Tropical Fish Exporters seek habitat preserving regulations

Ridma Dissanayake

The Sri Lanka Live Tropical Fish Exporters' Association recently announced that new rules and regulations for the ornamental fish industry are very important for the protection of Sri Lanka's endemic genus as well as for the future growth of the industry. "Recently, there have been accusations against live tropical fish exporters and some sections such as environment organizations are pointing fingers at us which as a group, are seeking the relaxations of regulations in order to export fish and boost our profits. We are not a group that threaten the country's biodiversity. At present the law places strict limits against breeding or exporting of endemic genus of ornamental fish but this has only resulted in individual smuggling fish out of the country and breeding them in other countries without any returns to this end", Live Tropical Fish Exporters Association Chairman Sathy Wijayapura said.

Addressing a media briefing in Colombo he said that the universal trade of live ornamental fish is worth around USD 300 million, even as the trade's tangential industries are estimated to be worth a total of nearly USD 3 billion. However, Sri Lanka receives only three percent out of the total market share. Singapore receives six times the share over Sri Lanka.

The bulk of ornamental fish exports out of Sri Lanka consist of Guppies, a species which originated in Trinidad and Tobago.

"Sri Lanka and the whole world has changed significantly from the time that these regulations were first enacted and it is decisive that we move with the times. More recently, there have been self-styled environmentalists accusing our industry of trying to loosen regulations in order to be able to take Sri Lanka's endemic species out of their natural habitats and then directly export them but that is false. Species straight out of the wild would not be capable to being exported to other countries as they would not pass the stringent standards expected of us", said Wijayapura further adding that draft regulations are currently being discussed by the Wildlife Department, the Customs Biodiversity Unit and some of the other affiliated government institutions.

"All we seek are regulations that reflect current certainty and we will also benefit if these regulations ensure that Sri Lanka's endemic species and habitats are preserved. At present, our own inherited heritage is being cash cowed in other countries, with no benefit to Sri Lanka and that is what we want to prevent", Wijayapura stated.