Fisheries Industry
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Marine Life Expert fulfills vision
Marine Life Expert fulfills vision
Established in 1973 in Los Angeles (LA), California, Walt Smith International Ltd’s (WSIL) main objective was to
address the need for a superior quality aquatic specimen for the growing aquarium market in the United States. It was in LA that WSIL owner, Walt Smith launched the first hand picked service amongst the world’s largest wholesalers of marine life as he
realized that retail stores around the country sometimes had difficulty receiving the variety and quality acquatic specimen they needed in order to be successful in the rapidly growing marine aquarium market. Walt’s winning combination of success comes as a result of extensive knowledge of the industry added to his long established relationship with the Los Angeles aquarium wholesalers.
In 1989, Walt saw an opportunity to follow his dream and relocate to the Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific. At first it was a difficult move for his wife and two daughters to give up all that was familiar and comfortable in the United States and to start life again in a foreign country where it was simple and common necessities were not readily available. Walt spent the next 7 years in Tonga discovering new items for the industry and providing high quality, unusual aquatic specimens in order to meet the ever increasing and demanding mini reef tank market. It was not long before Tonga was recognized as a source of superior quality specimens for high quality rare marine species. As the demand for high quality marine products grew it became obvious that airline space for these discoveries out of The Kingdom of Tonga was simply not sufficient. The reputation of healthy and interesting livestock from WSIL was spreading throughout the industry.
1995 was a year of breakthrough for Walt when he was invited by the Fiji Fisheries Department to demonstrate and help set up a "best practice" exercise for such an emerging industry in the country. It was during this visit that Walt realized the advantages Fiji had in terms of setting up his Head Office as the move would make the company the first regional distribution center of marine life in the South Pacific.WSIL’s commitment to the Fiji economy and its environment includes total investment value worth over $2,500,000.00 in a state-of-the-art facility and employment number of more than 250 people in the warehouse and outlying nearby villages in Lami. Consequently, WSIL also provides training to locals through various community development workshops and has been instrumental in establishing the first privately funded community workshops creating awareness to the general public on all matters that involve the reef and its many uses.
The main focus of WSIL is to share and care for the marine world, create maximum benefit to the local community and the economy, be proactive on its sustainability, careful consumption of the resource and work together with science and industry to gain a better understanding of our existing marine ecosystem. Working closely with Government, the Fisheries and Science departments, and the local villages, Walt hopes to create a better understanding of what the Marine Aquarium Industry means to the local economy as well as to the environment. WSIL is recognised as one of the leading sources of high quality marine life suppliers in the world today.
address the need for a superior quality aquatic specimen for the growing aquarium market in the United States. It was in LA that WSIL owner, Walt Smith launched the first hand picked service amongst the world’s largest wholesalers of marine life as he
realized that retail stores around the country sometimes had difficulty receiving the variety and quality acquatic specimen they needed in order to be successful in the rapidly growing marine aquarium market. Walt’s winning combination of success comes as a result of extensive knowledge of the industry added to his long established relationship with the Los Angeles aquarium wholesalers.
In 1989, Walt saw an opportunity to follow his dream and relocate to the Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific. At first it was a difficult move for his wife and two daughters to give up all that was familiar and comfortable in the United States and to start life again in a foreign country where it was simple and common necessities were not readily available. Walt spent the next 7 years in Tonga discovering new items for the industry and providing high quality, unusual aquatic specimens in order to meet the ever increasing and demanding mini reef tank market. It was not long before Tonga was recognized as a source of superior quality specimens for high quality rare marine species. As the demand for high quality marine products grew it became obvious that airline space for these discoveries out of The Kingdom of Tonga was simply not sufficient. The reputation of healthy and interesting livestock from WSIL was spreading throughout the industry.
1995 was a year of breakthrough for Walt when he was invited by the Fiji Fisheries Department to demonstrate and help set up a "best practice" exercise for such an emerging industry in the country. It was during this visit that Walt realized the advantages Fiji had in terms of setting up his Head Office as the move would make the company the first regional distribution center of marine life in the South Pacific.WSIL’s commitment to the Fiji economy and its environment includes total investment value worth over $2,500,000.00 in a state-of-the-art facility and employment number of more than 250 people in the warehouse and outlying nearby villages in Lami. Consequently, WSIL also provides training to locals through various community development workshops and has been instrumental in establishing the first privately funded community workshops creating awareness to the general public on all matters that involve the reef and its many uses.
The main focus of WSIL is to share and care for the marine world, create maximum benefit to the local community and the economy, be proactive on its sustainability, careful consumption of the resource and work together with science and industry to gain a better understanding of our existing marine ecosystem. Working closely with Government, the Fisheries and Science departments, and the local villages, Walt hopes to create a better understanding of what the Marine Aquarium Industry means to the local economy as well as to the environment. WSIL is recognised as one of the leading sources of high quality marine life suppliers in the world today.
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