Marinelife
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| REPORT ON THE MEETINGS HELD IN LAS VEGAS AMDA held a Board meeting held prior to the Western Marine Conference in Las Vegas, July 17 - 20, 1997. It appears that we have reached a consensus about the skills examination. We came up with five sections:
"Basic" versus "advanced" knowledge levels should be applicable to each of the sections of the exam. In other works, the Basic Examination would have these five sections with appropriate questions from each, and the Advanced Examination would have the save five sections, but with correspondingly more difficult questions. Announcements made at the meeting:
PIJAC PLANS TRAINING PROGRAMS On August 1, John Tullock attended a meeting of the MAFC working group in Washington, DC. The meeting was mostly devoted to business matters, as the working group moves toward legal incorporation of the MAFC, pilot certification of a limited number of collectors and importers, and production of an informative brochure about MAFC goals and activities. Prior to the MAFC working group meeting, Tullock met with Marshall Meyers at PIJAC headquarters, for an update on PIJAC's efforts in training store owners and store personnel through its "Pet Care Specialist" programs. PIJAC is working on a marine seminar program based on protocols developed in England. These would be offered in conjunction with trade shows, as are PIJAC's seminars on dog, cat, avian and reptile care, and would cost about $100 per employee trained. Also under development is an animal handlers program that would consist of training videos and a home-study workbook, and a CD-ROM for in store tutorial-type training. Another avenue under investigation is the use of satellite television for delivering training programs to any location in the country. Cost to participating stores is estimated at $200 to $300 per year. In the case of these new programs, Meyers did not state when he expects marine-aquarium related training to become a part of the package. STATUS OF CURRENT PROJECTS The AMDA Board of Directors is currently working to develop a Skills Recognition Examination. This project will provide a formal way for recognition of member's knowledge in the husbandry of marine aquarium specimens. This project is being coordinated by Lance and Mikki Ichinotsubo, Rainbow Seascapes. Input from all members is welcome. The Marinelife Husbandry Database is under construction, under the leadership of Rick Oellers, Aquatic Concepts. After two years developing criteria for ranking fish species as to their care requirements, work is now proceeding to finalize the species list, and to post it on the Internet. The rankings are designed to provide information only, without making a judgment as to the suitability of any species for aquarium life. The future goal is to include a capsule of pertinent husbandry information about each species, and a photograph to facilitate identification. FINANCIAL MATTERS As with most small, young organizations, AMDA has its share of financial woes. There is never enough money to accomplish all that we have set out to do. About half of members' dues goes for postage, printing, and free distribution of the AMDA newsletter. The remainder is largely spent on office supplies, telephone and fax service, and the like. Contributions from contributors, sponsors and donors may be in the form of services, such as advertising space, or in cash. Cash contributions help to pay for special projects and travel expenses. I am asking members to vote for an increase in dues, coupled with a change in the way dues are collected, to generate additional operating funds and make financial management more efficient. (See separate discussion below.) We are also sending requests for manufacturers to provide additional contributions. The possibility of obtaining grant support is also being actively investigated. We need additional funds for several new projects, as well as for making further progress on the projects described above. Among the most important needs is legal and accounting work to establish AMDA as a bona-fide trade association. This entails a thick stack or forms and about five months dealing with the IRS. Smaller projects, though of major importance to members, include providing the AMDA logo in the form of "door stickers" that each member can use at his or her place of business, and placing color ads in the hobbyist magazines on a regular basis. More frequent use of magazine ads would allow for each member's business name to appear once or twice a year, for example. At present, we have to make do with ad space that is donated by the magazines (for which we are nevertheless grateful). NEW BUSINESS: CHANGES IN DUES STRUCTURE Members are asked to vote on increasing dues to $60 - $120 per year for voting members. We will also vote on prorating dues for 1997-1998 to make everyone's dues become payable on December 1, 1997, and renewable on each December 1 thereafter. This would make it easy for everyone to remember when to renew, and would eliminate uncertainty in financial planning. Examples of prorating: These examples assume dues increase to $60. For $120/year, these amounts would be doubled.
