Earlier this month Reef Builders brought you the news after a long wait, EcoAquarium PNG resurrected sustainably-collected marine fish from Papua New Guinea and is pushing to bring PNG-collected fish to the aquarium market. Reef Builders went beyond EcoAquarium PNG’s initial press release to get answers to the questions that a market now “once bitten, twice shy” on PNG, must be asking. Daniel Navin, Director of EcoAquariums PNG LTD, shed more light on the next chapter in PNG marine aquarium fish exports.
ReefBuilders:How is EcoAquariums (EA) going to be different from its predecessor, the Government and EcoEZ partnership of SEASMART (SS)?
Navin:EA is a privately funded company, while SS was a government funded program. EA will be focusing on the same core principles as SS (sustainability, equitability, high quality) but in a more market driven, and fiscally responsible fashion. We have a much more efficient business model than SS ever did, all while being able to offer more species to our target market. EcoAquariums will be relying on the NFA to carry out most of the reef surveys in the future, and to establish the TAC’s that we abide by.”
ReefBuilders:作为一家私人资助的公司，谁是EA的利益相关者？
Navin:I have a local partner here who invested into 10% of the company. He is also a Fisherman Island resident and his name is Iga Ware. Iga invested in the company with his boat, time and experience. The rest of the investors are Americans, who shall remain anonymous, for now. I will say that they have no affiliation with the aquarium trade. I am the sole director.
ReefBuilders:Besides yourself, are there any other ex-SEASMART employees playing a role in this new firm?
Navin:Iga Ware, who is part owner, is a former SS employee. Additionally, all of the village-based fish collectors were collectors for SS. They are not actually employees of the company though but more like their own little businesses, who catch the fish and sell them to EcoAquariums.
ReefBuilders:Regarding the village-based fish collectors, point-blank, we’re going to ask — can you show us a real world example of the price chain on a common fish so we can unequivocably say yes, the people of PNG are being payed much better, and more fairly, for their collections? We realize we’re asking for far more transparency than is normal here. We’re asking on the grounds of turning a new leaf in the industry and “putting our money where our mouths are.” Don’t just say it’s equitable, prove it!
Navin:I agree, this information should be out in the open. While we are still finalizing our price list, for our clients, as well as our fishers, I will say that different species will have different markups depending on how difficult they are to catch, and how much effort, and fuel, the fisher must put into catching them. Fish like blue tags (hippo tangs) are difficult to catch and are a bit of a boat ride. These fish we would not mark up as much as something easily scooped up, like a percula. This ensures that the fishers are getting a higher price for the fish they are working harder to catch. More on this in much more detail soon.
ReefBuilders:We noticed the mention of deeper collections (fish that need decompression) and perhaps a less strict avoidance of fish that SS would have avoided collecting on the ground of “they don’t do well in captivity typically.” Should we expect an expanded species availability from EA in comparison to the shallow-water-only policies of SS?
Navin:绝对期望扩大的物种清单。我们仍在敲定我们的物种和价格表，但是完成后，我会将其发送给您。使用SS，仅收集了浅水鱼。那时，只有可以收集的浅水鱼easily收集的。现在我们将引入水肺，几乎将获得SS可以定期提供的物种的两倍。PNG具有丰富的物种多样性，而SS仅刮擦了表面。
ReefBuilders:Seasmart引用了一些原因，他们选择在设计SS政策时避免潜水。担忧包括安全性，成本，珊瑚礁监测问题以及确保只有PNG本地人进行收集的问题。
How is EA addressing the issue of safety as it relates to assisted diving collecting?
Navin:Safety is of paramount concern. Safety always has, and always will, come first. No divers will be using scuba without holding a dive license issued by an internationally recognized authority, such as PADI.
We will be using one, possibly two ex-pats to train our local divers on the many various tips and tricks to effectively catch fish while on scuba. All PNG citizens collecting on scuba will be collecting with an ex-pat trainer and mentor for at least the first few months. It takes way more than a PADI license to be able to go out and catch fish effectively with a scuba tank. Any fish that an expat trainer/mentor collects while diving, EcoAquariums will pay the value of said fish to the village that the fish came from, split evenly amongst the fishers from that village. Expat trainers will be paid a salary and not paid per fish, like the collectors are. Eventually, when we have enough PNG citizens trained on scuba collection, we will phase out our ex-pat trainers.
