Two years ago I was fortunate to be
invited to be a plenuary speaker at the first annual Marine Ornamentals Conference in
Kona, Hawaii (the second was held last fall in Orlando, Florida). In March of 2001 the
proceedings of that conference were published in volume three of Aquarium Sciences and
Conservation, edited by Peter Burgess and published by Kluwer Academic Publishers
(www.kluweronline.nl). This conference marked the first time that all stakeholders in the
marine ornamental industry were brought together in one setting. Over 300 collectors,
exporters, importers, retailers, aquaculturists, hobbyists and scientists from over 20
countries gathered for four days of 70 papers, discussion panels, workshops and eighteen
invited plenary presentations. The papers presented in this issue were chosen from
numerous invited and contributed papers.
After a
brief forward the first paper is a review of the highlights of the conference as well as a
listing of 20 top priority recommendations made on the last day of the conference.
Participants reached these recommendations via concensus during a morning workshop. They
included:
Government
Governments should develop better
communication with the marine ornamental industry on their resource concerns and pending
regulatory actions.
Research and Education
Encourage the development of a simplified
text on the principles of tropical fisheries biology and management, with emphasis on
marine ornamental species, to help educate the public on the basis for regulating
development and use of marine resources.
Investigate mechanisms for the scientific
community and the marine ornamentals industry to collaborate on research, in order to
accelerate scientific progress.
International and federal research funding
sources should give highest priority to projects involving the advancement of marine
ornamental aquaculture and reef preservation and this recommendation should be forwarded
to all appropriate organizations.
The marine ornamentals industry should
develop product-handling programs and research projects aimed at reducing and minimizing
handling stress and its affects on survivorship.
Marine Aquarium Council
Develop a comprehensive process, through the
Marine Aquarium Council, that involves the full range of stakeholders and focuses on
constructive efforts to resolve national and international issues affecting the marine
ornamentals industry.
Incentives and Certification
Develop marine ornamental industry standards
and certification requirements with the broad input of the full range of stakeholders.
Rapidly develop and implement industry-wide
certification programs for the marine ornamental trade.
Encourage through the use of market-based
incentives or legislation, a process that rewards and/or acknowledges those industry
members who provide a product that meets accepted best practice standards.
Resource Management
Develop reliable trade and biological data
for marine ornamentals.
Communication and Marketing
Develop mechanisms to identify and respond to
misinformation and dis-information about the marine ornamentals industry.
A conference along the lines of the Marine
Ornamentals ’99 concept should be held at regular intervals and no less than every
two years.
Develop and publish a directory of all
individuals and firms involved in the marine ornamentals industry to assist in
communication.
General Industry Development Guidelines
The entire marine ornamentals industry should
adopt and employ ethical methods for sustainable use of bio-resources in the 21st
century.
The marine ornamentals industry must
adopt and utilize sustainable, environmentally friendly collection methods.
The marine ornamentals industry
should accept and endorse sustainable collection and sustainable cultured sources and
adopt a policy of expanding the market for both sources.
Education programs and collector
organizing efforts should be "holistic" in approach and include consideration of
environmental, economic, social and cultural issues, not just technical issues.
The industry should encourage the
notion that aquacultured animals and plants are bred to be better adapted to the aquarium
environment and therefore have higher value.
The marine ornamentals industry must
develop greater consumer demand for fish aquacultured and/or collected in a sustainable
manner.
The marine aquarium industry should
adopt a pro-environment and pro-habitat position with respect to the global pollution and
destruction of the natural environment that is occurring today.
The
rest of the papers are:
The U.S. wholesale market for marine
ornamentals.
Volume and value of marine ornamentals
collected in Florida, 1990-98.
Cyanide-free net-caught fish for the marine
aquarium trade.
Structure and management issues of the
emerging ornamental fish trade in Eritrea.
Global advances in conservation and
management of marine ornamental resources.
Tracking the trade in ornamental coral reef
organisms: The importance of CITES and its limitations.
Artificial reefs, the attraction-production
issue, density dependence in marine ornamental fishes.
Proud sponsor of this column
The potential
for the restoration of marine ornamental fish populations through hatchery releases.
Territorial use rights in fisheries
to manage areas for farming coral reef fish and invertebrates for the aquarium trade.
