The Evolution of Marine Ornamental Fish Monitoring
Marine ornamental fishes did not become a CITES topic overnight. Their emergence on the international conservation agenda resulted from scientific research, early voluntary initiatives, governmental cooperation and sustained efforts to improve wildlife trade monitoring.
This page traces that evolution: from the first attempts to document the trade, through Swiss and European trade analyses, to the CITES process that now recognises marine ornamental fishes as a global wildlife trade issue.
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
Timeline
1998 — Marine Aquarium Council
The Marine Aquarium Council (MAC) was established in 1998 to develop voluntary certification standards for the marine aquarium trade, including standards for collection, handling and traceability from reef to retailer. Although MAC represented an important early attempt to improve practices in the trade, implementing and maintaining certification across thousands of species, multiple countries and many independent actors proved difficult. The organisation ceased operating in 2008.
2000 — Global Marine Aquarium Database
The Global Marine Aquarium Database (GMAD) was established in 2000 as a collaborative project between UNEP-WCMC, the Marine Aquarium Council (MAC) and members of aquarium trade associations in exporting and importing countries. It was the first international initiative to compile species-level trade data for marine ornamental organisms. However, the database depended entirely on voluntary submissions from a limited number of industry participants. It therefore provided an important first step towards transparency, but never became a comprehensive, mandatory or long-term monitoring system. Data entry stopped after 2003.
2003 — First global assessment
UNEP-WCMC published From Ocean to Aquarium, the first comprehensive global assessment of the marine ornamental species trade. It documented the scale of trade in fishes, corals and invertebrates and highlighted major data gaps.
Link: From Ocean to Aquarium
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
2007 — Banggai cardinalfish at CITES CoP14
The United States proposed listing the Banggai cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni) in CITES Appendix II. The proposal was withdrawn, but it marked an important early attempt to address the aquarium trade in a coral reef fish through CITES. In the same year, the species was listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
Link: ENB report on CITES CoP14, 11 June 2007
Pterapogon kauderni, IUCN Red List
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
2008 — European Commission consultation
The 2008 European Commission consultation found that industry representatives favoured using existing veterinary controls and health certificates as a basis for trade monitoring, rather than creating additional permit systems. This is important because such controls already required information relevant to monitoring, including species names, quantities and origin. However, the report also noted that the system still needed improvement: species-level information was not yet managed electronically, and the source of specimens — wild-caught or captive-bred — was not recorded.
Link: Monitoring of International Trade in Ornamental Fish, UNEP-WCMC, 2008
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
2016 — Banggai cardinalfish at CITES CoP17
The European Union submitted a second proposal to list the Banggai cardinalfish in Appendix II. The proposal was again withdrawn, but CITES adopted decisions calling for further work on the conservation and trade of the species.
Link: CITES CoP17 Proposal 46
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
Scientific foundation
2017 — Quantifying trade into Switzerland
The first detailed analysis of Swiss import documents from 2009 showed that marine ornamental fishes were entering Switzerland and the European region with poor species-level monitoring, and proposed adapting TRACES for trade monitoring.
Scientific publication: Biondo, M.V. (2017). Quantifying the trade in marine ornamental fishes into Switzerland and an estimation of imports from the European Union. Global Ecology and Conservation, 11, 95–105.
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
2018 — Swiss import monitoring and TRACES proposal
Further analysis of Swiss import data from 2014–2017 showed continued data gaps, low species-level resolution in some years, and the need for a traceability system for marine ornamental fishes.
Scientific publication: Biondo, M.V. (2018). Importation of marine ornamental fishes to Switzerland. Global Ecology and Conservation, 15, e00418.
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
2018 — Banggai cardinalfish report to CITES
A CITES report assessed the impact of international trade on the conservation status of the Banggai cardinalfish.
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
2019 — Reef impacts and public communication
A short article summarised the ecological concerns associated with the marine ornamental fish trade and helped communicate the issue to a broader coral reef audience.
Scientific outreach: Biondo, M.V. (2019). The Impact to Reefs of the Trade in Marine Ornamental Fishes. Reef Encounter.
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
2019 — TRACES as a monitoring tool
A scientific analysis showed how the European Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES) could be adapted to monitor the trade in marine ornamental fishes more effectively.
Scientific publication: Biondo, M.V. & Burki, R.P. (2019). Monitoring the trade in marine ornamental fishes through the European Trade Control and Expert System TRACES: Challenges and possibilities. Marine Policy, 108, 103620.
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
Marine ornamental fishes reach CITES
2019 — CITES CoP18
Switzerland, the European Union and the United States submitted CoP18 Doc. 94, the first CITES document dedicated specifically to the conservation, management and trade of marine ornamental fishes. The document was adopted, formally placing marine ornamental fishes on the CITES agenda.
