Global ornamental fish conference INFOFISH kicks off today in Colombo

The second marketing and technical international conference on ornamental fish will be held in Colombo on 8 and 9 February. 

The first international conference was held in 2014.The Export Development Board is organising the conference in collaboration with the Inter-Governmental Organisation for the Asia Pacific region for marketing and technical advisory services INFOFISH based in Malaysia, ornamental fish exporters association and the National Aqua Culture Development Authority of Sri Lanka.

A large number of countries in the Asia pacific region are members of the INFOFISH and this will be a good opportunity for learning and sharing experience. Member country representatives from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Fiji, India, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, The Philippines, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka and Thailand will attend the conference.

Ornamental fish rearing has a long history in Sri Lanka.It has now become a major export from Sri Lanka. The export income derived in 2015 was Rs. 2,392 million. Sri Lanka is in the fifth position among world exporters and supplies about 6% of the world market demand. 

The high quality and the wide variety of Sri Lankan ornamental fish have given a competitive edge among exports of other countries. The climate conditions of the country give an added incentive for promotion of this sector. All three varieties – sea, brackish and clear water fish – areexported. Guppies contain 60-70% of the ornamental fish exports and the other main varieties exported are sword tail,plati,mollyangel,tetra,barb,gurami,discuss,oskar,fighter, gold fish,coi and scavenger.

Specialists in the field with wide experience from Netherlands, America, Singapore, Israel, China, South Korea and Sri Lanka will address the conference covering a range of aspects. Among them will be problems faced by exporters, natural propagation methods, methods for increasing yield, introduction of exotic varieties and propagation, disease control, bio protection, packaging, new transportation methods, and changing trends in the international market.

There are a large number of producers in the small and medium sector with potential and the EDB will assist twenty producers to attend the conference.  The conference will be beneficial to all sectors involved in the sector, including exporters, importers,researchersand industry leaders, those studying the sector, service suppliers and State officers.