In Solomon Islands, artisanal fisheries have been an important part of life for generations. Over the past couple decades, the marine aquarium fishery has, according to some, proven a viable and especially sustainable fisheries model capable of connecting remote fishers to global markets and bringing appropriate socio-economic growth to remote coastal villages. Continuing on his popular series of articles on sustainability and the marine aquarium trade for CORAL Magazine, Ret is returning to the South Pacific to observe these fisheries, meet the fishers and dive the reefs of Solomon Islands. This is that story. [More]
More than a year ago, the editor at CORAL Magazine suggested Ret look into a company in Jefferson City, Tennessee called Sustainable Aquatics. While a story never materialized at that time, a series of meetings and other apparently unrelated events led Ret to board a plane bound for Knoxville, Tennessee early in 2011. [More]
In September 2010, Ret was sent to Hawaii by CORAL Magazine to research a story on the past, present and future of the marine aquarium trade in the 50th state. While there, he filled in some gaps for his forthcoming book Coral and took a moment to paddle out in the first big swell of the season on O'ahu's North Shore. Three islands, 10 days and he lost count of how many interviews... [More]
Last winter, Ret contracted with Reaktion Books (London) to write Coral for the award-winning Animal series. In preparation for that book, and to mirror his winter 2010 trip to Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Ret traveled to Belize in July, where he was the guest of the Smithsonian Insitutution's Carrie Bow Cay Field Station on the Meso-American Barrier Reef. [More]
In the winter of 2010, Ret was asked to do an interview with David Vosseler for CORAL Magazine. That interview, and the meeting with David, led to an opportunity for Ret to travel to Papua New Guinea for three weeks in March 2010. [More]
