Present Status of the Marine Aquarium Fishery in the Eastern Coast of Sri Lanka
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Date
2020
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka
Abstract
Marine aquarium industry is a popular multimillionaire industry in the world and a
considerable amount of global market is fulfilled by exporting from Sri Lanka since its
beginning. Almost all marine ornamental species of Sri Lanka are collected from wild
habitats which cause serious stock degradation of endemic and other marine species. The
collection of marine ornaments has been establishing as a community-based industry on
the Eastern coast of Sri Lanka due to high resource availability and accessibility
compared to other regions; however, it is poorly documented. Therefore, a survey was
designed to study the situation, threats, and issues of the industry on the East coast by
using a questionnaire-based survey combined with field observations. Information was
gathered from the collectors, suppliers, buyers, fisheries officers, and other relevant
stakeholders. Almost 190 fish collectors and 15 suppliers are currently occupying during
the southwestern monsoon period roughly from May to October in the Eastern coast.
About 250 marine fish species (mainly butterflyfish, angelfish, damselfish, gobies,
wrasses, surgeonfish, groupers, blennies & lionfish) and 50 marine invertebrate species
(shrimps, Anemones, Sea Slugs & Sea lilies) are being collected mainly from Ottamavadi,
Pasikudah, Kalkudah, Paul point, Adukkuparu, and Nilaweli reefs and rocky habitats.
However, 01 - 05% of fish are discarding due to catching issues and 05 - 10% of caught
fish are discarding due to improper handling, holding, and packing methods before
reaching to local exporters. Dynamite fishing, overexploitation, fluctuations of price
levels, mishandling of caught live forms, degradation of reef habitats due to natural and
anthropogenic factors are the main identified threats so that the industry in the Eastern
coast is certainly unsustainable. Therefore, it is highly recommended that a powerful
management system should be rapidly established for the benefit of valuable marine
ecosystems and the industry.
Keywords: Marine ornamental fish, Reef fish, Color fish, Trincomalee, Batticaloa
Description
Keywords
Aquaculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries, Animal Sciences