Ornamental Fish Management Implementation Group
E-mail: cichlid1@tpg.com.au

Biography

Presentation

Invasive Alien Species - An Australian Context
Australia has some of the toughest import restrictions and regulations in the world when it comes to ornamental fish, despite this, the unique Australian aquatic environments have become threatened over the decades by introductions of non-native ornamentals. The aquarium industry has often been incorrectly attributed blame for many of these introductions. The presentation provides a summary of ornamental fish introductions and establishments around Australia. It is also important to differentiate between establishments that cling on to life surviving only in localised populations compared to those species that exhibit ‘pesty' characteristics, warranting true Invasive status. The vectors contributing to the translocation of ornamental fish must also be considered to aid in future risk minimisation.For years, overzealous and inconsistent regulations between states, coupled with a lack of resources for compliance and enforcement operations have resulted in an environment where smugglers have prospered.

The Ornamental Fish Management Implementation Group (OFMIG) was established in 2003 as a consultative advisory group to both federal and state governments. OFMIG's charter included establishing a uniform national noxious fish list, a massive job when one considers that there are estimated some 1200+ species currently being kept and traded in Australia, of which some 500 of these species are currently allowable imports. The aquarium industry faced the very real possibility of all species that have never been allowably imported being arbitrarily assigned noxious status.

The goal was to develop a cooperative approach
between industry, hobby, and government stakeholders to develop a national uniform regulatory framework and management policies for ornamental fish in Australia. It is paramount that these policies protect Australia's diverse aquatic environments whilst adopting the least trade restrictive approach to industry.

A proposed noxious list was compiled by merging all existing state and territory noxious lists together. In addition any species that had recorded establishment in Australia or other similar environments' throughout the world were also included as noxious. This listing represented in essence, a noxious ‘wish list' for Australian regulators that was not scientifically based and would not be accepted by the greater aquarium industry. A ‘low hanging fruit ‘ approach was adopted whereby only species that had agreement between all stake holders remained noxious. The remaining species were placed onto a grey listing, primarily compiled of those species that would represent the greatest loss to economic and hobby value. This list contains many cichlid species in addition to many of the collector tank buster predatory species. OFMIG is currently assessing these grey listed species using a more rigorous risk assessment approach to ensure only true IAS receive noxious status. This process will take into account many contributing risk factors but relies heavily on the Bomford climatic match model.

While still a work in progress, OFMIG represents a change in the process and has engaged the industry, better ensuring that the end result achieves its objectives while being accepted and workable by the aquarium industry.

The Ornamental Fish Management Implementation Group (OFMIG) was established in 2003 as a consultative advisory group to both federal and state governments. OFMIG's charter included establishing a uniform national noxious fish list, a massive job when one considers that there are estimated some 1200+ species currently being kept and traded in Australia, of which some 500 of these species are currently allowable imports. The aquarium industry faced the very real possibility of all species that have never been allowably imported being arbitrarily assigned noxious status.

The goal was to develop a cooperative approach
between industry, hobby, and government stakeholders to develop a national uniform regulatory framework and management policies for ornamental fish in Australia. It is paramount that these policies protect Australia's diverse aquatic environments whilst adopting the least trade restrictive approach to industry.

A proposed noxious list was compiled by merging all existing state and territory noxious lists together. In addition any species that had recorded establishment in Australia or other similar environments' throughout the world were also included as noxious. This listing represented in essence, a noxious ‘wish list' for Australian regulators that was not scientifically based and would not be accepted by the greater aquarium industry. A ‘low hanging fruit ‘ approach was adopted whereby only species that had agreement between all stake holders remained noxious. The remaining species were placed onto a grey listing, primarily compiled of those species that would represent the greatest loss to economic and hobby value. This list contains many cichlid species in addition to many of the collector tank buster predatory species. OFMIG is currently assessing these grey listed species using a more rigorous risk assessment approach to ensure only true IAS receive noxious status. This process will take into account many contributing risk factors but relies heavily on the Bomford climatic match model.

While still a work in progress, OFMIG represents a change in the process and has engaged the industry, better ensuring that the end result achieves its objectives while being accepted and workable by the aquarium industry.