The live reef fish trade has two main components-live food fish and ornamental aquarium fish. Accurate figures are not available on the total value of these trades, but extrapolation from partial estimates indicates that the total value of the trade exceeds US$1 billion per year. Southeast Asia is the hub of this trade, supplying up to 85 percent of the aquarium trade and nearly all of the live food fish trade.
Live reef food fish trade
In upscale restaurants across Southeast Asia, diners can feast on live reef fish for up to US$100 per kg. In 2000, Hong Kong alone imported an estimated 17,000 tonnes of live food fish. Typical wholesale prices for these species range from US$11 to US$63 per kilogram, bringing the value of the industry to approximately US$400 million for Hong Kong. Many live reef food fish on the Hong Kong market are cultured, and poisons are not used to capture live fish in Australia and most of the Pacific. However, in other parts of Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia and Vietnam, cyanide is widely used to capture both live reef food and aquarium fish.
A 1998 global assessment of the status of some 200 fisheries around the world concluded that the live reef fishery of Southeast Asia is one of the most threatened fisheries on the planet.
Ornamental and aquarium trade
The trade in marine ornamentals began modestly in the Philippines in 1957, but it has since grown into an international multimillion dollar business. In 1998 and 1999, Southeast Asia contributed some 36 percent of the global trade in hard corals, with Vietnam alone contributing 25 percent. The global wholesale value of the ornamental fish market was US$963 million in 1996, making this industry a key source of commerce for fishers in Southeast Asia. Between 1996 and 1999, the share of the U.S. ornamental fish market coming from Southeast Asia increased from 67 to 78 percent. The United States is by far the largest consumer, importing about 60 percent of all marine ornamental fish and 70–90 percent of all live coral worldwide.
dsAlthough the aquarium trade is high-value in some areas, it is unsustainable as currently practiced. Cyanide fishing remains the predominant technique for fish capture in most Southeast Asian countries. The economic benefits for fishers are minimal. In the Philippines, for example, fishers who supply the aquarium trade typically earn only about US$50 per month. Less destructive techniques such as net capture are on the rise as a result of retraining efforts, but they have not yet overtaken cyanide fishing as the practice of choice. The Marine Aquarium Council (MAC), a nonprofit organization, is working to unite industry, hobbyists, environmentalists, and governments to create a set of core standards that can be used to certify businesses that uphold best practices.
1. C.V. Barber and V.R. Pratt, Sullied Seas: Strategies for Combating Cyanide Fishing in Southeast Asia and Beyond (Washington, DC: World Resources Institute and International Marinelife Alliance, 1997), pp. 2, 15.
2. International Marinelife Alliance-Hong Kong, unpublished data (2001).
3. M.L. Weber, “A Global Assessment of Major Fisheries at Risk, Relevant Management Regimes, and Non-governmental Organizations,” unpublished draft report (Philadelphia: Pew Charitable Trusts, 1998).
4. Data derived from the CITES database managed at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.
5. W.A. Tomey, “Review of Developments in the World Ornamental Fish Trade: Update, Trends and Future Prospects,” in K.P.P. Namibar and T. Singh, eds., Sustainable Aquaculture: Proceedings of the INFOFISH-AQUATECH ‘96 International Conference on Aquaculture (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: INFOFISH, 1997).
6. Data derived from the United States Fish and Wildlife Customs Declarations, unpublished data.
7. H. J. Baquero, “Marine Ornamentals Trade: Quality and Sustainability for the Pacific Region,” Suva, Fiji, South Pacific Forum Secretariat and the Marine Aquarium Council (1999), p. 50.
8. M.D. Spalding, C. Ravilious, and E.P. Green, eds., World Atlas of Coral Reefs (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001).
9. Marine Aquarium Council, “Background of Marine Aquarium Council (MAC),” http://www.aquariumcouncil.org/aboutb.html (September 17, 2001).