Hi all,
Once again, I would like to state for the record that I truly believe the concept of MAC is great; and, if implemented properly COULD achieve what we all want; I believe that is simply a sustainable supply of healthy, net caught MO.
Unfortunately this is not happening. Supply of MAC Certified fish is not going up to ANY useful degree, especially for the amount of $ being spent. If MAC Certified fish in Indo and the Philippines were sold at a price that would only return what they cost to produce, they would be more expensive than GOLD.
Money is being wasted in so many ways but the cost of the MAMTI Director and the MAC Director stand out –they ALONE will be paid a total of OVER $1,000,000 over the 5-year lifespan of MAMTI – high wages to be sure but even more appalling because they are both such utter failures at their jobs which makes them gallingly expensive at any price. THEY are directly responsible for the utter failings of MAMTI and TMAT, and should be held accountable.
Several weeks ago, I was handed petitions by the MAC Collectors of Camotes, Batasan and Clarin. ALL three groups were fed up and disgusted at the way they were being treated by MAC/MAMTI. They had tried to send a petition to the MAC Board previously but this had been ‘lost’ in the MAC Manila Office. I promised and did send the petitions to the Chairman of the MAC Board asking that he respond to the fishers and their concerns. He said that he would, but as far as I can tell nothing has happened yet. The Board of MAC is ultimately responsible for the continued and costly failings of MAMTI (& TMAT, etc.) – both financially and morally.
A few more cases to add to the MAC/MAMTI Incompetence Files:
1. MAC/MAMTI have been caught by the Palawan Council For Sustainable Development operating in Palawan, Philippines without the required Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP) Clearance. This is in violation of Section 1 of PCSD Admin Order 6 (SEP Clearance System) stipulating that any undertaking, project or program to be implemented in Palawan shall be covered by the SEP Clearance System. The PCSD has demanded immediate action otherwise they will file an administrative case against MAC. This will be yet another civil law suit against MAC.
2. For those talking about boxes of fish from MAC sources you should note that currently, there are ZERO MAC certified fish coming out of the Philippines and Indonesia. Why is this? This is because the sites that were certified are technically uncertified now as they have not received the required surveillance visit from the certifiers to renew their certification.
3. The cost of annual Reef Check surveys are so expensive that the fishers can’t afford them and MAC/MAMTI can’t afford to pay the certifier to undertake the regular surveillance visits required by the MAC Certification Standards because when the MAMTI project was written the MAMTI partners (MAC, REEF Check, and CCIF) forgot to allocate any money for the ongoing renewal of certifications of the collectors and the collection areas! If you all remember the exchanges I had with Gregor Hodgson of Reef Check on this forum, you will remember how evasive he was about the cost of maintaining the Reef Check component of the MAC Certification process. He neither answered directly how much it would cost, on average, to renew the Reef Check component of MAC Certification, nor did he respond when it was pointed out to him that they forgot to budget the years following up the initial certification. MAC is not alone in its duplicity – it’s other partners in MAMTI – CCIF and Reef Check are directly responsible as well. (I’d like to know for one, what kind of required matching money (or private sector investment) they have raised so far for this project?).
4. My fisher friends in Clarin also tell me that fishers from a new area that MAC is training in Bohol are now poaching and using cyanide in their collection area. These new fisher groups were scheduled to be “certified” sometime this month.
My big questions are
“Where is the MAC Board?” What are they doing to resolve these issues?
Where are the donors?” Why are they allowing their money (our tax money in some cases) to be wasted so blatantly?
Why isn’t the trade angrier than it is? How can we best organize to tackle some of these issues head on?
The trade is supposed to be MAC’s partner in its reform. Anyone here feel like a partner?
