Ornamental Fish Value Chains

• Are you in the know that the history of trade with live fish and their domestication started from China in 1200s and it has undergone a global value chain?
• Are you familiar with the fact that ornamental fish were transported from the tropics to some countries like Germany, England and the US?
• Are you aware that their physical characteristics (coloration, fin shapes, etc.) and behavioral characteristics attracted interest and led to a domestication of many species today by humans?
• Did you know that tropical fresh water fish species are the most traded live animals and is a multi-billion dollar venture today?
• Do you have any clue that tropical freshwater fish serve human education, entertainment and ornamental purposes?
• Have you been told that ornamental fish are either bred in ponds or caught from the wild?

Tropical fish have been involved in a global value chain for more than a century. The morphology of fish (attractive shapes and sizes, modified gills, intestinal breathing, etc) and their tolerance to lower water and/or quickly changing water temperatures attracted enthusiasts into keeping them; many of these enthusiasts have been Europeans. Fish were initially transported to Europe through ship at a convenient water temperature; a level in accordance with the higher environmental temperatures found in the tropics. Technologies like electric heaters, pumps and filters were considered to control water chemistry given the cooler weather conditions in Europe to make them climatic-variation-and-temperature tolerant, provide adequate oxygen and remove physical and soluble chemicals from aquaria. Fish food like flake food (invented by Tetra in Germany in the 1950s) and Artemia which provides the dietary requirement of food for the fish species were provided and properly dispensed for sustenance in the aquaria. Moreover, the establishment of institutions like the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) were also necessary because they took action at protecting the welfare of live animals by promoting standards in commodification and standardization operations. They also checked freshwater fish trade; making sure that all imports, exports and re-exports were authorized by means of permits and certifications. These processes fish went through drastically reduced fish stress and mortality, contributed substantially to world trading hubs and economies of nations and have eventually influenced human behavior.

The study will consider more-than-human approaches taking Actor Network Theory (ANT) as an important concept of animal geography to investigate about how ornamental fish morphology and characteristics evolved and co-evolved with the other actors in the value chain between 1870 and today. It will identify critical actors, the cause-and-effect relationships among the actors, institutions, processes, and improvements that have shaped this historical evolution. It will also unpack the resultant development outcomes, particularly human-wildlife relations. This study contributes to a nuanced understanding within a long-term perspective of how value chain processes through to animal domestication took place overtime.

Since England and Germany are known to have imported large numbers of fresh water fish and have enough and available publications on the commodification and domestication practices of fresh water fish and on aquarium keeping and maintenance, the research work will take Germany and England as case studies.