Our organisation was founded on 1 June 1980 at a meeting held in Rome by a dedicated group of people who were unhappy and concerned at the state of the international aquatic industry at the time. One of the main aims that arose out of that original meeting was to improve all-round standards. This still remains a central part of our organisation today, as - despite the many major developments that have taken place over the years - there is always room for further improvement.

Since its launch, OFI has expanded steadily and we now (September 2008) have members in 44 countries in the major fish exporting and importing nations and. Members  include wholesalers, collectors, breeders, retailers, importers, exporters, consultants, manufacturers, publishers, plant specialists, freight forwarders, airlines, exhibition companies - even a university department. As such, we represent the international aquatic industry in all its aspects.

Some of our members are individuals, while others include some of the largest ornamental fish farms in the world, as well as leading wholesalers. What they all have in common, irrespective of their size or specialisation, is that they are directly or indirectly involved in one sector or other of the international ornamental aquatic industry.

In the pages that follow, you will find, not just background information about us (see, for example, the Invitation to New Members page), but also a full listing of our members in the Members' Directory (including links to members' websites), along with some articles and items from recent issues of our quarterly publication, the OFI Journal, a Research Support section, and the Data Area.

Also included in these pages are a restricted-access members' area, plus a series of links to other websites, which present useful additional information for our visitors on a range of subjects, from conservation to trade publications. If you have any suggestions regarding this list, please contact us.

We hope you will find the contents of our website interesting and valuable. We, of course, welcome your comments, but cannot, unfortunately (at least, not at the moment), offer a hobbyists' problem page service, which is already admirably covered elsewhere on the web.

Our e-mail addresses for electronic correspondence are: secretariat@ofish.org and president@fish.org.