Essential
fish habitat and the effective design of marine reserves: Application for marine
ornamental fishes.
Ornamental reef fish aquaculture and
collection in Hawaii.
Coral farming: Past, present and future
trends.
Nubbing of coral colonies: A novel approach
for the development of inland broodstocks.
Application of marine food fish techniques in
marine ornamental aquaculture: Reproduction and larval first feeding.
Effects of varying dietary fatty acid
composition on growth and survival of seahorse, Hippocampus sp. juveniles.
Feeding electivity indices in surgeonfish
(Acanthuridae) of the Florida Keys.
Growing giant clam (Tridacna derasa)
in aquaculture effluent.
Biosecurity and genetic improvement of
panaeid shrimp: Applications to the marine ornamental industry.
This issue would be of value
to anyone who has an interest in ethical and sustainable trade practices as well as giving
a glimpse into the industry and the prevailing attitudes therein.
A second publication was just released this
March. Recent Advances in Lagoon-based Farming Practices for Eight Species of
Commercially Valuable Hard and Soft corals - A technical Report by Simon and Eileen
Ellis is publication number 147 from the Center for Tropical and Subtropical Aquaculture
(CTSA). It and it’s companion publication, The Culture of Soft Corals
(Order:Alcyonacea) for the Marine Aquarium Trade (CTSA #137) are available from the CTSA
at The Oceanic Institute, 41-202 Kalanaianaole Highway, Waimanolo, HI, 96795, USA and at http://library.kcc.hawaii.edu/CTSA/publications/index.html. Both these manuals give detailed advice and instructions
on how to start a coral farm, which corals to choose, and how to fragment and ship them.
The second publication details a study done on the suitability of four species of hard
coral and four species of soft corals for aquaculture. Chapter headings are: site
selection, advances in farm structure, culture techniques, growout and husbandry, diseases
and pests, harvest and transport, shipping, industry feedback, a revised economic model
for coral farming in Pohnpei using recommendations from this study, species summaries and
a reference section.
Interesting Citations from the
Periodical Literature
The following are
citations for articles that might also be of interest to aquarists, which were published
in the latter months of 2001 and early 2002.
Bates, N.D. 2002. Seasonal variability of the effect of
coral reefs on seawater CO2 and in-sea CO2 exchange. Limnology and Oceanography
47(1):43-52.
D.B. Carlon. 2002. Production and supply of larvae as
determinants of zonation in a breeding tropical coral. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol.
268(1):33-46.
Elfwing, T., Plantman, P., M. Tedengran and E. Wijubladh.
2001. Responses to temperature, heavy metal and sediment stress by the giant clam Tridacna
squamosa. Marine and Freshwater Behaviour and Physiology 34(4): 232-248.
Gorbunov, M.Y. and P.G. Falkowski. 2002. Photoreceptors in
cnidarian hosts allow symbiotic corals to sense blue light. Limnology and Oceanography
47(1):309-315.
Proud sponsor of this column
Hart, A.M.,
Lasi, F.E. and E.P. Glenn. 2002. SLODS™ : Slow dissolving standards for water flow
measurements. Aquacultural Engineering 25(4):239-252.
Krabs,
G., Bischof, K., Hanell, D., Karsten, U. and C. Wiencke. 2002. Wavelength-dependant
induction of UV absorbing mycosporine-like amino acids in the red alga Chondrus crispus
under natural solar irradiation. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 268(1): 69-82.
Litchman, E., Neale, P.J. and A.T. Banaszak.
2002. Increased sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation in nitrogen-limited dinoflagellates:
Photoprotection and repair. Limnology and Oceanography 47(1):86-94.
Trepanier, C., Parent, S., Comeau, Y. and J.
Bouvrette. 2002. Phosphorous budget as a water quality management tool for closed aquatic
mesocosms. Water Research 36(4):1007-1017.
Valenzuela-Espinoza, E., Millan Nunez, R. and
F. Nunez Cebrero. 2002. Protein, carbohydrate, lipid and chlorophyll a content in Isochrysis
aff. galbana (clone T-Iso) cultured with a low cost alternative to f/2 medium. Aquacultural
Engineering 25(4):207-216.
Yabuta, S. 2002. Uncertainty in partner
recognition and the tail-up display in a monogamous butterflyfish. Animal Behaviour
63(1):165-174.
