Mermaid Alliance

[Mermaid Crystal Shimmer]

Hello all. I’m here to warn all you lovely mermaids (and merman) about a very serious issue. Some of you might heard of this, some of you haven’t. I feel it’s important to speak up about these things and be a voice against dangerous people/business.

This is about Mermaid Alliance and the man behind it: Herman Calis. I will share my experience and the facts. I cannot speak for other mermaids, as those are not my stories to tell. For everything I say I have proof. This isn’t about creating drama. It’s about keeping people safe.

Herman contacted me back in November 2017. He asked me to work with him and join him to go to ADEX Singapore. We had a few messages back and forth. In between the messages I talked to a few other mermaids, asking about their experience with him since I had no clue who he is. There were some serious issues people told me about him, so I was of course very cautious.

I told him I wanted to meet him in person so I could see what kind of person he is in real life. He was busy at that time so he would do so after he met up with a few people in Paris and Germany in January 2018.
I officially let him know not to work with him on November 17th 2017. Two weeks later he send me a video telling me big names are joining (Mertailor). I replied again that this didn’t change my mind and it’s still a no. He called me harsh and that I gave negative energy. After this he blocked me on whatsapp.

In January 2018 he contacted me again by sending me a video about Alena Koneca CMAS World Champion. He again told me he wished to meet me. I asked him why he contacted me again and confronted him about the experiences of other mermaids and that this was the reason I changed my mind. I said that if he could proof that these claims were not true, I would consider working with him.

He then asked if he could email me to ‘proof’ he is innocent. He showed me a .pdf file of a mermaid he worked with. In this file he compiled a bunch of photos and screenshots of her social media with a whole story he came up with, because the pictures in itself don’t say anything.

I did not respond to this file, only told him I would wait until he has had his meeting in Paris and Germany. After this, I never heard from him again…
To this point his communication was relatively normal. Far from professional and very vague. Not once is it very clear to what his business model is or his plan of action. At this point Mermaid Alliance only has an instagram page. No official website or anything.

Fast forward to May 6th 2018. During a beach cleanup I contacted the organizer of the clean up: Sea First Foundation (SFF). Told them I wished to work with them to help create a better world. The next day I got a call if I wanted to be at their event Sea the Future to work together and make it fun time and magical experience. A few days later while exchanging emails she (my contact person) told me Mermaid Alliance would be there too and suggested it would be fun to work together in the future since we are both about mermaids and ocean conservation. I told her I was very cautious about this because of so many negative experiences from others, but that I was willing to meet him to hear his side of things, his plan of action and his ideas before ever considering collaborating with someone. She agreed. (May 17th 2018)

Herman contacted me through whatsapp the same day to ask if we could work together on the Sea the Future event. He said he got caught up in a nasty game of tailmakers and that he would stay away from them. I replied I didn’t have time to meet up with him, but that I was willing to hear his story. I am not one to judge quickly without hearing both sides. He began throwing shade at the person he was meeting in Paris, and said I accused him of playing games (I never said or suggested this). I told him again I didn’t have time to meet up. He emailed me a very vague pitch ment for investors/sponsors in which he throws shade at a tailmaker (Mertailor, who decided not to work with him) and insults every mermaid working with a inflatable clamshell by calling it outdated.

During this time a poster was made by Sea First and they asked if they could use a picture of me to advertise the event. After providing the image and my logo, the poster was being made. I posted this on Instagram, very proud to be working with Sea first and that the poster came out so nice. Herman re-posted this to his Mermaid Alliance Instagram account.

Turns out, Herman thought we were working together during this event. I never once said nor implied this. I only said I’m open for collaboration if we have met in person and have a clear plan of action, contract etc.
When I tell him this (May 28th 218) he instantly changes his attitude. He becomes rude and starts insulting me and accusing me of being negative all the time. He reacts like a 4 year old throwing a tantrum. He threatens to share all this with Sea First and accuses me of being mean and playing political games. His tone in his messages is very aggressive.
He then spends the entire afternoon making a pdf file with print screens of our whatsapp conversation with notes added how I am wrong, mean, radical, play games and even scores the conversation with points. (I am not making this up, I laughed so hard when I saw this) and mailed this to Sea First.

Luckily Sea First has my back so during the event I have nothing to worry about. He emailed again after this to throw even more shade about me. I ignored his emails and I have blocked him both on whatsapp and Instagram.

I will see what the future brings. I hope he will leave me alone. If he does not and continues to email me before/after the event of june 10th, I will report him to the police for harassment. I sure hope it will not come this far. Everything that has happened to me is backed up with proof. I kept every email I received and made a backup from the whatsapp conversation.

Still, I consider myself lucky since other mermaids have had to deal with sexual harassment and stalking. Some even filed a restraining order against him. But these are not my stories to tell, and belong to mermaids around the world.


