you can't even do this...what other grander schemes could you even propose with a straight face?
Big foreign NGOs and large scale plans have by-passed fishing villages where all the collectors live. Holding back training divers while the big funding plans go on and on leaves them w/ no alternatives NOW.
Hundreds of divers[ even thousands] can be working with nets before the reform groups 'discover' them....assuming they ever will.
Net collecting will now spread without the blessing of American organizations if the netting is available. If we wait for the big groups and funders to ever get things right...we'll be waiting perhaps another 10 years or more. [At MO they did not get together!] Meanwhile millions of coral heads could be spared!
Villages have tired of waiting for the outsiders to get it right and need to work now.....lets enable that at last!
Steve
AMDA

 

[PeterIMA]

As one of the persons who accompanied Steve Robinson to the net supply company situated in Honolulu, I can confirm that what Steve says is true. We were delighted to find the both the right kind of netting (2 mm twine) and the less desireable 1 mm twine netting with various mesh sizes. The sales person was very knowledgeable (since he has over 20 years experience selling to Hawaiian collectors).

Steve bought three bundles of netting using AMDA funds. Some of this netting went back with Ruwi to supply the collectors at the village of LES in northern Bali. I met Ruwi and was impressed by his efforts to reform Indonesian collectors. The netting will be a big help in converting cyanide collectors to net collecting in Indonesia.

Please support the AMDA net fund.

Sincerely,
Peter Rubec

 

[clarionreef]

Peter,
All 3 300' bundles of the 6' tall netting went with Ruwi back to Bali. That 900' of netting cut in half made 1,800' of 3' high netting! [ 1/3rd of a mile]
@ 18' long each that made 100 nets for 100 divers.
Our NET FUND is exhausted and we need to hit up the trade for more.
100% of the net fund goes to netting.
After getting it Ruwi said he could "now return home". See... It really was a big deal after all.
Steve

 

[clarionreef]

PS.
Remeber when Reef Central teamed up with MSI to provide the handnetting?
Well....how bout RDO teaming up with AMDA to do the same for the barrier netting?
Just a thought.
Steve

 

[hdtran]

I will pledge my next royalty check from my CNC Machining guidebook.

Hy

 

[Anonymous]

steve

CORL-USA will do whatever we can to help, and i'll mention you and the fund to the club i'll be speaking to about corl in a week or so

 

[Anonymous]

Steve,

So has the "AMDA NET & TRAINING FUND" morphed into the "AMDA NET FUND" and the target area has changed from the Philippines to Bali?

In the past you were adamant that nets without training wouldn't serve much purpose. Did you find a pool of net trained collectors in Bali that couldn't otherwise obtain netting material? How will you know how the material will be used? Do you have a trustworthy point-of-contact in Bali and some sort of way of tracking the use of the netting?

I'd really like to support the AMDA effort, but just as was the case with the prior "AMDA NET & TRAINING FUND" I'd like more details about the program first.

Sincerely,
Lee Morey

 

[clarionreef]

Lee,
The divers in North Bali needed, asked for and got the nets....lots of em. They were trained by Ferdie before but without the good quality, twice as stong nets. Now they have the handnets and the barrier nets!
Finally!
I know for a fact that they will be hooked on this better alternative now and by their own reckoning, will do better.
Since a meeting with EASI and MAC went nowhere...no breakthrus occured in the Philippine front. MACs people there have lost the certified fish to non certified exporters shipping them to China. They are so unfamilaiar with the task at hand that the divers decided to go outside the system that took years to create.
MACs utter failures in the Philippines have started a retreat to BALI, FIJI, HAWAII AND TO AQUACULTURED FISH. Anything already working well will be their targets for the lack of ability to convert real cyanide fisherman.
Obviously there is a point of contact for the fishermans association.
Their director was with us in the raid on the net dealer and served on the panel discussion.
Steve

 

[Anonymous]

Is there a net training program going on in Bali?

