Download Can captive breeding stock an entire public aquarium?

Can captive breeding stock an entire public aquarium?
By: Chris Brown
Institution: Merlin Entertainments, SEA LIFE, UK
While zoos have been sourcing most of their animals from captive breeding
programmes for decades, and nearly 90% of the freshwater fish trade is now supplied by
captive breeding, most public aquariums still collect marine creatures from the wild.
Public aquariums should be leading the way in developing captive breeding
programmes so that the aquarium trade stops depleting wild fish stocks. Considering
this challenge, is the entirely captive-bred public aquarium a realistic prospect?
SEA LIFE is a public aquarium group. With over 40 sites worldwide, the potential to
develop a captive breeding programme is vast. This will include deciding on a list of
species, investigating their breeding and rearing requirements, identifying which SEA
LIFE sites are best suited to breed which species, and adapting exhibits and facilities to
support breeding programmes. Broodstock can then be acquired and breeding trials
undertaken. The SEA LIFE group can then support specific sites with rearing and
distributing juveniles.
The global reach of SEA LIFE allows this coordinated captive breeding strategy to be
conceived. Working with other organisations and sharing best practice will enable all
our acquisition policies to become more sustainable. The motivation for this talk is to
initiate an international discussion about captive breeding.