Hello everyone,
I am a designer working on environmental and social sustainability projects in developing countries. There is a shift towards sustainable production and consumption in many sectors. For example, specialty coffee got popular as an alternative to commodity coffee due to its quality and fairness to the farmers. Unfortunately, such innovations in supply chains haven't happened much in the marine ornamental trade. The livestock collectors in developing countries are underpaid and the working conditions are very problematic. Many risk their lives everyday, as there is no safety regulations. In addition to that, consumers in the Western countries are very detached from the reality of the collectors. Thus, we are not able to make very conscious decisions when buying a new coral or fish.
The project I am working on at the moment aims to build a community centre for the collectors in Bangaii Island where they can discuss issues related to their jobs, can collectively share equipments, get training from experts on safety and handling of the livestock. Eventually, our aim is to add tanks for collectors to safely stock their fish and design a system for captive breeding of Bangaii Cardinalfish. Transition from wild-catching to mariculture or aquaculture is vital for the collectors as everyday more and more reefs are dying. Captive breeding would also help improve the working conditions of the collectors, help them get more income for their work.
I wanted to start this thread to hear you opinions about our project as fellow reefers. How much are you aware of the working conditions of the collectors? What do you think needs to be done to raise awareness? Do you think us consumers are too detached from the reality of these communities? Also, if it would be possible to design a product that would help the collectors to breed bangaii cardinals small-scale?
I am a designer working on environmental and social sustainability projects in developing countries. There is a shift towards sustainable production and consumption in many sectors. For example, specialty coffee got popular as an alternative to commodity coffee due to its quality and fairness to the farmers. Unfortunately, such innovations in supply chains haven't happened much in the marine ornamental trade. The livestock collectors in developing countries are underpaid and the working conditions are very problematic. Many risk their lives everyday, as there is no safety regulations. In addition to that, consumers in the Western countries are very detached from the reality of the collectors. Thus, we are not able to make very conscious decisions when buying a new coral or fish.
The project I am working on at the moment aims to build a community centre for the collectors in Bangaii Island where they can discuss issues related to their jobs, can collectively share equipments, get training from experts on safety and handling of the livestock. Eventually, our aim is to add tanks for collectors to safely stock their fish and design a system for captive breeding of Bangaii Cardinalfish. Transition from wild-catching to mariculture or aquaculture is vital for the collectors as everyday more and more reefs are dying. Captive breeding would also help improve the working conditions of the collectors, help them get more income for their work.
I wanted to start this thread to hear you opinions about our project as fellow reefers. How much are you aware of the working conditions of the collectors? What do you think needs to be done to raise awareness? Do you think us consumers are too detached from the reality of these communities? Also, if it would be possible to design a product that would help the collectors to breed bangaii cardinals small-scale?
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