If there were no increase in dues, but members vote to prorate annual dues, the amounts would be as follows:
Please return the official ballot on the following page. The deadline is set far enough in advance to permit discussion, both in person at the MACNA meeting, and by telephone and email. Please make your voice heard. BUSINESS TIP If you want to stock captive-propagated specimens, but are having trouble getting them through your regular suppliers, check with propagators listed in the AMDA membership directory about possible changes in their distribution systems. Propagators are now offering specimens in small batches, shipped by overnight delivery service, directly to your shop. This may be just what small shops need, in order to stock a good selection of propagated specimens. Delivery, though, may be a problem until after the UPS strike is resolved, depending upon your location. |
In this issue:
MEETING SCHEDULE AND AGENDA FOR MACNA 9 AMDA will hold business meetings and other activities in conjunction with the Ninth Marine Aquarium Conference of North America, September 12 - 14, 1997, at the Wyndham Northwest Chicago Hotel. The meeting schedule is as follows: 7:00 PM Thursday, September 11, 1997: The AMDA Board of Directors will meet informally for a work session. All current members are invited to attend. Location will be posted near the MACNA registration area. 7:00 PM Friday, September 12, 1997: Reception and cash bar in the exhibit area, open to all conference attendees. Business owners interested in AMDA membership are especially invited to attend. MACNA organizers have generously provided us with a table in the exhibit area, at no cost. We hope to provide a few cocktail snacks for anyone who drops by the table to learn more about AMDA. 5:30 to 6:30 PM, Saturday, September 13, 1997: Formal business meeting in conference/lecture room provided by MACNA organizers. Open to all voting members. See below for planned agenda. For additional information about the conference, contact Dennis Gallagher, Chicagoland Marine Aquarium Society, 1455 Nottingham Lane, Hoffman Estate, IL 60195, call 847-622-5371, or visit the web site at www.cmas.net. For hotel reservations, call 1-800-WYNDHAM, and specify the Northwest Chicago Hotel. MEETING AGENDAS Here are the proposed agendas for the Board meeting and the business meeting: Board Meeting Topics
Business Meeting:
AMDA MEMBER BENEFITS Board Members Rick Oellers has pointed out the need to remind members, and especially to inform business owners who might consider joining us, of the benefits businesses derive from AMDA membership. Members receive free advertising in several formats. AMDA buys space (and sometimes has it donated) in the hobby magazines, in which we present our philosophy and encourage hobbyists to shop with AMDA members. The ads provide an address where hobbyists can write to receive a free copy of the Membership Directory, which they can use to locate your store. When these ads are running, we receive a steady stream of requests. In addition, the Membership Directory is always available to anyone on the Internet, from our web site at www.amdareef.com. The web site also contains regularly updated information about AMDA activities and links to member web sites and email. Suggestions may be directed to our web goddess. A major Internet site, www.petpath.com, from Time, Inc. New Media, has also contracted to include the AMDA Membership Directory on its server, with a link to the AMDA web site. This service receives several million hits per week, and should provide wide exposure of AMDA members to the general public. Members receive free information from AMDA headquarters. New members receive a set of handout masters, covering important topics in aquarium keeping, that can be xeroxed and provided to customers and employees. The quarterly newsletter, Marinelife Dealer, provides not only information on AMDA activities, but also tips and other business-building information, often from other members. We are developing a skills recognition program and a database of marine fish husbandry information. Because of their scope and implications, these are necessarily long-term projects. Besides undertaking these major projects, which will ultimately benefit not only AMDA members but hobbyists and the aquarium industry in general, AMDA provides members with representation in such important forums as the Trade Advisory Group and the Marine Aquarium Fish Council. These organizations are working to foster fundamental changes in the way marine fish and invertebrates are collected, shipped and handled on their way to the retail store. This will mean the realization of the most fundamental goal of AMDA: making the marine aquarium business more environmentally responsible, and helping to secure a continuous supply of both wild-caught and captive-propagated specimens, at reasonable cost, for the future of the industry. More animals will survive, marine aquarium keeping will become a more rewarding hobby, and our nationwide customer base will consequently increase. This is a win-win outcome for both the industry and the coral reefs. |