It is not uncommon to come across a retailer, wholesaler or transhipper in the marine aquarium industry that boasts a “secret supplier” of livestock. Consider this e-mail from Extreme Corals, an online retailer of corals and other invertebrates, on Wednesday of this week:
SECRET SUPPLIER CORALS JUST POSTED!!!! I have been waiting for these corals to arrive for over 45 days. This is more corals from my SECRET SUPPLIER, these are by far the best corals I get in. Check out these beauties, some of the nicest corals you will ever see! Really take your time and look at them these are INCREDIBLE!!!!
The myth of secret suppliers aside, ostensibly, the fact that the retailer from whom you buy livestock has a “secret supplier” is value-added to you as the customer. Presumably, the “secret supplier” is not serving a multitude of wholesalers, retailers and transhippers, and they therefore send all the choicest specimens to your supplier, which, in turn, provides you, the customer, more premium animals from which to choose. Perhaps it even means you have access to animals that cannot be purchased anywhere else.
Are Secret Suppliers a Good Business Model?
Obviously this makes good business sense for the retailer, as they can fetch a premium price for animals claimed to originate with their “secret supplier.” From a marketing perspective, the retailer appears to have an edge in the marketplace because they have access to animals (or color morphs, growth forms or even subspecies) that either nobody else is offering or of which nobody else is offering as premium a specimen. From a strictly business standpoint, this appears to be a good business model.
But is it really, and, more importantly, is it good for the industry, not to mention the local communities and ecosystems upon which the industry depends?
The Socioeconomic Impacts of the Marine Aquarium Industry
The marine aquarium industry is based primarily on animals that are collected in the wild by local collectors in remote island nations where the industry plays a significant socioeconomic role. In the best case scenario, a robust and sustainable marine aquarium industry brings needed income to these communities and can positively influence the ways in which local people manage their marine resources. In a worst case scenario, locals are not compensated or cared-for appropriately, and the resource itself is seriously degraded.
It seems self-evident that we, as an industry, would want to support the suppliers—collectors, consolidators and exporters—who are doing it right in terms of running sustainable and ethical businesses. Whether we are a hobbyist or the CEO of a major online retailer, we should all want to see the best suppliers do even better and become more profitable so they can invest back into their businesses, local communities and natural resources.
Actively Promoting the Best Suppliers of Marine Livestock
If the above is true, then it follows that if a company has a secret supplier that is doing a great job, then it is best for the industry, the supplier and ecosystems if the company promotes that supplier with colleagues, even if they are competitors. Let's consider an example outside the aquatic interest: A local Mercedes dealer, for example, would probably not gain a significant advantage by developing and maintaining their own secret supplier of Mercedes cars instead of buying them from the same national factory that a competing Mercedes dealership does.
Sticking with the car analogy, if I went to buy a new car, and the salesman said to me that I should really consider this particular vehicle provided by his secret supplier, I would be more than a little skeptical. Is this legit and legal, I would wonder, and, if so, why is the supplier secret? I might wonder what benefit there would be for the dealer to sell a car from an undisclosed plant. Further, I would have no idea if the car had been manufactured to the same safety standards and in a manner that did not exploit workers or local resources.
A Simple Straightforward Thought
Now of course, ehinophyllias are not cars, and all analogies have their limits, but allow me to close with a simple, straightforward thought. We in the marine aquarium industry—hobbyists, retailers, wholesalers, et al—should seek to empower suppliers by transparently offering fair, market-driven prices for sustainably collected livestock. We should promote sustainability by transparently sanctioning those suppliers who maintain equitable social standards and endorse environmental principles that are at least commensurate with our own. We should acknowledge that the suppliers upon whom the industry relies are too frequently marginalized by social-economic status, ethnicity or other factors and that hiding them behind a veil of secrecy in the name of protecting our own economic advantage will only further marginalize these suppliers over time.
In large part, the power is ours to elevate local suppliers to socioeconomic stability so they can become stakeholders intent on promoting social and environmental standards that will continue to support a robust and sustainable marine aquarium industry for years to come. How? As a hobbyist, don’t buy animals promoted as originating with a “secret supplier.” As retailers, don’t play the secrecy card as a marketing device. As wholesalers, provide some thought-leadership to your colleagues and the industry at large by agreeing to actively and collectively support and empower the “good guys.”
As hokey as it sounds, together, we do make a difference.
Ret Talbot is a freelance writer with a passion for marine aquaria. He also blogs on the hobby at Microcosm Aquarium Explorer and Saltwater Sense and is a feature writer for saltwater aquarium topics at Suite 101. He is also a regular contributor to Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine. You can read more about him on his official website found here.
It is not uncommon to come across a retailer, wholesaler or transhipper in the marine aquarium industry that boasts a “secret supplier” of livestock. Consider this e-mail from 
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