#Status of Coral Reefs 2002 - International Coral Reef Action Network

Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2002
MAQTRAC – MONITORING THE EFFECTS OF THE MARINE AQUARIUM TRADE
The Marine Aquarium Council (MAC) is working with stakeholders around the world
to develop and implement standards and certification to achieve the goal of a
sustainable trade in marine ornamentals. To obtain certification, requirements for
managing the fishery and the associated reefs must be met. There was also a need to
develop methods to monitor the status of invertebrate and fish stocks in collection
areas and assess, and improve the effectiveness of local management for sustainable use.
The global ornamental trade involves about 1000 species of marine fish and 150
species of coral and non-coral invertebrates from over 40 countries. The overall
import value is around US$200 million per year. Indonesia and the Philippines are the
major sources, with Brazil, the Maldives, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Hawaii, and Fiji providing
much of the remainder. Rural villagers with limited economic opportunities depend on
selling aquarium specimens, which bring a much higher profit than other types of reef
use. Aquarium fish sell for around US$550 per kg compared to non-live reef food fish
exports at US$7 per kg. The USA, Europe and Japan dominate the consumer market.
Some industry operators currently use destructive collection methods, that result in
unnecessary damage to reefs. This damage, along with over-collection of target fish,
may threaten marine biodiversity at the local level and cause local extinctions of rare
or endemic species. The selective removal of target fish species may lead to shifts in
community structure and function. In addition, poor handling practices often lead to
high mortality rates in the harvested animals, increasing the pressure on fish stocks via
increased collection to replace lost stocks. This also causes financial losses for marine
ornamental retailers and hobbyists who purchase the fish.
MAC has established a certification process to manage the trade from field collection to
the final consumer - "from reef to retail" - in the search for sustainability. The
assessment and monitoring of both the stocks of target species and other reef
organisms are essential to this goal.
MAC formed a partnership with Reef Check/GCRMN to develop the Marine Aquarium
Trade Coral Reef Monitoring Protocol (MAQTRAC). The protocol is designed to assess
the status and condition of reefs and fish stocks in collecting areas and to monitor the
effectiveness of management plans in collecting countries as outlined in the MAC Core
Ecosystem and Fishery Management Standard. MAQTRAC was field tested in the
Philippines, Indonesia, Fiji, Hawaii and the Maldives from mid 2001 to early 2002. The
protocol was refined based on feedback from two peer review workshops.
MAQTRAC will enable collectors and researchers to perform site selection and
monitoring on a consistent basis to comply with the MAC certification program. We
hope that this protocol will help facilitate the sustainable extraction of marine
ornamentals and provide fisher communities with sustainable livelihoods, while
simultaneously conserving reef resources. From: Craig Shuman, cshuman@ucla.edu,
Domingo Ochavillo, ochavill@yahoo.com, Marine Aquarium Council,
info@aquariumcouncil.org, Gregor Hodgson gregorh@ucla.edu
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