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Tues., April 3, 2006 02:55 PM

Marine Ornamentals 2006

Held in Conjunction with Aquaculture America 2006
John Corbin
MO'06 Organizing Committee


Marine Ornamentals 2006, Collection, Culture and Conservation (MO'06) is the fourth in a series of biennial conferences for the marine ornamentals industry. This year's conference was held in Las Vegas, February 13-16, 2006, in conjunction with Aquaculture America 2006 (AA'06) and in cooperation with the World Aquaculture Society. MO'06 Conference Co-Chairs were Dr. Timothy Hovanec, Chief Scientist for the Aquarium Group and Paul Holthus, Executive Director of the Marine Aquarium Council. The Chair for the Program was Craig Watson, Director of the University of Florida's Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory, who was backed up by a committee consisting of individuals from the University of Florida, the University of Hawaii (UH), the Hawaii Aquaculture Development Program (ADP), Marine Aquarium Council (MAC), and the private farmers. Financial support came from several Sea Grant College Programs from around the country, the State of Hawaii, the Pacific Tropical Ornamental Fish Program, and several private companies (Segrest Farms, Aquarium Systems, Wardley, and Shering Plough).

Thematically conference organizers wanted to further contribute to the worldwide goal of creating an economically and environmentally viable future for the marine ornamentals industry. Specifically the Conference was to address: 1) improving the methods for the collection, distribution and management of wild marine ornamental species; 2) increasing the variety, quantity and availability of cultured marine ornamental species; and 3) encouraging education and outreach activities in the husbandry and conservation of marine ornamental species. As with past conferences, this challenging task was approached by inviting a broad range of speakers and participants from all corners of this highly diverse and global industry to listen, learn, and dialogue on issues of concern.

Though registration for MO'06 was under 100, sessions were well attended since AA'06 registrants could also attend MO'06sessions. The shared venue allowed AA'06 and MO'06 participants to mingle and pursue a wide variety of subjects and interests. Total attendance at AA'06 was 1,642 and there was a tradeshow with 172 booths that included 141 companies.

The MO'06 Program was highlighted by seven outstanding Plenary Speakers. Svein Fossa, President of Ornamental Fish International, and a long-time contributor to the development of the aquarium industry, shared changing views on what makes a wild species a suitable aquarium animal, particularly from an animal welfare perspective. John Brandt, a Board Member of the MAC discussed issues of sustainability, reform and regulation in the trade. Gayatri Reksodihardjo-Lilley, a MAC Director from Indonesia, addressed where the responsibility lies in achieving a sustainable marine aquarium trade, when the main source of stock continues to be collection from developing countries. William Walsh of Hawaii's Department of Land and Natural Resources and Sara Peck of UH Sea Grant Extension made complementary presentations on Hawaii's highly successful, multi-year project utilizing community-based management and outreach and a network of marine protected acres, to improve management of the West Hawaii aquarium fishery. The final day plenary speakers were Ray Davis of the new Atlanta Aquarium talking about aquaria as the end user of aquaculture and Walt Smith from Fiji who outlined sustainable reef management approaches in the South Pacific.

MO'06 was also highlighted by 40 contributed papers for oral presentation and 14 posters. Embedded within the three days of sessions was a Sustainability Symposium organized by Peter Rubec of East Asian Seas and Terrestrial Initiatives. These four hours of presentations and discussion focused on current collection, transportation and conservation issues affecting sustainability of the marine ornamentals industry. It featured an array of international participants with experience in Asia and Central and South America, in addition to the U.S.

The balance of the contributed sessions addressed the state-of-the-art for research and technologies for a variety of important components of the marine ornamentals trade. Sessions included papers on: invertebrate culture of giant clams, corals, and peppermint shrimps; health issues involving disease, biosecurity and recirculation systems; live foods and culture of copepods; nutrition and feeding of several species of fish (e.g., gobies and clown fish) and sea horses; and a smattering of complementary papers on the economics of culture systems, feeds and the wholesale/retail trade in general. Organizers were particularly gratified by the quality and energy of presentations from younger researchers and the strong showing by professors and students from the Florida Institute of Technology and Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. This is illustrated by one female student from Roger Williams University who "wowed" the crowd in the last session by giving an excellent paper on dietary color enhancement of juvenile clown fish, while sporting bright orange hair, perhaps gained from sampling her own research diets.

The MO Organizing Group will be starting to make plans for the next conference, later this year with a target of early 2008. While tentative, likelihood it will again be carried out in collaboration with the Aquaculture America Conference and the venue will be New Orleans, Louisiana or Orlando, Florida. Stay tuned.



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