Conservation and the Tropical Marine Aquarium Trade

Abstract

Although mainly developed in the last ten years, the international trade in tropical marine aquarium fishes has now reached remarkable proportions; in the U. S. A. the annual sales of aquaria, aquarium supplies, and aquarium fishes, probably approach US$ 600 millions, while estimates of the numbers of marine aquarium fishes exported each year from the Philippines alone range from about 3 to over 30 millions, valued at approximately US$ 1.25 million to over 6 millions. The exporting areas include the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Mauritius, the U.S.A. (Hawaii and Florida), and several Caribbean islands. The main importing countries are the U.S.A., Hong Kong, West Germany, Japan, U.K., Italy, Belgium, Canada, Australia, France, Holland, and Switzerland. Species extermination through this trade alone is scarcely conceivable, but local extinctions may occur, and indirect effects of collection of these fishes include accompanying destruction of the coral-reef habitat, changes in natural ecosystems, and the possibility of successful introduction of exotic species into areas where they did not occur previously (notably, Indo-Pacific species into the Caribbean). Clearly the trade will continue; but the current exploitation is inefficient, and controls must be applied both towards rational utilization of the resource and, as the most accessible and richest reefs are the most heavily exploited, towards a reduction of conflict between different uses of the resource.