Aquarium Fish Imports Often Misreported, Says NOAA-Funded Study

Aquarium tropical fish imports to the U.S. are often misreported, according to a new NOAA-funded study. The study found 1,802 species imported, or 22 percent higher biodiversity than previously estimated. But the more than 11 million fish imported from 40 countries was less than previously reported because many freshwater fish and marine invertebrates were being mistakenly counted as marine fish, it said. It also said more than half of government importation forms during that time had numerical or other reporting discrepancies, resulting in a 27 percent overestimation of trade volume.

Lead author Andrew Rhyne of Roger Williams University and the New England Aquarium said: "Without mechanisms in place designed specifically to monitor the aquarium fish trade, we will never have a keen understanding of how it impacts our oceans and the global economy."

The study published May 22 in the Public Library of Science (PLoS), and funded by NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program said not all data systems were intended to monitor the marine wildlife trade. The review of shipment invoices revealed the number of fish reported on shipping declarations matched the invoices only 52 percent of the time, and found repeated instances of declarations marked as marine ornamental fish also containing other species, such as freshwater fish, corals and other non-marine wildlife.