Ok, a few comments:
I know some of you out there have interacted with Jim directly-- do any of you know him well enough that you could speak with him directly and get his side of the story?
Perhaps, since the setup already exists, someone could convince the Aquafarm management to continue the project somehow-- they presumably still have the setup and hopefully, even if Jim is gone, there is enough knowledge around to continue the work.
It sounds like this is an opportunity for motivated people to step up to the plate, and make a stand for bimac aquaculture being something we care about enough to really make it happen, because we think octopus keeping is important, and it's a resource that the cephalopod aquariasts need, and it's an opportunity to make the aquarium animal market more sustainable and environmentally sound, and for all sorts of reasons that I'm sure many of you can think of more than I.
What would that take and what can we do to start movement?
I think it would be a good idea to talk to the Aquafarm people and, if possible, Jim, and find out whether they are completely decided on getting out of the ceph pets business or whether they might continue, or at least help out. It also might be worthwhile to look into other possible funding sources-- perhaps the Packard foundation or some environmental group has some sort of grant program that could be applied to this sort of business-- we could probably argue that it's worth as small "sustainable fisheries research" grant even though it's a bit atypical for that, but sometimes, particularly for small grants, the committees that allocate money like atypical, if for no other reason than it relieves the monotony. Does the NRCC have any interest in supporting the pet trade in cephs somehow?
If using the Octopets facility is out of the question, where else might such an octo/cuttle farm be set up? How far up the west coast do bimacs normally go? If one set something up in Monterey, would that be too cold for them? How about Arcata or Portland or Seattle? Presumably, having a coastal location would be far preferable.
Obviously, I'm just shooting from the hip here, and never having actually kept even a single octopus, I can't really make this happen, but from what I've seen of the folks around TONMO, I think there is a real possibility that there is critical mass for us to make this happen somehow. And do have some experience in encouraging people to take the step from "it would be good if..." to "we are going to make this happen..."
Does this sound like a good direction to anyone else, or do I just sound like a raving madman?
is as close as I can find to a "call to arms" or "play charge on the bugle" smilie....