 

[clarionreef]

Net training in Bali,
Only if we raise enough thru the current effort. Otherwise, it will just be the provision of nets to those already in the loop.
To really do this right...there may never be funding as funding and financial validation only seem to go to those doing it wrong. Grand infrastructure for accounting and record keeping is valued w/ most funders far more then skills and teaching ability in the field.
Easi [Philippines] and Telapk [Indo] will submit proposals but who knows if they'll get it.
If they do, not so much would be needed as there would be no 100k salaries to pay and much more of the money would actually go into the field.
For volunteers,w/ very little money the reform cause in Bali has done pretty well. With a tenth of the MAC budget we could end this thing in very few years.
Steve

 

[Anonymous]

Grand infrastructure for accounting and record keeping is valued w/ most funders far more then skills and teaching ability in the field.

Not true, Steve. Funders just want assurance that their money will be wisely spent and will serve the purpose intended. Sending netting without training and livestock handling programs in place appears contrary to a lot of the things recently recommended by reform experts here.

With all the allegations that have been thrown about regarding past/present reform efforts people have a right to be cynical.

-Lee

 

[clarionreef]

LEE,
Not true...
Funders generally hide and deny their failures so as to not look bad.
PAST AND PRESENT NGO EFFORTS WERE FUNDED REPEATEDLY...
AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE IT WOULD APPEAR. It will continue BECAUSE they are not cynical and are often pleased with themselves for liquidating the allowed funds for liquidation. If only they had the passion and commitment to work for a higher mission then as tax wrtie off companies for their own donars!
NONE OF THESE BIG PROJECTS FUNDED DID THE JOB OF TRAINING AND LIVESTOCK HANDLING THAT YOU SPEAK OF.
FUNDING FAILURE is a time honored tradition that funders must break. Developing better 'loan officers' may be the key.
They make players out of amatuers, water down better efforts, throw good money after bad and ignore constructive criticism.
Thats because, unlike yourself, the aquarium trades reform is not their primary objective.
Steve

 

[jamesw]

I agree with Sciguy. I think it's great that you all found a good source of netting that you don't have to buy in bulk.

But you all have said MANY MANY times here. You need nets AND training together to get anywhere. Nets and no training won't get you anywhere - unless like Sciguy said, the "netters" are already trained and have just been sitting around waiting for netting.

Not fair for one person to bash an NGO for saying "we will do step one first and then step two will follow" then go out and yourself do step one and no step two.

The original call for donations was for an AMDA net TRAINING fund. Now it's just a net fund I guess...or there are two separate funds? Maybe I'm confused. Maybe we should all just start sending checks to AMDA that say "just use it for whatever you want" in the memo field...

Perhaps this is why MAC is so good at raising money - they are well organized, have a business plan and budget, and it's all public.

Hope that wasn't too confusing - I was trying not to use anyone's name in this post.

Cheers
James

PS, I'll be offshore for the next week, so if you want me to reply to something it will have to wait until I return on 3/14.

 

[clarionreef]

No training?
Is there someone who doesn't want training now?
You are kidding, right?
Training is half of all my posts for the past 2 years!
The CORL/MAC training initiative was from this side James.
It was shot down from the other side.
So...whos been stopping the well funded orgs. from training? Could it be....talent? The lack of pudding is certainly proof of something.
There are 100 guys in Bali trained as was already stated several times who needed the netting. We gave it.
There are several hundred more in the Philippines who need it. We can also provide for them. Since MAC won't train and won't farm out, the next best thing is too ;
1] Pursue other training initiatives with competent people &
2] Distribute netting to those already trained yet not supplied.

Training is vital for a few thousand cyanide users not trained but for hundreds trained, netting of the right kind can be provided...even if the exporters and MAC do not wish it so.
If we want to find some really simplistic approaches to this try a Google search under "saving coralreefs thru bookkeeping".
The real netting withheld and unaware of for so long will now work its magic and start the nearby villages murmuring. The 100 guys supplied will all talk and share their experiences. The cat is out of the bag and the better method is available. If there will not be commercial level training sponsored from this side of the Pacific...it will have to come from the other side. That to is in motion.
Packard , the CIA/AID and MAC are not the only game in town now. The simple realization of that fact is exciting as we can now engineer progress instead of passing another 5 years of non events.
Steve