The goal of The Coral Reef Aquarium Fisheries Campaign is to empower sustainable coral reef aquarium fisheries that support biodiversity conservation, healthy coral reefs, and the livelihoods of those who depend on them across the global value chain. This year, the Campaign achieved great success in three important areas:

Bali fisher Jabo displays the tools of his trade

Policy
This year marked the launch of IndoReefFish, a developing model for sustainable sourcing of marine aquarium fishes that links public aquaria and zoos to the reefs that they exhibit, and the people whose livelihoods depend on those reefs. In the program’s launch, Indonesian partners LINI and Rare toured The Campaign throughout Indonesia to elevate the conversation about marine aquarium fisheries management with fisheries agencies at local, provincial, and national levels.

Upgrading the Value Chain
The Campaign guided its Indonesian partners through a Value Chain Analysis of the Indonesian marine aquarium fishery. Some of the goals of this analysis are to identify roadblocks that prevent some actors from accessing economic equity in the value chain, and to recommend data-driven solutions to empower fishers and traders to provide for their livelihoods, and those of their families. With our guidance, our partners collected data on these points in the past year, with an analysis and recommendations forthcoming in 2025.

At the consumer end of the value chain, this year The Campaign welcomed new member Absolutely Fish, an industry-leading aquarium store in New Jersey. Owner Patrick Donston lifts education and conservation as core pillars of the store’s mission. He has delivered over 100 presentations industry-wide, has been named Pet Advocacy Network’s Ambassador of the Year (2022), and presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the World Pet Association (2023). This is what makes Absolutely Fish the perfect partner to develop and provide programming to educate US marine aquarium businesses on best practices in fish care and business management. Together, they’re working to upgrade the standard of care across the US marine aquarium industry–promoting premium, well-cared for fish that promise to thrive in home aquaria. In so doing, enlightened businesses will be poised to profit from improved aquarium husbandry and business efficiencies, and the high-quality fish that they provide.

Advancing Aquaculture Research and Development
The Marine Fish Egg Catalog Project spawned (pun intended!) out of a partnership among The Campaign, the New England Aquarium, the California Academy of Sciences, Roger Williams University, and public aquaria and zoos around the world! Sponsored by the AZA, New England Aquarium, and the Academy; the Catalog has emerged as a valuable resource for aquarists to identify species of eggs spawned on exhibit to prioritize for aquaculture. This year, the Egg Catalog moved to AZA’s website as a free, open-access resource for aquaculturists everywhere.

In recognition of its contributions to developing sustainable practices in the public aquarium and zoo community, the Campaign has been honored with induction into the AZA’s Marine Fishes Taxon Advisory Group (MFTAG) as a highlighted program this year.

AZA’s TAGs examine the sustainability and conservation needs of taxa and develop recommendations for population management and conservation based upon the needs of the species and AZA-accredited institutions. The Campaign is honored to be invited to help the MFTAG achieve this goal on behalf of public aquaria and zoos.