Supply Chains Matter

Do you really know where your aquarium fish come from?

Supply chains are marvellous for what they make possible in the provision of goods and services, and mysterious for what they conceal from wholesalers, retailers and consumers alike. The aquarium marketplace has several types of supply chains ranging from ‘comprehensively managed’ to ‘free-for-all’.

The infographics below contrast the grim reality hidden from the aquarist that a significant portion of aquarium marinelife is sourced from unregulated fisheries fraught with destructive fishing practices and which bring little benefit to the village communities they exploit. Not only do these fisheries degrade reefs through the routine use of cyanide collecting but their roving free-for-all approach ensure they are unaccountable to any regulation. Consequently, environmental practices are poor, mortality is high and accountability is absent or low.

FREE-FOR-ALL FISHERY

Free-for-all fishery

The majority of fish in the marketplace are sourced from this unregulated free-for-all fisheries with opaque, untraceable supply chains.

Free-for-all fishery

Animals are often caught using destructive fishing practices such as cyanide poisoning which are deleterious to the reef and deliver damaged livestock into the trade.

Free-for-all fishery

Free-for-all fisheries employ little animal husbandry.

Free-for-all fishery

Livestock from free-for-all fisheries are usually not fed with the emphasis being to move the stock along to the next step in the chain.

Free-for-all fishery

Free-for-all fisheries degrade the natural capital of the communities they exploit. Profits accrue elsewhere.

MANAGED (Collector / Supplier) FISHERY

Example of a managed Fishery

Managed fisheries are regulated, have short supply chains and are sustainable.

Managed Fishery

Managed fisheries are regulated, monitored and reviewed. Destructive fishing practices are absent.

Managed Fishery

Fishery management and selective hand collecting techniques eliminate bycatch.

Managed Fishery

High quality animal husbandry begins at sea.

Managed Fishery

High quality animal husbandry begins at sea and continues throughout our facility.

Managed Fishery

Managed supply chains have total transparency for collector to customer with benefits for the customer (superior product), the environment and the local community.