In October 2006 the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) adopted a Scientific Opinion and a Report on the animal health and welfare risks associated with the import of birds other than poultry (for ornamental purposes) into the European Union. This report was produced on the request of the European commission. The EFSA is considered to deliver pure science-based opinions and reports.

 

With respect to animal welfare the Opinion describes the pathway from collector or breeder of birds in the export country to the importer in the EU. Although it is recognised that the information is scarce, often originating from biased sources, several of the birds' needs are considered not to be met, especially during capture, at the holding station in the export country and during transport. High mortalities reported without any scientific justification and lack of information are a reason for very serious concern.

The resulting recommendation was: "Because the welfare of captive wild birds is often very poor, justification for continuation of importation of these birds should be carefully considered."

 

This was about birds…what about ornamental fish? What would be the result of a similar study on fishes?

 

Globefish report
In 2001 a report was published by Infofish (Malaysia) in the FAO Globefish series, written by Mrs. Katia Olivier. This report was clearly produced by a person with hardly any knowledge of the ornamental fish trade. She presented incidents as estimates of mortalities in the ornamental fish industry. The figures listed in the official report by a well-respected scientific organisation are 25-40 % in every step of the path, resulting in a cumulative figure of no less than 73% in the total path.

 

In a report produced for the Dutch pet trade association Dibevo, published in 2005, I was able to refute the figures for the mortalities during transport to the Netherlands, and for the stages in the path after import.  The listed mortalities were refuted by Scott Dowd et al in 2004, but only for cardinal tetras. What about all of the other wild caught fish? And what about tank-raised fish? At this moment the real data from unbiased sources are also scarce for ornamental fish.

 

In future the European Union might demand more assurances that animal welfare is not being endangered by the imports of ornamental fish, captive-bred or wild-caught. They might want to have proper information on the species exported, quantities, mortalities, collection methods, etc. If we wait to take action, we might be too late, as it also might be for the ornamental bird trade.

 

What to do
In our industry a good initiative has already been taken by the Marine Aquarium Council (MAC) for the marine sector. MAC has been able to find full support of governments and conservation organisations for sustainable trade in marine ornamental fish. MAC certifies collectors, exporters, importers and retailers of such fish. Unfortunately we have also seen that a lot of money is required for this MAC initiative. The MAC's setup is great, but it would certainly not be possible without funding from external sources.
For the freshwater fish industry, with its numerous very small operators and relatively very low prices for fish, it is an extremely difficult task to organise a similar thorough approach. Nevertheless it is necessary that something be done. In the October issue of the OFI Journal of 2005, our member Ian Watson wrote: "Do fish need to be certified?". In the May issue of 2006 Michael Tlusty et al answered Ian Watson with: "Yes, fish need to be certified".

 

The OFI Code of Conduct
During the last year several members of OFI have contributed to a draft OFI Code of Conduct. In fact it is not an accurate name for what has actually been put down on paper and perhaps we should find a new name for it once it comes into force. Our President has proposed "Recommended Guideline for Good Practice". For the purposes of this article, I will use the temporary name Code of Conduct (CoC).

 

The OFI CoC concept is published on the OFI website as one of the Documents for the Annual General Meeting. At the Annual meeting, on 25 May 2007, it will be discussed and hopefully adopted. It would a first step towards certification of the trade in ornamental freshwater fish.

 

The OFI Code of Conduct deals with more than just animal welfare. It also covers biosafety matters and fair trade. It is as such an expansion upon the OFI Code of Ethics. It deals with the very special aspects of our trade: we deal in live animals!

 

The OFI Code of Conduct has been set up as a voluntary system. Members are invited to participate but are not obliged to do so.

 

Working with live fish
Everyone active in the ornamental aquatic industry, in every step of the chain, has to realise that he/she is dealing with live animals. And trade involving live animals has consequences. Unlike trading in shoes, books, food or cars, live animals can die if not taken care of properly. Many perishable products like meat or frozen fish can also become worthless if not taken care of properly, however, if very specific environmental conditions are maintained, the product will remain in good condition without daily checks. With live fish this is different. Even if transported in the best possible way and then stored under the best possible condition, we still need to inspect regularly and take immediate action if fish show signs of illness.

 

Although animals and plants are both live organisms, they are experienced in different ways by different people. There are many vegetarians that do not want to eat meat because it originates from animals. I have never seen the same attitude extended to plants. Such an attitude would, of course, also be ruled out quickly as there are not many alternatives in our food supply. Some vegetarians do not eat animals, but apparently consider fish not to be an animal as they do eat fish. Often these issues are also inspired by religion. Although I do not understand the reasoning, I do highly respect it. Live animals are considered special, perhaps because they are closed to our own species, humans.

