Annex 20: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) On Transforming the Marine Aquarium Trade
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stakeholders to ensure that the process is transparent and participatory. In Batasan, the next
CAMP review meeting is scheduled to take place by December 2003.
8.2 What about species inappropriate/unsuitable for the marine aquarium trade?
MAC Certification works with the stakeholders to identify and limit the collection of species that
should not be included in trade through Annex 4 of the MAC Core Standards that allows for those
species not suited to the aquarium trade to be identified and not allowed to be collected or traded.
The MAC Core Standards include Annex 4 on Unsuitable Species, as follows:
The initial designation of a marine aquarium organism as an “unsuitable species” will likely
include organisms for which the requirements for keeping in captivity are well known and clearly
impractical to fulfill. This will undoubtedly include:
· organisms that get too large for most home aquariums (e.g., sharks and rays),
· organisms that are obligate feeders of food that is difficult or expensive to obtain (e.g.,
obligate coral polyp or sponge feeders), and
· organisms that are dangerous or highly venomous (e.g., blue ring octopus).
The sub-committee will develop criteria for reasonable and responsible exceptions to allow for
the small number of these organisms that should be able to go to
· public aquariums and scientific institutions (e.g., documentation that the end buyer is a
public aquarium accredited to the appropriate body, such as the American Zoo and
Aquarium Association) and
· home aquarium keepers who are conducting research into the conditions required to
successfully keep these organisms in captivity.
The sub-committee will periodically review and revise the list. The sub-committee will delete
organisms from the list if and when they are determined to be viable in a certified trade and will
add to the list when other animals are determined to not be viable.
The sub-committee will review and revise the criteria for identifying unsuitable species as more
information becomes available. This will likely include information on
· the ability of a species to survive collection, handling, and transport,
· the ability of a species to survive captivity for a considerable portion of its potential life span,and
· life history traits that make a species particularly vulnerable to over-exploitation (e.g.,
intrinsic low growth or recruitment rates).
MAC will move forward with the procedures for developing a list of inappropriate species in
trade in 2004. The sub-committee on unsuitable species will be established by the MAC Board as
soon as possible and will include a range of stakeholders with relevant experience and
information from science, conservation, industry and the aquarium hobby. The initial list will
include species that do not survive well in captivity, that grow too big, and that are poisonous.
The MAC Board sub-committee will develop a process for listing species that are rare and/or
particularly vulnerable to over-exploitation. The Unsuitable Species process also provides a
mechanism for evaluating and listing species that are “rare” at any geographic scope, i.e. local
collection area, sub-national, national, international.
At the collection area level, the evaluation and management of rare species can be effectively
implemented through existing procedures. The EFM Standard and the development and
