A Comprehensive Interpretation of the Development of the Ornamental Fish Industry

I. Overview of the Development of China's Ornamental Fish Industry

1. The Development History of China's Ornamental Fish Industry

China is the hometown of the goldfish. Goldfish have been kept by Chinese people for more than 2,000 years, and were introduced to the West in the early 16th century, where they were highly favored by European and American countries and called the "sacred fish of the East." Goldfish have become a worldwide species and occupy an important position among ornamental fish.

2. The Current Development Status of China's Ornamental Fish Industry

The rapid development of ornamental fish in China began in the late 1980s and early 1990s. At present, two major ornamental fish production bases have formed: one along the southeast coast and one in the north centered on Beijing. The ornamental fish farming area in Beijing has exceeded 12,000 mu, concentrated in the Tongzhou and Chaoyang districts, with an annual output of about 150 million ornamental fish. A large ornamental fish trading market has also been built, forming an ornamental fish industry belt of considerable scale. Tianjin's ornamental fish industry also has a long history. The ornamental fish market located at the Dongxing Overpass in Tianjin has considerable influence in Beijing, Tianjin and the "Three North" regions. It currently trades more than 300 varieties at more than 350 stalls, with an annual transaction volume exceeding 100 million yuan.

The development of the ornamental fish industry in other regions of China has also been rapid. In Houji Town, Zhenping County, Henan Province, the goldfish farming area is more than 4,000 mu, with more than 80 varieties farmed and an annual @#@136@#@ of more than 30 million yuan. From this alone, farming households have increased their income by an average of more than 15 million yuan. In addition, the town has built a 4,700 sq m ornamental garden displaying more than 120 rare varieties. Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, has now built 6 ornamental fish farming bases of about 100 mu each, with an annual output of about 80 million ornamental fish, accounting for nearly 60% of the city's total output. About 10 million fish are exported annually to Singapore, Malaysia, the United States, Australia, Spain and other countries, while about 80 million are sold domestically, effectively promoting local farmers' income growth and employment. In 2004, the total output value of the ornamental fish and related industries in the Pearl River Delta region also reached more than 10 billion yuan. In addition, the ornamental fish industries in the surrounding areas of large and medium-sized cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing and Chengdu have also developed to a considerable scale, becoming a new way to expand the local aquaculture sector and promote farmers' income growth and employment.

3. The Economy and Trade of China's Ornamental Fish Industry

Due to constraints imposed by geographical factors and traditional techniques, goldfish still dominate China's ornamental fish industry at present, but the koi farming industry, introduced and trial-bred more than a decade ago, has also formed a certain scale, with an annual output of about 400,000 fish. In recent years, tropical fish and rare and precious varieties introduced from abroad and trial-bred have also increased to more than 150 species. In recent years, China's ornamental turtle and ornamental aquatic plant farming industries have also been developing in the direction of specialization. Yuanhua Town in Haining City, Zhejiang Province, has built an ornamental turtle farming base of considerable scale, introducing and trial-breeding more than 40 species of ornamental turtles from home and abroad. In addition, nearly 30 species of ornamental aquatic plants have been introduced and trial-bred.

China's ornamental fish farming industry is mainly developing toward an export-oriented model, and goldfish are a traditional export product of China. Guangdong and Shanghai are China's two major ornamental fish export ports. From 1977 to 1986, China's annual ornamental fish export value averaged about 500,000 US dollars; after 1987 it grew relatively quickly, with an average annual increase of 29.4%; after 1993, large quantities of varieties began to be imported. Overall, however, China's ornamental fish trade volume is still relatively small. In terms of weight, the world's imports in 1999 were 10,832 tons and exports were 13,571 tons. China's imports that year were 17 tons, accounting for 0.16%; exports were 460 tons, accounting for 3.4%; the import value was 224,000 US dollars and the export value was 2.322 million US dollars, accounting for 0.09% and 1.4% of the world's import and export values that year respectively. At present, China exports about 100 million ornamental fish annually, accounting for about 10% of the world's ornamental fish trade volume.

4. Reasons for the Lagging Development of China's Ornamental Fish Industry

China's ornamental fish industry started early but has developed slowly. The main reasons are as follows: First, for a long time, the main energy of the relevant fishery departments was devoted to solving the problem of "difficulty in eating fish," and recreational fisheries were not given the attention they deserved, and were even treated as a sideline "not proper work." No energy was invested in scientific research or production management, and effective support was lacking, relying only on spontaneous, free exploration and development by the private sector. Second, regular fishery scientific research institutions have not given due attention to research on the ornamental fish industry, and scientific research has been far from sufficient, so that the breeding of high-grade, special-shaped, special-colored, special-bodied and special-quality superior varieties has basically made no progress, and production has mainly relied on introduced varieties. Third, there is a lack of specialized industry organizations, and internal experience exchange and research on professional development plans are insufficient. Fourth, the cultural development of ornamental fish lags behind, research, summarization and promotion of ornamental fish cultural history are insufficient, a strong cultural atmosphere has not yet formed, and ornamental fish have not yet entered every household like pets such as cats and dogs.

II. Overview of the World's Ornamental Fish Industry

According to records, the earliest people to keep ornamental fish in the world were the Sumerians of Babylon in 2500 BC, while Europe only began to see a surge in ornamental fish keeping around the 18th century. Today, keeping ornamental fish in aquariums has spread across the globe and has become a leisure fashion, with tens of millions of consumers and several thousand species kept, and a large number of varieties and artificially bred new varieties are still being introduced. It can be said that the development of each type of ornamental fish is the result of long-term cultural exchange and trade.

The world's ornamental fish can be broadly divided into five major categories: goldfish, koi, tropical fish, ornamental turtles and ornamental plants. There are more than 1,600 species traded as ornamental fish, of which 50% are freshwater species and 50% are marine species. However, the annual transaction volume of marine species accounts for only about 20% of the total transaction volume. From 1977 to 1984, the world's annual import value of ornamental fish was only about 50 million US dollars. After 1985, it began to rise substantially and continuously, reaching 337 million US dollars in 1994. At the same time, export value also continued to increase, reaching 207 million US dollars in 1996. Annual import and export values declined somewhat thereafter. At present, the annual import value is about 242 million US dollars and the export value is about 169 million US dollars.

From the perspective of imports, the United States, the European Union and Japan are the world's three largest ornamental fish markets. Marine species mainly come from the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the Caribbean region, Kenya, Mauritius and countries along the Red Sea; freshwater species mainly come from Southeast Asian countries and regions, with Singapore and Hong Kong, China being the most important suppliers. In ornamental fish exports, Asia ranks first, with exports accounting for more than 50%, of which artificially bred freshwater ornamental fish account for 80%, wild marine ornamental fish account for 15%, and wild freshwater ornamental fish account for 5%. Europe's main exporters of freshwater ornamental fish are Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, while the main exporters of marine ornamental fish are France and Italy. The annual export volume of African countries accounts for only about 2% of global exports.

Singapore has the largest export volume of ornamental fish, with an annual supply accounting for 8.5% of global annual exports, followed by Malaysia at 6.3%. Malaysia mainly supplies freshwater species, while Indonesia, the Philippines and other countries mainly supply marine species. Among the newly emerging countries in the Asia-Pacific region are China and India. Japan is also a country with a relatively large ornamental fish farming and export volume, mainly farming goldfish and koi, and currently earns hundreds of millions of US dollars annually from goldfish exports alone. At present, about 14% of households in the United Kingdom keep ornamental fish, requiring more than 140 million ornamental fish each year.