Importation of marine ornamental fishes to Switzerland

Global invasion and biosecurity risk from the online trade in ornamental crayfish

Trade in undomesticated ornamental animals has rapidly expanded beyond brick-and-mortar retail stores to now include growing numbers of internet marketplaces. The growing volume, diversity, and origins of invasive non-native species in trade challenge already weak national biosecurity policies. Despite widespread focus on vertebrates, many knowledge gaps exist regarding the online global trade of ornamental invertebrates. We conducted the first global assessment of the online trade in and associated invasion risk of freshwater crayfishes, which are increasingly popular aquarium animals. We systematically examined e-commerce marketplaces in multiple languages, scrapping information that included species identity, price, quantity, and shipping designation from each crayfish listing. Next, we combined geographic pathways of shipping associated with online trade (introduction risk) and environmental suitability modeling (establishment risk) to estimate global risk of non-native crayfish invasion risk. We identified hundreds of online marketplaces and thousands of sale listings in 33 countries (5 continents) involving 60 species and representing a selling value of ∼US$1.5 million. Invasion risk of non-native crayfish in trade was widespread, with geographic hotspots coinciding with both elevated opportunities for introduction (greater shipping offerings) and establishment. Precise characterization of the online species trade is fundamental to support new and reformed biosecurity policies, build industry partnerships, and design educational campaigns to prevent species invasions through trade. We found that the taxonomy, geography, and economics of the global online ornamental crayfish trade are vast and require greater attention.

Online auction marketplaces as a global pathway for aquatic invasive species

The ornamental aquarium pet trade is a leading pathway for the introduction of aquatic invasive species. In addition to purchasing live organisms in stores, hobbyists are engaging more with alternative informal online marketplaces that enable peer-to-peer selling of aquarium organisms via auctions. Although growing in popularity, little is known regarding the global extent of informal marketplaces, including the taxonomy of species that are traded, their economic value, and the geographic routes by which live organisms are transported. In this study we use an automated web crawler to collect data on completed auctions between 2011 and 2017 from the largest informal market for aquarium hobbyists, AquaBid, to understand the market dynamics and trade flows of the informal retail market online. During the 7-year study period, the AquaBid website facilitated the estimated trade of 539,548 live freshwater animals, 579,700 fish eggs, and 31,431 plant assortments/bunches among 24,409 unique users who collectively placed 444,132 bids on 192,227 auctions, representing a total sale value of $6,015,030 USD. Source (seller) and recipient (buyer) locations of live organisms were distributed across 39 countries but concentrated largely in major cities of the United States and select European and southeast Asian countries. Our study is among the first to quantify geographic routes of live organism transport between specific locations on the landscape and demonstrates the highly diffuse and non-centralized nature of the informal aquarium trade. Evaluating the emerging challenges represented by informal online retail marketplaces is critical to create policy and regulatory solutions that minimize the transport of prohibited invasive species.

A Systematic Review of the Ornamental Fish Trade with Emphasis on Coral Reef Fishes-An Impossible Task

The multi-billion dollar trade in ornamental fishes has rarely been reliably monitored. Almost all coral reef fishes are wild-caught, and few scientific analyses have attempted to elicit exact quantities and identify species involved. The consequences of the removal of millions of these fishes are poorly understood. This article collates and examines available information, including scientific studies and formal publications, in order to create a more accurate picture of this commerce. We demonstrate that it is almost impossible to analyse the trade in marine ornamental fishes due to a lack of data, and that available data for marine species is frequently combined with that for freshwater species. Figures range from 15 to 30 million coral reef fishes being traded annually, but could be as high as 150 million specimens. The global value of this trade was only estimated for 1976 and 1999 between USD 28-40 million. This review highlights the urgent need to introduce a specific harmonised system tariff code and for a global monitoring system, such as the Trade Control and Expert System already in use in Europe, in order to gather accurate and timely information on the number and species of marine ornamental fishes in commerce, where specimens originated, and whether they were wild-caught or captive-bred.

Taxonomically constrained reporting framework limits biodiversity data for aquarium fish imports to Australia

Context Biological resource use represents the most common direct threat to biodiversity. Despite this, there is a paucity of comprehensive and overarching data relating to the biological resource use. The global aquarium trade encompasses millions of individual live fishes representing thousands of marine and freshwater species traded on an annual basis. The lack of specific data systems for recording information where fish are exported or imported has resulted in limited accessible trade data. An evaluation of the data-reporting frameworks presently employed by countries engaged in the aquarium trade is warranted to better understand the means by which comprehensive data on the aquarium trade can be made more accessible. Aims This study examines the data-reporting framework of The Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR) used to collate aquarium fish import data, and its capacity to inform on the aquarium trade biodiversity imported to Australia. Methods Aquarium import records from 2010–16 were provided by DAWR and used to determine the quantity of individual fishes and consignments imported to Australia. The potential biodiversity of imports was determined from the Australian Government’s List of Permitted Live Freshwater/Marine Fish Suitable for Import 2018 (Number 69, F2017C00079), the legislative document identifying species permitted import to Australia for the aquarium trade. Species permitted import were cross-referenced with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List to address whether the Australian aquarium trade is importing threatened species. Key results A total of 10320 consignments encompassing more than 78.6 million aquarium fishes were imported to Australia between 2010 and 2016. A total of 4628 species of fishes were permitted import to Australia for the aquarium trade with 73 of the marine species (2.0%) and 81 of the freshwater species (7.5%) found to be threatened with some degree of extinction risk. The data-reporting framework for aquarium fish imports offered limited capacity to taxonomically differentiate imports and only 12.5% of all aquarium fishes imported could be identified to species. Conclusions The aquarium fish import records provided by DAWR had limited taxonomic resolution and, consequently, limited capacity to contribute to an improved understanding of the biodiversity imported to Australia for the aquarium fish trade. While more detailed information is available than is presently collated by DAWR, the availability of this information is constrained by the laws around protected information and the resources available to DAWR. Implications Accessible, detailed information on aquarium fish imports is necessary to support comprehensive research capable of addressing threats to biodiversity loss from the aquarium trade. To this end, the means by which Australian aquarium import data can be reported at greater taxonomic resolution under the existing legislative and resource restraints should be explored further.