Official document: CITES CoP18 Doc. 94
Related decision text: CITES Decisions 18.296–18.298
Supporting material: FFW briefing: Support CoP18 Doc. 94
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
Continuing the evidence base
2020 — Systematic review
A systematic review showed how difficult it remains to assess the global ornamental fish trade because information is scattered, incomplete and often not recorded at species level.
Scientific publication: Biondo, M.V. & Burki, R.P. (2020). A Systematic Review of the Ornamental Fish Trade with Emphasis on Coral Reef Fishes—An Impossible Task. Animals, 10, 2014.
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
2021 — Traceability inside the EU
A study of the European market showed that even after marine ornamental fishes enter the EU, reliable traceability remains insufficient. The paper used Nemo and Dory as well-known examples to illustrate the lack of reliable species-level monitoring.
Scientific publication: Biondo, M.V. & Calado, R. (2021). The European Union Is Still Unable to Find Nemo and Dory—Time for a Reliable Traceability System for the Marine Aquarium Trade. Animals, 11(6), 1668.
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
2022 — CITES CoP19
At CoP19, Parties agreed to continue the marine ornamental fishes process and requested a technical workshop to consider conservation priorities and management needs related to the trade in non-CITES-listed marine ornamental fishes.
Official document: CITES CoP19 Doc. 80
Official summary: ENB summary of CITES CoP19
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
2024 — Updated EU trade analysis
Using eight years of TRACES data, this study provided an updated analysis of marine ornamental fish imports into the EU from 2014–2021. It documented trade volume, value, exporting countries, taxonomic composition and species-level data gaps, and introduced updated Watchlist and WatchlistPLUS approaches.
Scientific publication: Biondo, M.V., Burki, R.P., Aguayo, F. & Calado, R. (2024). An Updated Review of the Marine Ornamental Fish Trade in the European Union. Animals, 14(12), 1761.
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
2024 — CITES technical workshop and AC33
The CITES Technical International Workshop on Marine Ornamental Fishes was held in Brisbane in May 2024. Its outcomes were reported to the Animals Committee at AC33, including recommendations and a catalogue of marine ornamental fish species in international trade.
Official workshop page: CITES Technical International Workshop on Marine Ornamental Fishes
Official AC33 document: CITES AC33 Doc. 44 (Rev. 2)
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
2025 — No need to reinvent the wheel
This paper argued that the EU does not need to create an entirely new wildlife trade monitoring system. Instead, existing systems such as TRACES could be improved to provide better species-level information for legal wildlife trade imports, including marine ornamental fishes.
Scientific publication: Biondo, M.V. & Calado, R. (2025). Enhancing Wildlife Trade Monitoring in the European Union—No Need to Reinvent the Wheel. Ecology and Evolution, 15(9), e72090.
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
2025 — CITES CoP20
At CoP20 in Samarkand, Parties adopted CoP20 Doc. 92 as amended. The outcome invited Parties to review the marine ornamental fish species catalogue in AC33 Doc. 44 (Rev. 2) and identify species of high priority that may warrant further research or other considerations, including possible Appendix III listings.
Official document: CITES CoP20, Doc. 92
Official discussion summary: ENB Daily Report, 27 November 2025
Official outcome summary: ENB Daily Report, 4 December 2025
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
2026 — AC34 and next steps
The next phase is the continued implementation of the CITES work after CoP20, including discussions and engagement with Parties on species-level monitoring, priority species and practical trade-data improvements.
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
Towards Comprehensive Electronic Monitoring
The history of marine ornamental fish monitoring shows that voluntary initiatives were important first steps, but they were not sufficient to provide comprehensive, long-term trade data.
Scientific research has now shown that better monitoring is technically feasible. Existing electronic systems, especially the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES), could be further developed to record coral reef fishes consistently at species level, together with their country of origin and source — wild-caught, captive-bred or captive-raised.
The goal is not to create another database for its own sake. The goal is to make coral reef fishes visible in international trade, so that conservation and policy decisions can be based on evidence rather than assumptions.
Improving the conservation of coral reef fishes will require collaboration among scientists, governments, industry and civil society. Better biological knowledge, transparent trade data and international cooperation can provide the scientific foundation needed to evaluate the sustainability of the marine ornamental fish trade and to identify species that may require additional conservation measures.
The first step is surprisingly simple:
Know what is being traded.
~ ~~ 🧭 ~~ ~
About this page
Much of the scientific research, technical analysis, briefing material and outreach presented here was prepared or co-authored by Dr. Monica V. Biondo, Head of Research and Conservation at Fondation Franz Weber, often in collaboration with universities, governmental authorities and international conservation organisations.
These materials are presented alongside official CITES documents to illustrate how scientific research, trade data and international cooperation have contributed to advancing the conservation and monitoring of marine ornamental fishes.