Abstract

Most of us enjoy seafood but few know much of its provenance, how it is caught or shipped or the impacts of fishing on reef ecosystems and the fishing communities that depend on them.The talk will explore the growing appeal and marketing of high-priced seafood around the world, the implications of the luxury seafood trade on marine ecosystems, socio-economics, the special management and conservation challenges where luxury goods are concerned. It will also cover the role of mariculture. Two case studies will be explored to demonstrate the growing interconnectedness of world markets in high-value natural resources; the live reef food fish trade (LRFFT), centred largely in Hong Kong and Mainland China, and the global trade in luxury invertebrates. The histories and trends in these trades will be discussed and possible solutions explored. The markets, shops and restaurants of Hong Kong, a global trade centre for marine products, care full of fishes and invertebrates that come from reefs around the world.Although historically the Pacific and Southeast Asia were major sources of luxury seafood for the markets of China, reports of Caribbean fishes and invertebrates in the trade are increasing. Species include endemics from the far reaches of the planet, and charismatic giant fish or invertebrates threatened with extinction. These range from groupers that form spawning aggregations which are targeted and easily decimated by fishing for the live fish trade, to the spectacular Napoleon fish and Goliath grouper, the biggest of all reef fishes, to;invertebrates such as abalone and sea cucumber, or ‘beche de mer’. The marine footprint of these trades appears to be unsustainable at current levels of consumption, and controls on them minimal. Both national and international efforts by different sectors of Society are needed to address the challenges.