Walt Smith has been working, loving, sleeping, eating, breathing and dreaming Marine Ornamentals since 1970. Watching the industry grow from its infancy with only air stone driven under-gravel filters and fluorescent tubes Walt has devoted his life to sharing and exploring the wonders of the corals reef. In 1972 Walt conceived of the idea of “cherry picking” orders from the worlds largest wholesalers in Los Angeles for retail stores around the country and operated that service until 1989. Today there are several businesses in existence that have followed in his footsteps, some of whom have worked for Walt and received their training from him during those years. In 1989 Walt decided that he could no longer be a fish out of water and moved his family to the South Pacific Islands of Tonga to establish the first truly hand caught station in the region, possibly the world serving the reef aquarium market. Sustainable harvest has always been top priority with Walt as his love for the reef and its creatures was an extension of his passion to share its diverse beauty and curiosities with others. Expanding to Fiji in 1995 Walt’s name became mostly associated with developing the live rock industry and the colorful / fast growing Acropora that exist in the industry today.

Although Walt and his team have developed the model for sustainable reef management (along with reef scientist they have hired) his true love and passion is the experiments and successes he has had with aquaculture in the South Pacific. Operating the largest coral farm in the world since 1998 he now has over 70,000 pieces of live coral and 200 tons of man-made live rock growing wildly on the ocean floor. Walt Smith International in Fiji donates its time while working closely with tourism to create the worlds first “coral trails” located at some of the resorts where visitors can see the coral grow that they themselves plant. Each visitor pays a small fee to the resort for their coral and the money collected is deposited in a fund for the coral reef rehabilitation program along the coral coast of Fiji where tourism and forestry has taken its toll.

Today Walt has established stations in four South Pacific countries and employs and trains over 380 island people in proper, sustainable reef management.

ABSTRACT:

WHAT DO WE GROW, WHY DO WE GROW IT, WHO CARES?

Why bother to grow coral on farms or in captivity when there is so much available in the wild? Can we continue to harvest coral from the wild and assume that we are not having an impact? The debate continues as more evidence is presented from both sides of the table to support various points of view from a sometimes very emotional topic.

The past several years have seen the emergence of a new type of hobbyist. A hobby that can create such beauty and awareness with wide eyed curiosity of individuals dreaming of the quiet life under the sea is truly unique.

We have grown in our ambitions from merely keeping a tank full of exotic fish as an ornament for our home to actually learning about and growing a live coral reef in our living room. While we applaud these efforts and successes we should also reflect on our original curiosities and dreams that got us here.

Down in the South Pacific where life is easy and the water is blue, friendly faced island people wonder what all the fuss is about. Up in the busy cities we dream of tropical islands and warm ocean breezes. Under the waters of these friendly islands corals are carefully planted and are quietly waiting to be transported to places that those who cared for them can only dream of. A plentiful natural resource and an odd coral farming project share in the wonderment and economy of these peaceful islands so far away from the thriving coral reefs in the middle of our big cities and rural spreads. Let us explore the realities of both sides of the debate and take pride in the fact that we have been able to create awareness, responsible reef management and the alternatives from the passion we share.