ReefBuilders:Alright, you’ve addressed both safety issues and concerns regarding non-native fisherman working as collectors. How does this all get paid for?
Navin:在水肺上收集对于达到PNG必须提供的无数物种至关重要。自由潜水员只能从浅滩中收集鱼，而只有很容易呼吸的鱼。这几乎可以排除大多数隐秘的浅层鱼类，就像大多数Gobies和Blennies一样，以及任何喜欢悬挂在五米以下深度以下的东西。
甚至只有几个水肺收藏家，都会让生态喹瓜为我们的客户提供比SS的种类更广泛的物种。拥有水肺收集器几乎将使我们可以提供的物种数量增加一倍。
Having a large species mix on offer, with a number of “higher value” fish available to mix into a shipment, is what drives customers to place orders. No one wants to order a few hundred kilograms of damsels and common butterflies. But add a few higher value, in-demand species to that order, and suddenly everyone wants to order from you.
So, having scuba collectors will help us to get more of a species mix on offer, which will help us to attract more clients, which will in turn allow us to sell more of the fish that the free divers are collecting. The scuba collectors are essentially driving the sales of the free dive collected fish.
ReefBuilders:和监视收集的问题？
Navin:Regarding monitoring, Total Allowable Catch figures still apply to scuba collectors. A TAC is a TAC, whether you’re holding your breath, or using a scuba tank.
ReefBuilders：我们的理解是，现有的被调查区域和这些地区的TAC仅限于浅水，因此仅限于浅水物种。您能解释一下，鉴于尚未对TACS建立的迄今为止，更深层次的水域尚未进行调查，您的收藏将如何工作？
Navin:With the TAC’s, it is true that the original TACs established during SS were performed with shallow water collection in mind. The reef surveys never went deeper than 10 meters in most cases. However, those surveys still encountered, and established TACs for, over 500 fish species that could be targeted for the trade. [So] we [already] have TACs established for the majority of the species that we will be encountering with scuba. If and when we encounter a new species that we don’t have a TAC for, we will perform rapid species-specific reef surveys to get an idea of the number of those fish out there, so that we can formulate a TAC.
将来，当新的一轮调查完成时，将来将调整TACS，其中包括更深的水调查。但事实是，当前的TAC对水肺收集不仅有效。我之所以这样说，是因为当我们开始更深入研究时，我们正在扩大收集区域的规模，这意味着我们从理论上能够可持续去除更高数量的鱼类[RB：高于当前TAC允许的数量]。请记住，TAC是通过在给定区域中的鱼的密度分解来计算的。扩展该区域，并在扩展的区域遇到更多鱼，并增加TAC。新的一轮调查应反映出这一点，并增加大多数物种的TAC。
The NFA is forming a seven-man team that will be dedicated to overseeing and monitoring the aquarium fishery. This team will also be responsible for performing the future reef surveys, which should begin next month. The majority of this team will be made up of former SS reef surveyors. I eventually want to post all the TAC information on our website, so that the public can go on and see just what our TACs are, and how many fish we have exported.
ReefBuilders:Once you have collected all these fish, before they are exported, where are they going? What can you tell us about your facilities?
Navin:At this stage, we are building a simple, open air style warehouse facility that will serve as our fish holding and export station. The facility is being constructed as we speak.
ReefBuilders:那么，我们什么时候可以期待PNG的第一批鱼？
Navin:我们希望在接下来的两个月中全面运作。
ReefBuilders:We know SS was actively pursuing a coral farming project. Will EA be trying to resurrect this project?
Navin:珊瑚农业无疑是EA的很大一部分s business model. I came to PNG originally to work as the coral mariculture operations manager for SS and I definitly plan to continue my efforts to make coral farming a reality in PNG. At this time, PNG does not provide CITES permits to export corals, even farmed corals. But that will hopefully change soon and the NFA is very supportive of the idea of exporting sustainably farmed coral. Hopefully, we are just a few meetings away from securing the permits! I am planning to kick start coral mariculture efforts in the coming weeks.
ReefBuilders:我们期待在不久的将来有更多新闻。希望在许多其他鱼类中，您将能够带来一些新的。Eviota dorsopurpurea gobies我们写了关于感谢您抽出宝贵时间与我们交谈的丹！
