| In my experience even the true koi hobbyists split into two broad catergories and we need to support and encourage two separate "transitions" in order to grow the hobby.
First, we obviously need to bring people in. This may be converting water gardeners to "real" koi ponds or it might be simply finding people who are interested and want to start the right way. At the end of the day you need some space and some money, so it's unlikely to become a young person's hobby any time soon.
Then there are a group of true enthusiasts, with reasonable or even excellent ponds, who keep healthy koi but who never graduate to higher quality fish. This may frequently be an economic decision - they might really like to have high end fish, but they simply can't afford it (or, perhaps, justify it) or they may have better ways to spend their hard earned money. I know numerous people in this category.
Given the symbiotic economic relationship that breeders need between big bucks high-end fish and high volume low-end fish, I think that we need to look carefully at how to bring people into the hobby in the first place, but we also need to look at how to help keen hobbyists progress within the hobby. In some ways I think this is just as challenging as finding new converts!
Supporting clubs and reducing politics will go a long way.
Just my two cents. |