Restricting the local sales of selected Monster Fishes in Singapore

Ever since news broke of AVA's consideration on restricting the local sales of selected Monster fishes in the near future, many have been concerned of the future existence of such fishes in our local fish industry. Monster Fishes are deemed as fishes which grow too large for the average hobbyist to house.

Fishes short-listed for the ban are as follows :

1)Gars
2)African Tiger Fish
3)Arapaimas
4)Lungfish


Two weeks ago, we received an invitation to attend a dialogue session held by AVA with regards to the issue.

At the conference, representatives of AVA announced that the reason for restricting local sales is due to the potential size of such species that would be too huge for an average hobbyist to house in time to come.

While an average hobbyist (in this case) refers to HDB flat dwellers who cannot afford the space for a large tank in their house, AVA is concerned about the welfare of large fishes being kept in an inadequate tank space.

AVA is taking in consideration of the safety of the public and the upset of our eco-system when these fishes are released into the reservoirs.

Their main concern is, "how is an average hobbyist going to cope with the rapid growth of such monster fishes and not put the public at risk by releasing them into local waterways?"

The following points were then brought to AVA's attention.

"The mindset of Singaporean hobbyists have matured in recent years such that most of them would have done their research before making their purchases; purchases which usually amounts to a fairly large figure.

With the high prices tagged on these fishes and considering that its value appreciates exponentially as the fishes grow in size, it is highly unlikely that any hobbyist would release their prized fishes into the reservoirs.

There are in fact hobbyist who rent ponds at various farms to house their fishes when they out-grow their current tanks.

It was also brought to AVA's attention that some shops do practise buy-back/trade-in policies for hobbyists who are unable to house their fishes or are giving them up for other reasons.

Valuable monster fishes which are at their adult sizes are high in demand by breeders for breeding projects.

The banning/restricting of the listed fishes may seem an immediate solution to the current problems faced. However, we do not diminish the fact that this solution could backfire as well.

With reference to the demand/supply theory, when news of supply being likely cut off breaks out, it will cause a mad rush for hobbyists who are afraid they will not be able to acquire such fishes in future to make their purchases.

Some would purchase more that they can afford to house/feed. This in turn pushes up the prices of such fishes due to the limited supply that is unable to meet the huge surge of increased demand.

With the diminishing supply, hobbyists who bank on making profits from the 'black market trade' too may start purchasing and stocking up on these fishes.

However, if for some reasons,these hobbyists are unable to get rid of the fishes before they outgrow their tank, it is highly likely that they would start turning to releasing them into the reservoirs as they are unable to sell their fishes due to the ban/restrictions on local sales or are afraid of getting caught and fined by AVA.

Thus, we suggested retailers to practise "Responsible retailing" which is to educate their customers of the potential sizes, temperament, compatibility of comming their potential purchases together with their existing collections before selling them the fishes instead of banning/restricting the local sales of such fishes altogether.

It was also suggested to AVA that they could also come up with mandatory educational courses for LFS owners/workers to enrich their knowledge and information on the monster fishes listed."

Having heard of our views, there will be another dialogue session to facilitate on the discussed issue.