The Philippines hosts some of the most diverse coral reefs in the world, and is also the world’s largest exporter of tropical fish for aquarium tanks.  The trade in wild aquarium fish is legal in the Philippines, and involves harvesters with government-issue permits and restrictions on certain types and amounts of harvest. 

However, it involves the trade of millions of fish annually, and there are concerns that it is not always well regulated and may be negatively affecting biodiversity on many coral reefs. 

Emily Malsack and Rebecca Turley were Masters by Research students at the Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University through 2017. Their project aimed to understand how fish harvest for the aquarium trade is managed in the Calatagan region of the Philippines.

Two hours south of Manila, Calatagan is a major fish trading region, with more than 40 resident fishers. This project is looking for way to ensure we protect both wild fish populations and local livelihoods.

In collaboration with Community Centered Conservation Philippines (C3), the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and with support from SeaLife, Emily and Rebecca conducted fieldwork in the Philippines from May-August 2017, supervised by C3 and Drs. Jacob Phelps, Joanna Murray and Christina Hicks. 

See their stories from the Philippines here, on twitter @fishtalesphils and Instagram: fishtales_philippines

Their research involved:

Exploring the motivations of aquarium fish collectors and realities of existing fishery management

Understanding the social perceptions of collectors and government agents towards existing policies

Identifying species collected for the aquarium trade, and their vulnerability to overharvested

Mapping key collection sites for aquarium fish collectors

Investigating different collection techniques used by aquarium fish collectors