WORLD ATLAS OF CORAL REEFS
The aquarium trade
An estimated 1.5-2.0 million people worldwide keep
marine aquaria, approximately half in the USA and a
quarter in Europe. For the most part, these are
hobbyists who maintain tropical fish stocks in home
aquaria. Dedicated enthusiasts are able to propagate many species of coral and fish, but most
aquaria are stocked from wild-caught species.
In recent years the aquarium industry has
attracted some controversy. Opponents to the trade
draw attention to the damaging techniques sometimes used to collect fish and invertebrates, and
to high levels of mortality associated with insensitive shipping and poor husbandry along the supply
chain. Aquarium species are typically gathered by
local fishers using live capture techniques Isuch as
slurp guns or barrier and hand nets] or chemical
stupefactants such as sodium cyanide. The latter is
non-selective, and adversely affects the overall
health of the specimens as well as killing nontarget organisms.
Supporters of the aquarium industry maintain
that it is potentially highly sustainable, that proper
collection techniques have minimal impact on the
coral reef, and that the industry is relatively low
volume but very high value. There is little disagreement about the latter - a kilo of aquarium fish from
one island country was valued at almost US$500 in
2000, whereas reef fish harvested for food were
worth only US$6. Aquarium species are a high
value source of income in many coastal communities with limited resources, with the actual
value to the fishers determined largely by market
access. In Fiji many collectors pay an access fee to
the villages to collect on their reefs, but by selling
directly to exporters they can have incomes many
times the national average. By contrast, in the
Philippines there are many middlemen, and
collectors themselves typically earn only around
US$50 per month.
The controversy over the benefits and costs,
in terms of environmental impact, of the trade
persists largely because of a lack of quantitative
data. For some species, trade data are actually
available under the provisions of the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora ICITESI. Under this convention
regulated trade is permitted in snecies listed in
Appendix II, which are vulnerable to exploitation but
not yet at risk of extinction. All species of hard coral
and giant clams are listed under Appendix II.
Shipments of corals and clams involving Parties to
the Convention must be accompanied by a CITES
permit issued by the national CITES management
authority Parties to CITES are then obliged to
with improvements in transportation and the availability
of refrigeration have greatly affected reef fisheries in
many areas. These new markets are typically highly
focussed towards single species. A number of species
which were only eaten at the local level have hence
become highly valuable, and are now largely taken by
export fisheries. Eastern Asia, particularly China and
Japan, is a large market for a number of species, including
sea cucumbers, clams and sharks. The live fish trade is
also extremely popular in a few markets in East Asia (see
page 49). Western markets have tended to focus on lobster,
conch and particular finfish.
Productivity
Considerable effort has been expended in trying to
determine the size of fishery a reef can sustain. Obviously
any such figure will depend on the degree of impact
considered acceptable: the number of species which are
likely to be utilized; and on numerous external factors
such as light, temperamre and nutrients. In fact almost
any level of fishing will have some impact, not only on
the population of the target species, but on the reef
community. Every species exists in relationship with other
species, whether as predator, competitor or prey, so that
removal of individuals will alter some of these balances. At
low levels, such changes are impossible to detect and may
be indistinguishable from natural variation. But as fishing
pressure increases it is possible to detect impacts through
changes in the size, density and biomass of individuals
and the age structure of the population. From the fishers'
perspective there can also be changes in the catch per unit of
effort as fishing levels increase, and in extreme conditions
particular species may disappear completely from the reef
Quite a number of studies have attempted to look at
the actual levels of yield on selected reefs and have shown
figures ranging from about 0.2 to 40 tons per square kilometer per year. Such figures do not indicate sustainability,
only utilization, and they are highly dependent on the
calculations of area fished. One of the best studied and
most heavily utilized reefs is Bolinao in the Philippines,
where some 17 000 people are "employed" in the utilization of about 68 square kilometers of coral reef
The aquarium trade
An estimated 1.5-2.0 million people worldwide keep
marine aquaria, approximately half in the USA and a
quarter in Europe. For the most part, these are
hobbyists who maintain tropical fish stocks in home
aquaria. Dedicated enthusiasts are able to propagate many species of coral and fish, but most
aquaria are stocked from wild-caught species.
In recent years the aquarium industry has
attracted some controversy. Opponents to the trade
draw attention to the damaging techniques sometimes used to collect fish and invertebrates, and
to high levels of mortality associated with insensitive shipping and poor husbandry along the supply
chain. Aquarium species are typically gathered by
local fishers using live capture techniques Isuch as
slurp guns or barrier and hand nets] or chemical
stupefactants such as sodium cyanide. The latter is
non-selective, and adversely affects the overall
health of the specimens as well as killing nontarget organisms.
Supporters of the aquarium industry maintain
that it is potentially highly sustainable, that proper
collection techniques have minimal impact on the
coral reef, and that the industry is relatively low
volume but very high value. There is little disagreement about the latter - a kilo of aquarium fish from
one island country was valued at almost US$500 in
2000, whereas reef fish harvested for food were
worth only US$6. Aquarium species are a high
value source of income in many coastal communities with limited resources, with the actual
value to the fishers determined largely by market
access. In Fiji many collectors pay an access fee to
the villages to collect on their reefs, but by selling
directly to exporters they can have incomes many
times the national average. By contrast, in the
Philippines there are many middlemen, and
collectors themselves typically earn only around
US$50 per month.
The controversy over the benefits and costs,
in terms of environmental impact, of the trade
persists largely because of a lack of quantitative
data. For some species, trade data are actually
available under the provisions of the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora ICITESI. Under this convention
regulated trade is permitted in snecies listed in
Appendix II, which are vulnerable to exploitation but
not yet at risk of extinction. All species of hard coral
and giant clams are listed under Appendix II.
Shipments of corals and clams involving Parties to
the Convention must be accompanied by a CITES
permit issued by the national CITES management
authority Parties to CITES are then obliged to
with improvements in transportation and the availability
of refrigeration have greatly affected reef fisheries in
many areas. These new markets are typically highly
focussed towards single species. A number of species
which were only eaten at the local level have hence
become highly valuable, and are now largely taken by
export fisheries. Eastern Asia, particularly China and
Japan, is a large market for a number of species, including
sea cucumbers, clams and sharks. The live fish trade is
also extremely popular in a few markets in East Asia (see
page 49). Western markets have tended to focus on lobster,
conch and particular finfish.
Productivity
Considerable effort has been expended in trying to
determine the size of fishery a reef can sustain. Obviously
any such figure will depend on the degree of impact
considered acceptable: the number of species which are
likely to be utilized; and on numerous external factors
such as light, temperamre and nutrients. In fact almost
any level of fishing will have some impact, not only on
the population of the target species, but on the reef
community. Every species exists in relationship with other
species, whether as predator, competitor or prey, so that
removal of individuals will alter some of these balances. At
low levels, such changes are impossible to detect and may
be indistinguishable from natural variation. But as fishing
pressure increases it is possible to detect impacts through
changes in the size, density and biomass of individuals
and the age structure of the population. From the fishers'
perspective there can also be changes in the catch per unit of
effort as fishing levels increase, and in extreme conditions
particular species may disappear completely from the reef
Quite a number of studies have attempted to look at
the actual levels of yield on selected reefs and have shown
figures ranging from about 0.2 to 40 tons per square kilometer per year. Such figures do not indicate sustainability,
only utilization, and they are highly dependent on the
calculations of area fished. One of the best studied and
most heavily utilized reefs is Bolinao in the Philippines,
where some 17 000 people are "employed" in the utilization of about 68 square kilometers of coral reef