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.
Comments/info