mattgoanna
Sat Dec 27, 2014, 03:43 AM
What is your prediction for the impact of quarantine changes next year?
Based on information on the Aquarium Industries web-site and talking to a number of importers, there will be new quarantine requirements in 2015 that will result in large numbers of fish needing to be accompanied a health certificate to state that they are free of Megalocytivirus. This includes discus and angelfish.
The Australian government is obviously implementing this in order to protect our native wildlife, so this is a positive thing and clearly they believe it is necessary. I don’t wish to get into debating the need, but it could be a good idea to explore the impact.
Logic would tell you that there is likely to be costs associated with finding fish proven to be free of Megalocytivirus. Exporters will need to sacrifice fish to be tested for the virus before they are allowed into Australia. They indicate that of 20 fish being exported, 19 will need to be sacrificed for sampling, 31 of 40, 45 of 100 and 51 of 200 to a maximum of 59 out of 4108 fish ordered per species. You can see from this that you may need to import bulk shipments for this to be financially viable, depending on the cost of fish and tests. There are also animal welfare implications and it may be that some breeders and exporters decide not to participate and customers may stop purchasing fish as a result of these concerns.
According to the Aquarium Industries web-site, the European Union countries, including Germany, are not intending to participate and by implication will no longer send fish subject to these conditions.
In recent times we have seen large numbers of quality discus available at reasonable prices and have also seen the number of wild discus and true altum angelfish increase. While most of the wild discus and captive altums are acquired by the big importers (via Germany), many of the domestic discus and wild altums are coming in via smaller specialist importers and mostly from Asia.
I do wonder if the costs and reduced number of exporting countries associated with this change will start to reduce the number of smaller specialist importers and also result in wild discus and altums being less likely to be imported. The same would apply to wild African cichlids.
While there is no way or knowing the true impact, it is timely to consider these changes in the run up to implementation. I will certainly be reluctant to part with any of my wild discus until I see what the future brings.
Based on information on the Aquarium Industries web-site and talking to a number of importers, there will be new quarantine requirements in 2015 that will result in large numbers of fish needing to be accompanied a health certificate to state that they are free of Megalocytivirus. This includes discus and angelfish.
The Australian government is obviously implementing this in order to protect our native wildlife, so this is a positive thing and clearly they believe it is necessary. I don’t wish to get into debating the need, but it could be a good idea to explore the impact.
Logic would tell you that there is likely to be costs associated with finding fish proven to be free of Megalocytivirus. Exporters will need to sacrifice fish to be tested for the virus before they are allowed into Australia. They indicate that of 20 fish being exported, 19 will need to be sacrificed for sampling, 31 of 40, 45 of 100 and 51 of 200 to a maximum of 59 out of 4108 fish ordered per species. You can see from this that you may need to import bulk shipments for this to be financially viable, depending on the cost of fish and tests. There are also animal welfare implications and it may be that some breeders and exporters decide not to participate and customers may stop purchasing fish as a result of these concerns.
According to the Aquarium Industries web-site, the European Union countries, including Germany, are not intending to participate and by implication will no longer send fish subject to these conditions.
In recent times we have seen large numbers of quality discus available at reasonable prices and have also seen the number of wild discus and true altum angelfish increase. While most of the wild discus and captive altums are acquired by the big importers (via Germany), many of the domestic discus and wild altums are coming in via smaller specialist importers and mostly from Asia.
I do wonder if the costs and reduced number of exporting countries associated with this change will start to reduce the number of smaller specialist importers and also result in wild discus and altums being less likely to be imported. The same would apply to wild African cichlids.
While there is no way or knowing the true impact, it is timely to consider these changes in the run up to implementation. I will certainly be reluctant to part with any of my wild discus until I see what the future brings.