The global trade in marine ornamental species

From ocean to aquarium
of the difficulties experienced in identification of
individual species. The high level of synonymy in the
Hippocampus genus also means that there may be errors
in the trade data. For example, reports indicate that there
may be more than one species traded under the name H.
kuda 60 . Indeed, seahorse taxonomy (identification of
individual species) has undergone many changes over
recent years and a number of new species have been
described 60-62 .
As an interesting note, although it is strictly illegal
to import tropical species under the name of H. kuda into
France 166 , GMAD lists a total of 328 specimens from
Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines as imported into
France as H. kuda between the years 1997 and 2001.
CORALS
The term ‘corals’ encompasses both stony corals, defined
as ‘marine colonial polyps characterized by a calcareous
skeleton that often form reefs 63 , soft corals and sea fans.
However, most literature found on trade in live coral
specimens refers to the trade in stony coral species.
There has been much debate about what exactly
constitutes a ‘soft coral’. The term is most commonly
used to refer to species of the subclass Octocorallia (class
Anthozoa), which have no massive skeleton. However, the
Figure 2: Major exporters of live and wild-sourced
coral (pieces)
Totals are derived from importers’ data.
Millions
1.5
71%
1.4
3.5 million
1.3
1.2
1.1
1.0
18%
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
4%
0.2
0.1
0.0
Indonesia Fiji Solomon
Islands
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
Total
Tonga
3%
term ‘soft coral’ often extends to contain sea fans, which
are actually supported by an internal axis 64 and hence will
be addressed separately here. In this report, we will use
the term ‘soft coral’ to include all species under the order
Alcyonacea (soft coral and Stolonifera) with the exception
of Tubipora musica which, due to its calcified skeleton, we
have included under stony corals. Overall, according to
data held in GMAD, there are 61 species of soft corals and
140 species of stony corals in trade, although this number
is to be treated with caution due to the complexity
experienced in coral taxonomy.
Stony corals
According to CITES data, the global live coral trade rose
steadily from 1997 to 1999 with 934,463 live pieces and
1,142,242 live pieces being traded worldwide respectively
in those years. The trade decreased to 942,661 pieces in
2001. Since the late 1980s, Indonesia has become the
largest coral exporting country 32 . CITES figures show that
direct exports of live wild-sourced coral from Indonesia
represented 78 per cent (729,703 pieces) of the global
total for all coral species in 1997, 66 per cent (640,190
pieces) in 2000 and 71 per cent (669,192 pieces) in 2001.
(See Figure 2.) The numbers are based on data reported
by importers because values based on exporters’ information
are an indicator of the number of permits issued
rather than the actual quantity of corals exported for the
aquarium trade. To illustrate the difference, in 2001 data
from all importers showed a total of 669,192 pieces
having been exported from Indonesia, whilst information
provided by exporters indicate 1,442,413 pieces were
exported from Indonesia.
Data from 1997 to 2001 show Indonesia, Fiji, the
Solomon Islands and Tonga together supplying more than
95 per cent of live coral exports. Since the late 1990s Fiji
has been playing an increasing role as an exporter of live
coral. It is the major source country of live coral for the
aquarium trade in the Pacific Islands with smaller
contributions from Tonga, Vanuatu and the Solomon
Islands. Fiji presently receives approximately US$12
million per year in export revenue from the trade in live
coral 65 . Although statistics on live coral exports are
available from the Fijian Fisheries Division, values cannot
be used to assess the volume of live coral being extracted
from Fiji as they include re-exports that originated
primarily from Tonga, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and
Bali, and data represent maximum permitted exports
rather than actual exports. Moreover, live coral export
figures have often tended to include live rock exports,
thus artificially inflating live coral statistics. Based on
these issues, the Fijian coral industry is presently under
review by the Fisheries Division to ensure that harvest
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