What’s the issue?
CITES is examining the trade and conservation of marine ornamental fish in a special workshop being held in Australia in May 2024 to establish which fish species might need restrictions to ensure international trade is sustainable and does not put them at risk of over exploitation.
That’s a huge undertaking because of the diversity of species potentially in trade.
So what’s needed is a way to identify and prioritise those fish species that need protection from unsustainable trade.
What did the industry do to come up with a possible solution?
Global trade bodies worked with businesses from around the world to collate and review trade data and used this to establish the most up-to-date list and numbers of marine ornamental fish species currently in trade.
After all, there is no point focusing action on species if they are not actively traded.
Using this newly compiled data, industry worked on establishing a flexible framework to prioritise which fish species need further attention.
The majority of marine ornamental fish species traded are:
• juveniles (not breeding adults)
• highly fecund
• have long dispersal distances
• are found over large natural ranges
With so many species in trade and the vast majority traded in tiny numbers, the priority must be to identify those species vulnerable to over-harvest because it is this that poses the biggest threat to the long-term conservation of a fish species.
How can these vulnerable species be identified?
Global trade body Ornamental Fish International (OFI) and the UK's Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association (OATA) have created a framework which will offer CITES a flexible way to prioritise fish species most in need of further scrutiny.
The framework has been created by examining all 1,040 species in trade in relation to already established conservation status and population data through the IUCN Red List and FishBase to build as rounded a picture of each species as possible.
All current regulations/management measures in place globally were also gathered alongside this to set out what strategies are already in place to ensure sustainable trade.
A framework has been created using a variety of flexible metrics to establish a method of prioritisation to identify those species in need of further population assessments or can be classified as low, medium or high priority for further work to establish their conservation status and any management measures needed to protect them.
What next?
The global ornamental aquatics industry proposes this framework is adopted by CITES as the way forward to prioritise the traded marine ornamental fish species that need more population data or further management measures to protect them.
The global industry also recommends:
• There is a need to work with range countries and their fisher communities when looking at any management measures proposed. Involving people whose livelihoods are at stake has been widely shown to improve compliance and engagement in conservation measures.
• There is a need to fund better data gathering methods that analyses information from import packing data in order to get the best data possible on trade trends. This investment would have wider applications than just ornamental fish for understanding wildlife trade and would be a worthy investment.
The industry understands that it needs to act as a good custodian and manage in a sustainable way the natural resources that communities and businesses rely on.
This is essential to both protect the environment but also the people around the world who rely on the trade in marine ornamental fishes for their livelihoods.
The Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association (OATA) is the 'voice' of the UK tropical fish and aquatics trade and represents a wide range of businesses, from retail shops and manufacturers, to wholesalers and importers.
Ornamental Fish International (OFI) is the global body that represents aquatics businesses in the rest of the world.