The public opinion
In our trade we do not have to deal with food preferences, however, we do come into contact with public opinion. Especially in more densely populated areas, the way people treat animals is changing. We can see pets wearing clothes and dogs' birthdays are celebrated with the family. Pets are humanised in many aspects. In the Netherlands the (political) Party of the Animals (www.partijvoordedieren.nl) was elected to the Parliament, winning 2 of the 150 seats and similar political parties have been established in the UK, Australia, Ireland and other countries.
In several cities in Belgium, special Animal Police will be appointed, particularly to check on animal welfare. In Austria very restrictive legislation for the keeping of pets has been implemented.
As a result of this, the way we treat our animals has become more and more important. A group of horses surrounded by water in the Dutch Waddensea dominated the Dutch television and newspapers for several days and attracted television teams from all over the world in October. The devastating situation in Iraq was demoted to page 3 or 4, the situation in Darfur disappeared from the news.

 

Pets are hot and the welfare of pets is gradually achieving the same status as that of children in many families. With ornamental birds this is less the case than with dogs and cats and with ornamental fish, this status is even less than that seen with birds. Nevertheless, this can change easily with a singel incident.

 

The principles of the OFI Code of Conduct
In this Code of Conduct, OFI focuses on those parts of our industry dealing directly with live animals. These are the sectors of our industry where we might need to prove our professionalism in future.
We have first focused on collectors of ornamental fish, breeders of ornamental fish, exporters and importers.

 

Controls
One of the hot issues featured in the discussions conducted around the table about a certification scheme has always been the way to check whether the companies involved meet the demands. To do this properly, these checks should take place at least once a year and should be conducted by an independent team of officially accredited auditors. The extremely high costs involved in such an annual check, due to the locations of OFI members being spread out throughout the world, will make such checks impossible at this moment. Only very few of the members are able to pay the annual fees, which would be considerably higher than the annual contributions to OFI at present.

 

For this reason we have come up with a system based on demand, questions which should be answered with yes or no. There are three possibilities to ensure that the questions are answered correctly:
o  The OFI members can hire a local official auditor from an independent certifying

    institute to certify the correct filling in of the Declaration. This assurance should be  

    repeated every year and is by far the most valuable assurance.
o  If not possible or too expensive, the OFI member involved could also ask the official

    Veterinary Authority in his country to declare the validity of the Declaration. This

    should also be repeated every year. If course we are aware that this type of

    assurance is less valuable that the first one, however, as governments accept the

    signature of the veterinarians of the veterinary authority, then we should we not.
o  If neither is possible, the Declaration can still be published on the OFI website,

    however, without the annual check by an auditor.  A visiting colleague OFI

    members, however, could also testify that the Declaration is correct.

 

The result of the Declaration will be published on the open pages of the OFI website, including the assurances.
 
Level
With a Code of Conduct where all demands need to be met in order for a company to be certified, we will not achieve our goals as some of the demands which may be standard practice in some countries, cannot be met in some parts of the world. For this reason a point system has been developed. The Code of Conduct consists of demands and each demand met will result in one or more points. Each company can obtain a maximum of 100 points. Companies are stimulated to increase their rating over the years. The data provided by the companies must be updated or reconfirmed once a year in January. 
Also the type of the assurance is expressed in points, with a large difference between the three types of assurances.

 

The higher the score, the better for the member. A high score should also become a justification for the prices of the fishes sold.

Sanctions
The sanction for false declarations will be the removal from the list of companies in these special pages on the OFI website (of course not from the Members' Directory). Repeated false declarations, however, can lead to expulsion of the member from OFI membership, as false declarations can be considered as a violation of the OFI Code of Ethics.

 

Costs
The costs of this Code of Conduct to the member involved are restricted to the costs of an audit, which will depend on the type of audit and the location. It will however be moderate when compared with accredited certification schemes. There will be some costs involved for OFI as well. We will need an expansion of our website, and work is involved in organising the proper information on our website. Whether we should charge a fee for this is a good topic for discussion at the Annual Meeting in Singapore.

 

Why should you participate?
Many companies might come to me and ask me what the actual value of this Code is. A good certification scheme should be verified by independent auditors, the criteria should have more depth and companies should have a system where they meet all of the demands or do not qualify. Of course I have heard these comments already many times. However, at this moment we have nothing. In my nearly 3 years as OFI Secretary General I was frequently asked, "How can I be sure that an OFI member supplies good quality, that it is an honest company?"  Apart from the commitment to the Code of Ethics in fact only the level of the fee scares crooks away from OFI membership, which is altogether quite poor. The small scale of many of our members, the remote locations and the completely different circumstances in which they must do their job, make it extremely difficult to judge them all according to the same standards.

 

With this Code of Conduct, a member which decides that it wants to participate clearly shows to potential suppliers and potential customers that:
o     it is a serious company, willing to invest in better quality
o     it has its quality confirmed in a better way that all its competitors
o     it shows that it is willing to take responsibility to ensure our trade in the future

 

The results of the participation will most probably be the following:
-    customers are already checking the OFI website for good suppliers, participating

     will lead to drawing more attention to the participating members.
-    a stronger position in the (inter)national competition.
-    a listing as a participant in a quality scheme will allow the company to charge higher

     prices.
-    better prices can also lead to more investment in quality.

This Code of Conduct aims to be an initiative, a first attempt, which might lead to a complete certification system in future.