It's official - MASNA shuts down - What can we do to ensure continued outreach, conservation, and growth of the hobby we love?

[Cook]

From the email I received:

Dear MASNA Membership,

It is with heavy hearts that the Board of Directors of the Marine Aquarium Societies of North America (MASNA) announces the closure of the organization. Despite our best efforts to revitalize MASNA and navigate the challenges of recent years, we have been unable to secure the necessary support to sustain our operations.

MASNA proudly organized the Marine Aquarium Conference of North America (MACNA), which for over three decades served as a thriving resource for aquarists to connect with peers, learn from experts, and grow their skills. We are forever grateful for the tens of thousands of attendees, hundreds of vendors, a wide range of sponsors, and upwards of 200 presenters over the years. However, like many in-person events, MACNA faced significant challenges during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. These impacts have contributed to the difficult decision we now face. As the sun sets on MACNA in its current form, we take pride in the meaningful contributions the conference has made to the marine aquarium community.

Over recent years, the way we communicate and connect has shifted dramatically, reshaping the landscape for the organizations that serve our community. The growing dominance of digital platforms has transformed how knowledge and expertise are shared, but this evolution also highlights the need for a new, modernized MASNA-like community organization—a centralized hub where the marine aquarists can unite, collaborate, and succeed together. While MASNA must close its doors, the challenges we face today present an opportunity where something new can rise—a future organization that will meet the needs of aquarists in this digital age.

We believe that with the right vision, dedication, and community support, something new and even stronger could reestablish in its place—a community-driven platform that not only connects aquarists but also upholds the passion and commitment to responsible practices that MASNA has always represented. The potential for a redefined MASNA remains, and perhaps one day, we will see its revival, adapted to the evolving needs of our community.

For many years, MASNA served as a trusted source of knowledge and expertise, and as we move forward, we encourage all aquarists to remain diligent in their pursuit of excellence by continuing to seek out reliable, validated information. Exceptional, vetted sources of knowledge still exist, including respected print publications, many of which are now available digitally, offering both convenience and a reduced environmental impact.

The MASNA board urges you to continue supporting the remaining community groups and locally-owned brick-and-mortar fish stores. These pillars of our hobby are essential for maintaining the high standards that make aquarium keeping such a meaningful and rewarding experience. Without them, it may become too easy for the quality of the marine aquarium community to wane.

Thank you for your unwavering dedication throughout the years. Though MASNA may be closing, the passion for the marine aquarium hobby lives on through each of you.

With gratitude,
The MASNA Board of Directors



Thank you,
Travis Knorr
President, MASNA
Marine Aquarium Societies of North America

 

[msporleder]

Local clubs like this one should build and maintain relationships with environmental groups which are not yet fully against the fish and coral keeping hobby. The best method is probably inviting people from those orgs to give talks and attend shows, so they can see how much aquaculture and environmental education happens vs how little impact coral and fish collection has on reefs.

ARC should join (or form) some kind of cross-club meta-org which can donate funds to counter-lobby misguided regulations which threaten the industry. (Lacey Act)

Ethical and forward-looking vendors (biota?) should be engaged in the above if you can find them.

 

[ichthyoid]

I’ll wager that whatever thousands of fish & inverts are collected for our hobby, pales in comparison to the millions killed due to the pollution, runoff, habitat destruction, research collection and other human originated global impacts cause.

How about this-
Our fair hobby has made more headway in breeding tropical fish and propagating corals than the research community has. Due to the passion involved, because there wasn’t enough money to drive it commercially. The Coral Restoration Foundation was founded by professional hobby collector Ken Nedimyer and employed mostly volunteers that cared early on. He also pioneered the coral propagation methods used by CRF and has gone on to continue developing new methods by founding RenewalUSA.org. The CRF has been overtaken by corporate money and academics, and now has a life of its own. The genetics studies and methods developed as a result of academic involvement has been remarkable. Things we are mostly incapable of as hobbyists. So this is not to a complete knock on academia, but to give appropriate credit to who and where much of current knowledge has emanated.

We spent painstaking decades developing lighting, chemistry, nutrition and filtration methods by trial and error to figure a lot of things out. Those propagation methods were derived from hobbyists fragging corals, while grooming their thriving in-home coral reefs. Then would grow, trade and sell those frags among other hobbyists, stores and coral farmers. Something that reduced the need to harvest wild livestock. Ken Nedimyer’s real genius was recognizing the problem early on, getting reef access from federal & state authorities to try replanting corals, then building the pvc trees used to maximize productivity. Our hobby has now shown we can grow corals 2-4x’s faster in our synthetic reef environments than they grow naturally in the wild. Who even thought that was possible?

