Scottish koi club

PINCHED THIS POST FROM PAUL WILLIAMS

I've copyed this from another forum,

Next week is the British koi keepers societies annual general meeting.
I have asked for the 'point system' to be added to the agenda. as many people know I am opposed to it. I believe it is so totally flawed that it should never have got past its first reading, it discriminates against the showing of larger koi while allowing small size 1 Koi almost unfettered access, rendering the VAT unjudgeable.

The premise upon which the system is built around seems to be that length of Koi is the only factor when calculating the amount of pollution created, similar to stating that a 5 ft 2 man creates more pollution in a house than a 5 ft man, one would have to be sceptical of this statement without knowing the lifestyle and body mass of the men. The points system asks us to accept that there is a difference between the ratio of pollution the two men create and also expects us to accept that a seven-foot man creates no more pollution than the 5 ft 2.
size 1 allows us to show 60 X 24.5 centimetre Koi allowing us over 14 metres of Koi, irrelevant of the size of vat or depth of water.
size 2 allows us to show 30 x 25.5 centimetre Koi allowing us to show approximately 7.5 metres of Koi.
For the addition of 30 centimetres in koi length or 1ft in old money, it is deemed that the strain on the water dictates we must lose over six metres of Koi. it is a trained eye that can differentiate between a top end size 1 and bottom end size 2 Koi.

So the anomalies continue, in size 4 we are allowed seven 54.5 centimetre of Koi amounting to 3.8 metres of Koi, size five we could have 4 fish of 55.5 centimetres and for that addition of four centimetres or less than two inches in English we must lose approximately one-and-a-half metres of koi,
The whole system is at best nonsensical.
The real danger to the Koi hobby is when we visit the bigger sizes, we will see that size seven Koi are allotted 11 points the exhibitor is now only able to show two size seven Koi to remain under the mythical figure of 30 points, irrelevant once again of the size of vat or volume of water and for those shows that include a size eight category we only rise from 11 to 13 points, The same points differential between the size three Koi and the size 4 Koi yet we know Koi growth is logarithmicul, much larger weight and body density gain is needed to sustain a growth rate of one or two centimetres on big female Koi.
The system asks us to acccept that two male Koi of 85 centimetres have the same value as two female Chagoi's in excess of a metre.



Although this system has faced stiff opposition, is completely unfathomable, is totally baffling to every Japanese breeder whom I have discussed it with, has scant scientific basis and with last year's BKKSs National show taking its first backward step for 25 years, with a drop of 20 size seven Koi and five size eight Koi missing from the previous year's Matrix, I would suggest there were half the volume of Koi on display the listening Council has appeared to have gone deaf.

The health of the Koi hobby and subsequently those trying to make their living around it rely heavily on large koi been shown, it inspires and creates aspiration.
At this year's annual general meeting I am going to propose the abandonment of the said points system, hoping to take the decision away from council and place it in to the hands of the membership, in favour of a Return to the three metre per vat style that never was broken and didn't need fixing.

For many years I have been asked to stand for a senior position on council and have always declined.
This year though if asked I would stand for election. I would like to push for more smaller shows either a league or inter club competitions in some form, to promote fellowship and friendly rivalry, more emphasis on training with regular lectures, discounts negotiated for BKKSs members with various suppliers to give some value to the BKKSs s membership, investigate the possibility of returning once again to our own independent publication, forge closer ties with Japanese breeders, maybe BKKSs Tours.
No one can be forced to join the BKKSs but you could make the society so attractive and beneficial to the membership that there would be no reason for koi keepers not to subscribe.

It is in no one's interest for the B K K S to continue its decline and become inpotent.