The benefits and risks of aquacultural production for the aquarium trade

Production of animals for the aquarium hobbyist trade is a rapidly growing sector of the aquacultural industry, and it will continue to become more important as restrictions are placed on collecting animals for the wild. Currently, approximately 90% of freshwater fish traded in the hobbyist industry are captively cultured. However, for marine ornamentals, the reverse is true as only a handful of species is produced via aquaculture technology. Given the future importance of aquaculture production of ornamental species, it is important to elucidate the benefits and risks for this sector. Thus, here the production of ornamental species is compared to the production of food species. The most notable difference is that the marine coastal environment is not currently utilized in the production of ornamental species. Thus, public opposition will not be as great since there is no direct impact on the marine environment. In assessing the benefits and risks of ornamental aquaculture production, the cases where further development should and should not be pursued are developed. In general, aquaculture production of ornamental species should be pursued when species are difficult to obtain from the wild, breeding supports a conservation program, there is some environmental benefit or elimination of environmental damage via the breeding program, or to enhance the further production of domesticated species. Aquaculture production of ornamental species should be avoided when it would replace a harvest of wild animals that maintains habitat, a cultural benefit, or an economic benefit.