ADC Report - Study tour to Marine Ornamentals ‘99

By Mic Payne
School of Environmental Biology
Curtin University.
rpaynem01@cc.curtin.edu.au

Marine Ornamentals '99 was held in November on Hawaii's Big Island. This was the first international conference devoted entirely to the marine ornamental industry and was organised in response to the rapid expansion of this industry. This article provides an overview of the US marine ornamental aquaculture industry and gives recommendations for the establishment of a West Australian based marine ornamental industry. I would like to thank the Aquaculture Development Council for its assistance in attending this conference.

Culture of marine ornamentals: Past and present

Currently, the trade in marine ornamentals comprises more than 800 fish species. Only 25 of these species are cultured while the rest are collected from sensitive tropical habitats, in many cases using unsustainable collection techniques. The culture of marine ornamentals is highly desirable as it may alleviate some of the fishing pressures on wild stocks, create viable industries and improve the quality of fish purchased by hobbyists. Unfortunately, many species are difficult rear in captivity and those species that can be cultivated have yet to prove economically viable on a long-term basis.

Florida's Aqualife Research Company was the first to produce commercial quantities of marine ornamentals in the early 1970's. Later, Instant Ocean Hatcheries commenced operation, producing 250,000 clownfish per year. Both companies ceased operation because investors lost interest or ran out of capital. Mass production of clownfish was not profitable as cultured fish were more expensive than wild-caught fish and hobbyists were not prepared to pay more for cultured fish. Labour represented 75% of operational cost.

Currently there are five marine ornamental production companies in operation, located in Florida, Puerto Rico, Illinois, the United Kingdom and Taiwan. The largest of these is Oceans, Reefs and Aquariums (www.orafarm.com) in Florida and the second largest is C-Quest (www.c-quest.com) in Puerto Rico. Both companies offer mainly clownfish and dottybacks. In addition, there at least three companies starting up and should commence production soon. These are located in Florida, Hawaii and the Netherlands.

Species diversification is a high priority for the development and expansion of the marine ornamental industry. Limited public research on marine ornamental fishes has led private companies to make significant investments in research to produce new species. For example, C-Quest spent US$250,000 on the development of culture techniques for the orchid dottyback.

Cultured marine aquarium animals cannot compete with their wild-caught counterparts on the basis of price alone. In the past, mass cultured clownfish of poor colour found their way into the market. These fish were regarded as inferior to wild-caught and disrupted the market for hatchery reared animals. It was nearly a decade before wholesalers and retailers overcame the perception that hatchery reared fish were inferior. Now commercially cultured specimens are considered as hardy and of better quality than wild-caught fishes. It is important to maintain this market advantage by preventing any further release of poor quality cultured fishes.

Invertebrates such as coral, clams and anemones are popular in the aquarium trade. Hard corals are farmed on a commercial scale in the US, Germany, Palau, Solomon Islands and Japan using trays secured to the seabed or land based tanks with either natural or artificial light. Propagation techniques are well established for about 50 species of coral. Tropicorium (www.tropicorium.com), located in Michigan, is the largest producer. Cultured giant clams from several tropical Pacific sources are also available in today's marine ornamentals industry. Cultured anemones will likely be available soon.

Live rock and live sand serve as the backbone of marine display aquariums. At present live rock is "cultured" in Florida, Hawaii, Michigan and Idaho using calcium carbonate rocks that are either collected from the land or artificially constructed. These are "seeded" by placing them on leased areas of the seabed or in land based tanks that already contain live rock. The greatest constraint to future growth of the maricultured live rock industry is direct competition from cheap, wild live rock originating from Fiji. However, much of this is collected in an unsustainable manner.

Recommendations for a marine ornamental industry in Western Australia

Problems experienced by the US marine ornamental aquaculture industry provide valuable lessons for the establishment of this industry in Western Australia. The greatest problem in the US has been the lack of co-ordination within the industry. Rather than share the cost, each company has paid separately for its own research and market development. Also, cheaper production costs would result from the increased scale of a co-operative. Thus industry development in Western Australia must be guided by a co-ordinating body whose priorities are;

• the co-ordination of new species development
• development of domestic and international markets
• development of a certification process that distinguishes cultured fish from wild-caught.
• enforcement of product quality standards
• establishment of supply lines aimed at reducing costs to ornamental producers

Industry success relies on this body ensuring that when hobbyists choose an expensive cultured fish over a cheap wild-caught fish, they are in fact getting a fish of superior quality that is guaranteed to be a product of aquaculture.

This state has a wealth of expertise in the form of marine hobbyists, aquaculture researchers and fish retailers. Industry development would benefit from both a forum for information exchange between these parties and a centralised research centre for collaboration between researchers and hobbyists in the development of new species

Maintenance of "living reef" aquaria is relatively new in Australia compared to the US. In consequence, live rock, live sand and invertebrates are often overlooked when considering aquaculture species in Australia. Culture of these "organisms" should be encouraged to provide for increased local and regional demand as the hobby expands. Like fish, these products must also be certified as cultured.