What Are the Prospects for Ornamental Fish Farming Really Like?
With the acceleration of China's opening-up, people's material and cultural standards have risen markedly, and keeping ornamental fish has quietly become part of many people's lives, bringing them enjoyment of beauty while also cultivating body and mind and refining their character. At present, in some countries the scale of ornamental fish farming is growing ever larger, with each using its own advantages to develop farming and trade, making ornamental fish farming a new growth point for the fishery economy. Looking at the domestic and international ornamental fish markets in recent years, the development of ornamental fish faces good opportunities and a favorable social environment, and ornamental fish farming will become a vibrant emerging industry with broad development prospects.
The Prospects for Ornamental Fish Farming
Ornamental fish can generally be divided into five major categories: goldfish, koi, tropical fish, other freshwater ornamental fish, and other marine ornamental fish. There are roughly more than 1,600 species traded as ornamental fish. Freshwater ornamental fish mainly come from Southeast Asian countries, Singapore and Hong Kong, China; marine ornamental fish mainly come from the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the Caribbean region, Kenya, Mauritius and the countries along the Red Sea. Asia ranks first in ornamental fish exports, supplying more than 50% of the global total. Europe's freshwater ornamental fish exporters are mainly Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands; marine ornamental fish exporters include France, Spain and Italy, among others.
China focuses mainly on freshwater ornamental fish farming, primarily for export trade. In 1999, export value was 2.322 million USD, accounting for 1.4% of the world's total ornamental fish exports; ornamental fish imports were 224,000 USD, accounting for only 0.09% of the world's total imports. Guangzhou and Shanghai are the main import and export regions. Chinese goldfish are renowned at home and abroad, and China's participation in the international ornamental fish market is gradually growing.
The Current State of Ornamental Fish Farming
1. China's ornamental fish farming technology still mainly follows traditional farming methods, with low technical content and an unstable industry; the export qualification rate for farmed goldfish (1999 statistics) is only 5%. For many years, ornamental fish farming technology, market development and industrialization have all come from the explorations and accumulated experience of fish farmers, lacking guidance and support, and even more lacking their own distinctive features. Farming varieties and quality grades are low, and body shape and color have no distinguishing characteristics. Ornamental fish exports are not smooth; although the ornamental fish market is active, it has never been able to achieve scale. The scientific and technological level of ornamental fish farming is low and the development potential is great. If problems and gaps are regarded as potential, and the scientific and technological level of ornamental fish farming is raised as quickly as possible, China's ornamental fish farming will take on a new look.
2. There is a lack of industry organizations, production is blind, information within the industry is poor, and understanding of overseas ornamental fish markets is insufficient. The phenomenon of each going its own way can no longer adapt to the increasingly fierce competition in international and domestic markets. Internal undercutting lets foreign buyers reap the profits. Demand in the ornamental fish market will grow ever larger, and how to organize ornamental fish production well and capture the international ornamental fish market is an issue urgently in need of study.
3. China's ornamental fish export packaging technology is poor and the industry scale is small. China's annual ornamental fish exports exceed 100 million fish, accounting for one tenth of the world's ornamental fish exports, but export value accounts for only a little more than 1% of world export value. Due to poor packaging technology and unfamiliarity with overseas markets, re-export trade or agency arrangements exist in import and export, and most of the profits are easily taken away by foreign businesses.
4. A service system for ornamental fish farming has not yet been established, and the product circulation market is not smooth. The ornamental fish keeping boom that has arisen in recent years urgently needs a service system integrating fry and fingerlings, feed, disease prevention and control, and marketing for ornamental fish farming.
5. There is a shortage of professionals engaged in ornamental fish farming. A strong team of aquaculture professional and technical personnel is a reliable guarantee for the development of ornamental fish farming production.
The Development Direction of Ornamental Fish
1. Continuously introduce improved varieties and raise quality grades: with China's distinctive ornamental fish - goldfish - as the main focus, raise the export qualification rate and open up the international ornamental fish market. Scientifically and systematically organize, summarize and study traditional farming techniques, establish original-stock breeding bases for goldfish, combine research with popularization, research, develop, promote and apply research results, vigorously advocate scientific ornamental fish farming, and provide producers with information and guidance, so that leisure ornamental fish keeping remains prosperous for a long time.
2. Straighten out the production and marketing system and avoid unreasonable domestic price competition: establish and improve Chinese goldfish and ornamental fish import and export institutions (or industry organizations, intermediary organizations), coordinate export prices across all links of production and marketing, so that farming producers and export marketers can both obtain reasonable benefits and support and promote each other. At the same time, coordinate external supply prices well, provide domestic and international market information and services, and do a good job in organizing production and purchasing.
3. Further improve packaging technology and raise transport survival rates: strengthen scientific management and carry out inspection and quarantine to ensure smooth and safe import and export of ornamental fish. Prevent the intrusion of viruses and bacteria when introducing varieties, and protect the ornamental fish industry.
4. Expand the variety of ornamental aquatic exports: strive to develop ornamental fish varieties and other rare aquatic animals and plants with long-term competitiveness, so as to expand export earnings.
5. Advance the industrialization of ornamental fish: the industrialization of ornamental fish means taking domestic and international markets as the guide and improving economic efficiency as the center, and on the basis of share cooperation and household-style operations, carrying out multi-level, multi-form and diversified optimized combinations to form distinctive industrial chains, so as to achieve regional layout, specialized production, integrated operations, socialized services and enterprise-style management, and advance the modernization of the ornamental fish industry. It is necessary to cultivate "leading" enterprises in the ornamental fish industry, give play to the strong promotion and demonstration-leading role of "leading" enterprises, provide ornamental fish fry and fingerlings that suit international markets and are of excellent quality, implement the "company plus farmers" group model, and accelerate the pace of development of the ornamental fish industry.
6. Attach importance to training ornamental fish professionals: professionals originating from the front line should be discovered and trained well, relevant majors suited to market demand should be established in colleges and universities, ornamental fish industry talent should be cultivated, the current state of ornamental fish farming production should be changed, and the needs of international ornamental fish market development should be met.