By John Dawes

Dr. Gerald Bassleer, president of Ornamental Fish International (OFI), was justifiably pleased following what was, without doubt, a ground-breaking conference on Invasive Alien Species (IAS) hosted by the organization at this year’s Aquarama trade show.

PIJAC’s Marshall Meyers was one of the leading ornamental aquatic industry representatives at the OFI IAS conference. Credit: John Dawes

“Our aim in organizing this conference was to bring together leading international figures in the field of invasive alien species (or IAS) to exchange views and information and, generally, to raise awareness about the subject,” Bassleer said. “I feel we have achieved this.”

Until now, organizations such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have held the meetings attended by members of the industry; however, this year’s OFI conference marked a reversal in this set-up, as a leading representative from the CBD (Programme Officer Dr. Junko Shimura, who is in charge of the CBD’s IAS and taxonomy activities) was invited to speak at the industry-led conference.

The other speakers on the panel constituted a venerable ‘who’s who’ of our sector, including representatives from scientific and other relevant bodies, including Pet Industry Joint Advisory Counsel (PIJAC) General Counsel and CEO Marshall Meyers. Other internationally representative speakers included: Svein Fosså, president of the European Pet Organization (EPO); Keith Davenport, chief executive of the Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association (OATA); Lorenzo Vilizzi, aquatic researcher for Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre; Anthony Ramsey, industry representative on the Ornamental Fish Management Implementation Group in Australia; Peter Ng, director of the Raffles Museum in Singapore; Tan Heok Hui, lecturer at the National University of Singapore; and Michael Browne, manager of the Global Invasive Species Database (GISD). Anil Kumar, assistant director of the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) of India, coordinated the meeting in conjunction with Svein Fosså.

The full-day conference, which was organized during this year’s Aquarama trade show, gathered together an equally international audience. Free publicity material at Aquarama ensured the conference’s influence extended far beyond the meeting room at Suntec Singapore, achieving a second goal in spreading the word among those visiting this biennial ornamental aquatic industry event.

The significance of this was not lost on the conference speakers either, as OATA’s Keith Davenport commented, “Invasive species is an international issue. The ornamental aquatic industry is also international, and so, it was entirely appropriate to hold such an awareness-raising meeting at Aquarama.”

It was this raised awareness that formed perhaps the most important aspect of the conference, by providing the speakers and audience with a range of perspectives to consider which they took away with them and which, undoubtedly, will influence their future thinking and activities with regard to IAS. There will also be a greater understanding between the various parties when they next meet, such as the next Conference of the Parties (CoP) of the CBD. The OFI one-day IAS conference therefore marked an important step in the right direction. Hopefully, it will be just one of many such steps in the months and years to come. <HOME>