Walt and Deb met in May 1982 and an immediate permanent relationship was forged from that dayforward. Walt had been a tropical fish wholesaler in Los Angeles since 1972 and Debwas well on her way to become a successful interior designer.Over the next few years Deb and Walt continued their separate careers quite happily sharing a lifegetting married in 1986. Although she started to become more and more interested in the fascinatingmarine life Walt was involved with in 1989… Show more Walt and Deb met in May 1982 and an immediate permanent relationship was forged from that dayforward. Walt had been a tropical fish wholesaler in Los Angeles since 1972 and Debwas well on her way to become a successful interior designer.Over the next few years Deb and Walt continued their separate careers quite happily sharing a lifegetting married in 1986. Although she started to become more and more interested in the fascinatingmarine life Walt was involved with in 1989 Walt got an opportunity to travel to the Kingdom of Tongaas an Aquarium Industry consultant and Deb jumped at the chance to join him.It was during that trip that Deb fell in love with the South Pacific and a joint decision was made togive up everything in Los Angeles and move to the South Pacific and Deb would join her husband inthis venture while she split her time between a mother of 2 toddlers and a key [layer in their newlyformed business.Deb soon became very active in the daily dives and gathered her experience on the job learningmore about the sea life she encountered on a daily basis. Several years later (1995) they shiftedtheir main operation from Tonga to Fiji and in 1998 they decided to start experimenting withfragments of broken coral they found on a dive shortly after a cyclone hit that area. After hiring ascientist to create the initial success they decided to expand the program in several areas close totheir main operation.They soon realized that the large abundance of corals they were growing could benefit the localeconomy and Walt founded the NGO “Aquaculture Development for the Environment” in 2011 andafter a lot of encouragement from Deb the project was born.Today Deb runs the daily communications with funding organizations and Social Media while Waltlooks after the operational side of the project. Working together as a team they are creating one ofthe largest Coral Reef Restoration project in the world. Show less

Since 1989 have been involved in the export business of marine products in Tonga and Fiji. Export to over 30 countries and have won exporter of the year award twice in Fiji. Today current CFO of the company and an important part of every major decision that Walt Smith International has to make.