Billion-dollar Asian reef fish industry in peril<\/p>\n
Dan Eaton, Reuters, Jakarta<\/p>\n
An insatiable appetite for live reef fish in Asian restaurants
\nis ravaging aquatic stocks in Indonesia, damaging reefs and
\nthreatening the sustainability of a US$1 billion industry in the
\nregion, a conservation group said.<\/p>\n
The use of toxic cyanide and hooks to catch the fish could
\nexhaust Indonesian waters of the most valuable species in three
\nyears, Peter Mous of the U.S.-based Nature Conservancy told
\nReuters in an interview on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, which has more than 20 percent of the globe's coral
\nreefs -- more than the Atlantic, Caribbean and eastern Pacific
\ncombined -- has become the world's top supplier of wild-caught,
\nlive reef fish, cornering more than 50 percent of the Hong Kong-
\ncentered market for the luxury food item.<\/p>\n
But that could change if measures are not taken to alter the
\nway the industry works, said Mous, science manager at the Nature
\nConservancy's Bali-based South East Asia Center for Marine
\nProtected Areas, which has begun a project to cultivate reef fish
\nfor the consumer market.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesia used to be the main exporter for most species. But
\nnow, for instance, with the coral trout, most is coming from the
\nGreat Barrier Reef (in Australia), mainly because the Indonesian
\nstocks are already gone,\" Mous told Reuters in an interview.<\/p>\n
In recent years, the fish trade depleted populations in the
\nSouth China Sea and around the Philippines. Fishermen then turned
\nto Indonesia to bolster their catches. Scientists now warn that
\npopulations across the archipelago will be virtually exhausted in
\nthree to five years.<\/p>\n
\"When I was studying fisheries biology 20 years ago I never
\nthought it was actually possible to catch the very last fish out
\nof an ecosystem,\" said Mous.<\/p>\n
But with some reef fish fetching as much as $35 a kilo (2.2
\npounds) for fishermen, and $110 dollars a kilo in restaurants in
\nHong Kong, the balance has tipped against the environment.<\/p>\n
\"Thirty-five dollars per kilo. That is quite an acceptable
\nwage for one week of work for a local fisherman,\" said Mous.<\/p>\n
The desperate situation has forced conservationists to take a
\nnew approach -- working to supply consumer demand.<\/p>\n
Last year the Nature Conservancy launched a pilot project in
\nIndonesia's Komodo National Park, about 400 km (250 miles) east
\nof Bali, training local communities to raise six species of fish
\nfor the live reef fish industry.<\/p>\n
The Komodo project is cultivating tiger grouper, estuary
\ngrouper, mangrove jack, Asian seabass, leopard coral grouper and
\nmouse grouper, which can cost in excess of $100 a kg in<\/p>\n
restaurants.<\/p>\n
\"It would be very difficult to join the shark fin industry.
\nCulturing sharks has never really been done or tried. There the
\nwiser strategy is to work on the consumer side and warn people
\nagainst eating shark fin,\" said Mous.<\/p>\n
\"But it is a good additional strategy that works in this
\nparticular case. Where it is possible to work constructively with
\nthe industry it should be done.\"<\/p>\n
Hong Kong is the world's largest trader and consumer of live
\nreef fish. Other major consumers include Singapore and mainland
\nChina.<\/p>\n
The Komodo project made its first sale -- 500kg of cultured
\nestuary grouper to Hong Kong buyers -- in June, and aims by 2008
\nto become a major player in the Asian live reef fish market.<\/p>\n
\"The industry basically are business people. If you can
\nexplain to them that it is possible to make a dollar and keep
\nmaking dollars they will do it,\" said Mous.<\/p>\n
\"I'm not convinced it will work yet. But it will fail if we
\ncan't find a business partner.\"<\/p>\n
And he has an answer for diners who fear cultured fish won't
\nbe as tasty.<\/p>\n
\"It can't be denied that the fact that a fish is wild creates
\na different perception with some consumers, especially in China,\"
\nMous said. \"But we found in blind taste tests (some) cultured
\nfish were preferred to the wild variety.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/billion-dollar-asian-reef-fish-industry-in-peril-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}