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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/09/from-reef-to-retail-experts-warn-global-marine-aquarium-fish-trade-relies-heavily-on-wild-populations>
"The global trade in marine aquarium fish relies heavily on fish sourced
directly from wild populations, with many consumers unaware of the practice due
to murky supply chains.
New research has revealed the scale of the issue, finding most marine aquarium
fish sold online in the US were wild-caught, mainly from the western Pacific
and Indian oceans.
Globally, about 55 million marine animals are sold each year as part of the
aquarium fish trade, an industry worth US$2.15bn. The US comprises two-thirds
of global demand, while Australia consistently ranks among the top 20 importers
and exporters.
Analysis of 734 marine fish species sold by major US aquarium e-retailers found
approximately 90% were sourced solely from wild populations, 7% were both
farmed and wild caught, and only 3% were exclusively sourced through
aquaculture.
Consumers purchasing aquarium fish were often unaware of where they came from,
according to University of Sydney marine ecologist Dr Bing Lin, who led the
research published in Conservation Biology.
“A lot of the issue from this trade is how opaque and murky it is all along the
supply chain – from reef to retail.”
Fish advertised for sale included 45 species listed by the International Union
for the Conservation of Nature, as threatened or in decline. These included
Banggai cardinalfish, clarion angelfish and azure damselfish.
International trade in endangered species is regulated under the Cites
convention, an agreement designed to ensure that trade in wild animals and
plants does not harm their survival.
“But many threatened species slip through global trade rules or aren’t even
listed as traded in authoritative databases, and still end up on the market,”
Lin said.
For species already imperilled in the wild, unsustainable or unnecessary trade
could make things worse, he said."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
