Abstract
Simple SummaryThe EU is one of the main markets for marine ornamental species. Their entrance into the EU, as well as their circulation between member states, is supposed to be highly regulated. Surprisingly, it is currently impossible to answer simple questions, such as how many Nemos and Dorys are imported each year into the EU, or where do they come from? This lack of knowledge is difficult to understand, as all these organisms enter the EU by air-shipping and must be controlled at customs offices in international airports. This scenario favors “business as usual” and does not allow to verify the claims on sustainability commonly made by the marine aquarium industry. However, the EU already operates a platform that may allow to collect such information in a reliable way and shed light on this blurry industry, the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES). This platform can start by surveying marine ornamental fishes, so the EU can finally know how many Nemos and Dorys are being imported and where they are sourced from. If this approach works, marine ornamental invertebrates can also be monitored, and reliable databases can finally be assembled to document the marine aquarium trade in the EU.The EU is one of the main importers of marine ornamental species sourced from tropical coral reefs around the world. While the entrance of live organisms into the EU, along with their intra-EU circulation, is framed within stringent control mechanisms, to date, no reliable figures exist concerning which marine ornamental species are imported, in what numbers, and where they are sourced from. This lack of reliable data in the EU on the trade of marine ornamental species is puzzling if one considers that all these imported specimens must be controlled at customs offices located in international airports. Such data deficiency favors the prevalence of blurry supply chains and a “business as usual” mindset that hampers any serious effort to promote sustainability in the marine aquarium industry. To safeguard the collection of findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) data, we suggest that the EU platform Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES) refines its surveillance on the trade of marine ornamental species. The detailed survey of marine ornamental fishes alone can be used as a proof of concept to validate the use of TRACES for this purpose and, if successful, it can later be expanded to all other taxonomic groups of marine ornamental species.
Highlights
The marine aquarium trade is a global-scale industry that supplies enthusiastic hobbyists, along with public and private aquariums, with a multitude of vertebrate and invertebrate organisms that mostly originate from coral reefs in southeast Asia [1]
When live animals and plants are imported into the EU, as well as when they are traded within the EU single market, Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES) records all official controls, as well as the pathway of those organisms from their origin to their destination
Without a reliable way to compile sound data on species composition, numbers, and origin of marine ornamental species imported to the EU, any claims by the marine aquarium industry on its sustainability are based on assumption and not science-based facts
Summary
The marine aquarium trade is a global-scale industry that supplies enthusiastic hobbyists, along with public and private aquariums, with a multitude of vertebrate and invertebrate organisms that mostly originate from coral reefs in southeast Asia [1]. With the EU often being reported as one of the main importing markets of marine ornamental species and championing stringent control mechanisms that monitor the entrance and circulation between member states and associated states of live organisms [8,10], it is puzzling that no reliable figures exist for such a well-established economic activity [2,7,8] This fact is even more surprising if one acknowledges that most marine ornamental species, namely specimens being collected from the wild, enter the EU via air shipping, having as their entrance points highly monitored and regulated facilities, namely customs offices at international airports. The EU is unable to find Nemo and Dory because no reliable traceability protocol is in place to monitor marine ornamental species once they enter the European market
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