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Posted by JR
on 1/26/2009, 12:09 pm
205.188.116.144
There is no question that the koi hobby currently suffers on many fronts. Cost of koi, shipping issues, disease threats, cost of the electricity, too many professionals chasing too few customers and even real estate wows and lack of home equity loans slowing pond building. And don’t discount real estate down sizing and retirement of the baby boomer population. All very real.
But perhaps the single greatest threat is the maturing of the hobby? At a time when all the above has come together to form the perfect storm, it seems they have all acted more as final 'push' for an already matured hobby then a crushing blow in and of themselves. This downward turn started in Japan after the end of the ‘Great Japanese Miracle’ of the 80s and 90s. That was the golden age of koi in Japan fueled by a great rising economy . Today, koi is a dying hobby in Japan.
Meanwhile in the west, Long gone are the days when trips to Mecca koiland were rare and deserved feature articles in the one or two koi magazines in existence. Indeed, long gone are the limited sources of 'secret' details of how to keep these wondrous and mysterious fish alive. Most people know what koi are now. There was a time when only those who went to Hawaii or Disney world, had a clue as what these giant colorful goldfish were called.
And maybe the worst turn in the bend came when koi clubs became focused on 'bigness' and over the top trade shows? Add into mix the inclusion of goldfish and longfin carp and the broth began to watered down towards a soup that would offend no one's taste buds. But weaken the focus and drain the volunteers’ energies all the same.
Then the InterNet-- what can I say? The most popular trend in 'the hobby'. Unfortunately not actually the koi hobby. Nope, more a social outlet linked to the general ponding hobby amongst warring factions. Mix in magazines, many many magazines. Many many koi boards. The result---- excess exposure. Limiting ad potential as every budding back yard dealer and breeder in the trade descends on Ebay in order to troll for customers there or on the newbie boards. Not quite the water garden world but rather some alternate world of reasonable ‘facsimile koi’ for the masses.
Those who have been in 'fish hobbies' ( or any hobbies for that matter) know that there are rises and falls of interest in species or topics. African chiclids, bettas, marine fish, discus, etc, all come to great heights of interest and then fall. And this has happened with koi now after a remarkable 20 year run. Even the once truly great All Japan show is being held together with clear plastic bags, bailing wire and hollow, over the top, marketing hype. Truly a said state of affairs.
What can be done? Is there anything that ‘can’ be done? As a market, and an industry, the shake out has begun. As pointed out by others, very few business will survive 2009-10. There just aren’t the margins or critical mass of intense driven customers to justify the investment at the obsessive levels of the late 80s and 1990s. That's a fact.
I think the good news is, the 'hard crunchy center' of the hobby will always be there. Those dealers who have tapped into it via AKCA and ZNA will survive here in the states. As will the ebay pirates who specialize in picking off the water gardeners with fool's gold. But in-between? Not many.
As for education? There will always be the inaccurate and wacky internet education. I recently saw a Chinese website that said koi were 'invented' by the Chinese! Can the North Korean sites be far behind in this claim? 
I don't really consider that the koi community so I guess it's harmless ( in a harmful sort of way). Certainly the AKCA and ZNA will survive and continue to education in an orthodox way based on decades of accumulated information and experience. But commercial efforts and sources will likely die on the vine along with most small dealers and larger dealers with substantial overhead. The backyard dealer has already made a comeback but for how long?
The more things change, the more they stay the same. What I mean specifically is, clubs must refocus on the fundamentals that created their need to begin with. And chapters and organizations need to merge if necessary and support local dealers. Instead of platitudes about ‘supporting local dealers’, members should ONLY buy from dealers that advertise in club magazines and support club shows. This is what the koi community is. It is not ‘Internet’ based. And it is not on the scale of General Motors! It is truly about the local club with local dealers all linked into a National organization. The ‘Blakinization’ of the hobby and it’s organization has just about peaked, I think? It maybe be time to reverse the fragmentation process and regroup again with strong individual clubs along with their local dealers, moving towards a smaller more focused point of view, I.E. Koi.
Welcome home! JR
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