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rowing consumption is threatening the population of reef fish species and the entire marine ecosystem in the Coral Triangle, experts said Tuesday.

The trade of live reef fish sourced from the marine nursery area is one of the most lucrative seafood industries in the Asia Pacific, but also one of the biggest threats to coastal and marine environment, the WorldWide Fund for Nature (WWF) said in a three-day workshop titled “Market-based Improvement on Live Reef Fish Food Trade”.

“Overfishing and destructive fishing practices such as the use of cyanide and explosives are being driven by an increasing demand for seafood across Asia-Pacific,” Geoffrey Muldoon, the live reef fish food trade strategy leader of the WWF Coral Triangle Program, said.

“Worse, these practices are exacerbated by the lack of effective systems to sustainably manage this burgeoning industry,” he added.

He said 70 percent of reef fish in some places in the region were being taken from the ocean before they even had the opportunity to mature and reproduce, and this would have devastating effects on the delicate ocean food chain in the long term.

The trade in live reef fish food mainly involves the capture of reef fish in main supplying countries, such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, and their live sale for consumption in Hong Kong and China as the main markets.

Supplying countries are seeing a significant increase in demand for live reef fish, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry Director for Foreign Market Development Saut Hutagalung said.

“Indonesia exported a total of 123,000 tons of live reef fish with worth US$86 million, an increase from 78,000 tons or $59 million in 2009,” he said.

Muldoon said the negative impacts of unmanaged trade on fish stock were now apparent. “Fish stock in the western part has decreased and fishermen are looking for new sources in the east,” he said.

To discuss new ways to sustainably manage the trade of live reef fish, stakeholders in the seafood industry, including government agencies, NGOs, research institutions and private sector parties met at a workshop attended by 122 participants from 10 member countries of APEC.

Organized by the WWF and the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry with support from APEC, the workshop is focused on what market-based opportunities could be implemented at a regional scale to help improve the live reef fish food industry.

“The reef fish trade generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually and sustains thousands of fishers, seafood businesses and coastal communities,” Muldoon said. “If left unchecked, the industry’s sustainability hangs in the balance, but more importantly marine biodiversity and the future of local communities will be threatened.”

Despite ongoing site-based efforts to reduce the impact of this trade, it is urgent to begin innovative programs that link markets to sustainability, uphold and reward responsible fishing practices, and unite key actors across in the entire seafood supply chain toward a shared goal of sustaining resources, he said.

Saut said workshop participants were expected to come up with measurable standards of best practices that could be implemented across the region.

“This forum will pave the way for stronger regional cooperation and capacity building among stakeholders within APEC,” he said.