So, why isn’t anyone talking about any of this?

 

[msporleder]

I’ll wager that whatever thousands of fish & inverts are collected for our hobby, pales in comparison to the millions killed due to the pollution, runoff, habitat destruction, research collection and other human originated global impacts cause.

How about this-
Our fair hobby has made more headway in breeding tropical fish and propagating corals than the research community has. Due to the passion involved, because there wasn’t enough money to drive it commercially. The Coral Restoration Foundation was founded by professional hobby collector Ken Nedimyer and employed mostly volunteers that cared early on. He also pioneered the coral propagation methods used by CRF and has gone on to continue developing new methods by founding RenewalUSA.org. The CRF has been overtaken by corporate money and academics, and now has a life of its own. The genetics studies and methods developed as a result of academic involvement has been remarkable. Things we are mostly incapable of as hobbyists. So this is not to a complete knock on academia, but to give appropriate credit to who and where much of current knowledge has emanated.

We spent painstaking decades developing lighting, chemistry, nutrition and filtration methods by trial and error to figure a lot of things out. Those propagation methods were derived from hobbyists fragging corals, while grooming their thriving in-home coral reefs. Then would grow, trade and sell those frags among other hobbyists, stores and coral farmers. Something that reduced the need to harvest wild livestock. Ken Nedimyer’s real genius was recognizing the problem early on, getting reef access from federal & state authorities to try replanting corals, then building the pvc trees used to maximize productivity. Our hobby has now shown we can grow corals 2-4x’s faster in our synthetic reef environments than they grow naturally in the wild. Who even knew that was possible?

So, why isn’t anyone talking about any of this?

Because MASNA failed

You left *fishing* off of your list of human activities that impact fish populations and habitat. I personally doubt the entire existence of fish keeping has equaled last year's fish catch in impact.

 

[ichthyoid]

True. Though there may not be that many tropical species that are also eaten regularly. They may also end up as bycatch. Or caught and used as bait, as well.

The point was that our hobby is regularly called out as a convenient scape goat. Without any apparent consideration of value or contribution from us? In Hawaii it was an all out witch hunt. The yellow tangs were never in danger of a population collapse, but it’s nice to see people farming them sustainably. Even if their prices are exorbitant in comparison to before.

 

[skriz]

I was on the Atlanta MACNA board that hosted MACNA XX. It was an amazing experience in every way. A tremendous amount of work that's help fund some amazing initiatives for over 16 years now!

Although the landscape has changed now, there's still so much that can be done. Attending other reef shows that focus on education; bringing in speakers so that we all can learn together; and supporting this community of reefers.

 

[msporleder]

So I would actually love to get involved in helping this along.

A 501c3 would be the meta-org but I assume most clubs are already setup as 501c3's?

a PAC (527?) would be required if there was fund-raising to give money to political candidates since 501c3's are not allowed to do that.

 

[skriz]

Local clubs like this one should build and maintain relationships with environmental groups which are not yet fully against the fish and coral keeping hobby. The best method is probably inviting people from those orgs to give talks and attend shows, so they can see how much aquaculture and environmental education happens vs how little impact coral and fish collection has on reefs.

ARC should join (or form) some kind of cross-club meta-org which can donate funds to counter-lobby misguided regulations which threaten the industry. (Lacey Act)

Ethical and forward-looking vendors (biota?) should be engaged in the above if you can find them.

Way back in the day, the club would sponsor educational initiatives for local kids. From presnetations at schools to field trips, teaching them marine bio. This goes a long way.

 

[SaltedCarmel]

Way back in the day, the club would sponsor educational initiatives for local kids. From presnetations at schools to field trips, teaching them marine bio. This goes a long way.

I'll be working an internship this Spring in collaboration with the University of Georgia working on outreach using marine animals. I'd love to get ARC involved in some way on a couple programs we have in mind if there is interest. Aquariums and school field trips are how I got interested in Marine Biology, and now I'm about to finish an undergraduate degree in it so I'd love to be able to give back to the community that got me started down this path.

 

[KrisDeitz]

Way back in the day, the club would sponsor educational initiatives for local kids. From presnetations at schools to field trips, teaching them marine bio. This goes a long way.

hope you are good man, Have you heard from Jeremy (panda) Any?