Update June 1st 2018: I posted my warning on instagram and Facebook. He contacts people who responded to my post, trying to tell them it's a misunderstanding and that I distort the facts. Which is of course not the case. He is just trying to safe his sorry a**. He said he will respond to this after world ocean day, so we will see what happens.

Please stay safe

[AniaR]

Nearly everyone who has worked with him has had issues.

Mertailor recently publicly distanced himself from him as well after working with him a while.

I haven't had much for personal experience with him other than he has connections with Adex, and he had people thinking I was going to be there selling my books????

I am finding this a consistent issue in the mer world during my career. Men who have nothing to do with the industry, insert themselves and try to take over. Anyone remember Scott Poler who ran that mermaid index website and he'd add people on it without their permission, with wrong information, and if you addressed it with him he's tell you off?? Or some of the men who randomly showed up and started events...

I think people see this as a money making opportunity and exploit unknowing mers. it's awful.

[Ransom]

Odd, I didn't hear of Mertailor distancing himself -- and Crystal's announcement was the first time I've heard of anything off with MA. It's a real shame, I had high hopes for them.

Good to know, though. They've already put in one appearance at Adex, but more people need to come forward with specific proof... and MA had better have a good explanation.

[Echidna]

Ah yes, this guy definitely sounds a lot like the other dude with that mermaid index (forgot its precise name).

When people here complained about it, I looked it up and found I was on it too with a lot of wrong info, so I contacted him and asked he at least put the correct info.
He then wrote a snippish answer how the stuff he made up about me was so much better fitting, and he knew best xD
I asked on here for advice, and he obviously was stalking MN, and as a result he "punished" all the mers complaining by removing them from his site.
What we wanted anyway, obviously, but in his mind, he punished us because his stupid index was "a fantastic career opportunity and exposure" or something like that.
He also tried to capitalize on the mers he "collected".

Guys who want to insert themselves into the merworld and "collect" and then control mermaids is a thing apparently, and it's definitely a problem. I'd say it's its own variety of mervert.
Appalling how many creeps and unpleasant personalities seem to be attracted by mermaiding :/

[Keiris]

Good grief he sounds neurotic! I don't understand why he feels compelled to be in the midst of so much drama.

[Ransom]

I'm hoping someone corroborates Crystal's story though, or MA comprehensively proves otherwise.

Their presence in Singapore means it's a good chance to network and learn more where I am, and it's a shame to see them go down. I wish there was more evidence one way or the other.

That said, showing happy mers isn't a strategy

[Mermaid Crystal Shimmer]

I'm hoping someone corroborates Crystal's story though, or MA comprehensively proves otherwise.

Their presence in Singapore means it's a good chance to network and learn more where I am, and it's a shame to see them go down. I wish there was more evidence one way or the other.

That said, showing happy mers isn't a strategy

There is a lot of evidence. A LOT of mermaids have had to deal with him, including the Perth Mermaids, Syrena the Singapore mermaid, Stella the Siren, Merman Arion, Mermaid Hyli and others. Nobody has had a positive experience with him. Most of them are scared of him because he threatens to destroy your professional career if you refuse to work with him.
I'm not scared of him, and it's why I shared my experience with him. It's also why he decided last Friday to not attend the Sea the Future event on June 10th. He is scared of confronting me.

I'm not really active on this forum anymore, but I had to at least warn others in as many ways possible.

[Ransom]

There is a lot of evidence. A LOT of mermaids have had to deal with him, including the Perth Mermaids, Syrena the Singapore mermaid, Stella the Siren, Merman Arion, Mermaid Hyli and others. Nobody has had a positive experience with him. Most of them are scared of him because he threatens to destroy your professional career if you refuse to work with him.
I'm not scared of him, and it's why I shared my experience with him. It's also why he decided last Friday to not attend the Sea the Future event on June 10th. He is scared of confronting me.

I'm not really active on this forum anymore, but I had to at least warn others in as many ways possible.

Thanks Crystal! If they said anything I missed it though, but I'll definitely be on the lookout.

[AniaR]

what a psycho

[deepblue]

Guys who want to insert themselves into the merworld and "collect" and then control mermaids is a thing apparently, and it's definitely a problem. I'd say it's its own variety of mervert.
Appalling how many creeps and unpleasant personalities seem to be attracted by mermaiding :/

Ugh, a sub-category for merverts; mermaid collectors? Yuck. I'm not surprised but I'm still disgusted. What the hell is wrong with these people?

[Echidna]

Not an expert on psychos, but it's a certain kind of dude who gets a high from "controlling" people, especially women.
He usually preys on easy victims only (younger, inexperienced or insecure women and girls).

From all the crap that many mermaids (esp. younger ones) get, my theory is that the modern disneyfied image of mermaids-
cute, young, shy, beautiful, nice, kind and essentially helpless- acts like a highlighted lure for this type.

I also noticed that mers who don't fall under the "nice, helpless"-cliché, like elder, experienced mers who play up the dangerous siren side of things, are molested far less frequently than the friendly bubbly mers.