Reefs.org Forums

[spawner]

Was told as of April they are out of funds and shut down.

This thread was split from the thread "Contacting MAC" - Len

[GreshamH]

Was told as of April they are out of funds and shut down.

Can't believe everything you are told...you're wrong. I put him in contact with some one from MAC. He had a hard time gaining a reply as they were in the EU for InterZoo.

[jhemdal]

Gresham,

I heard the same thing from a member of the MAC BOD last week - that the director has stepped down and they are out of funds.


Jay

[GreshamH]

Gresham,

I heard the same thing from a member of the MAC BOD last week - that the director has stepped down and they are out of funds.


Jay

Dr Andrew Rhyne (Spwaner)didn't say that though, he said not only out of funds but "shut down". I just spoke to someone myself that sits on the BOD and he specifically said they are not "shut down". Yes we know they are out of funds, that is really really really old news. Steve posted on that ages ago.

[jhemdal]

Gresham,

But more specifically to the second part; that the director stepped down? If there are no funds, no director and the BOD is not seeking to replace same, isn't it just a rose by any other name?

Jay

[spawner]

Gresham,

What entered my ears was: out of money, director stepped down, no longer functioning, BOD to determine at some point in the future if they could resurrect it. I think Jay heard the same thing.

[GreshamH]

Gresham,

But more specifically to the second part; that the director stepped down? If there are no funds, no director and the BOD is not seeking to replace same, isn't it just a rose by any other name?

Jay

They've been with out a director in the past and are currently seeking ways to do this on less money. To me if a group is seeking to continue their work they are not "shut down" but rather restructuring. If they so wanted to shut down please explain their presences at InterZoo and why I was told by a BoD member just a few weeks ago they still seek to be active?

[vaporize]

Can somebody give a bit of history of MAC? Where did the original funding comes from? Is it like government subsidize or industry-subsidize?

[GreshamH]

Can somebody give a bit of history of MAC? Where did the original funding comes from? Is it like government subsidize or industry-subsidize?

The entire history is actually all here on RDO, too bad it's not easy to search locally (you have to use googles site search for this as the local one is broke supposedly).

FWIW you left a 3rd option out, privately funded with hopes of industry paying enough in the long run to cover it's operating costs.

edit: OK local search does work... here's a recent one that has a little history, but is being posted to give you search ideas to find more info.

post1679552.html?hilit=marine%20aquarium%20council#p1679552

post1514828.html?hilit=mamti#p1514828

post1325090.html?hilit=mamti#p1325090

post139292.html#p139292

[PeterIMA]

The MAC was created by World Wildlife Fund after meetings that took place in 1997. The BOD was comprised of representatives from the MO industry and from conservation groups such as the IMA. Its funding came from a variety of sources. Initially, it received quite a lot of funding from the Packard and MacArthur Foundations. Eventually it obtained funding from the World Bank Global Environmental Facility-GEF (over $6.5 million). It also received funding from USAID. MAC-Indonesia (now a separate NGO-LINI) also received funding from the Dept of Marine Affairs and Fisheries though the Coremap program. All together, my guess is the MAC chewed its way through about $20 million dollars over the past 10 years without anything substantial being accomplished.

Peter Rubec

[PeterIMA]

Since some may dispute my estimate of $20 million dollars being received by the MAC, I should qualify this estimate by stating some of the funds also went to the Conservation Community Investment Forum (CCIF) and to Reef Check which partnered with MAC for the GEF-sponsored Marine Aquarium Marketing Transformation Initiative (MAMTI). Very little of the funding came from the aquarium trade. Fees paid by the trade were supposed to make the MAC self-sustaining. But, this did not happen and is not likely to happen.

Peter

[GreshamH]

No dispute from me Peter and thanks for the detailed posts.

[vaporize]

I remembered seeing the cost to get a retail operation MAC-certified .... the cost was better off getting another Phillipines shipment ;-D

... unfortunately that's the business reality on the trade aspect

[dizzy]

http://www.cciforum.org/pdfs/RPA_plan_sumary.pdf