Dr Geoffrey Muldoon gave us an inspiring and very thought provoking presentation on the state of fish populations in the Coral Triangle. This is an area of 2.3 million square miles of ocean in the Indo-Pacific (see the WWF Map) around Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste. The Coral Triangle consists of a myriad of life forms, and is the marine life equivalent in eco-diversity to the Amazon Basin for land based species, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Personally I had never realized what a large proportion of the world’s coral fish resources were caught and sold to Hong Kong and China. 
Dr Muldoon took us through the complex process involved from the fish first being caught by local fisherman in the Coral Triangle, being fattened up for sale, then held in large holding cages prior to being either flown or sent by ship, still alive, to Hong Kong and southern China. Coral reefs around Western Indonesia have now been decimated by this trade, which has moved out to other areas, stretching as far to the West as the Maldives and Sri Lanka and to the Marshall Islands to the East. One of the biggest problems appears to be that the fish are caught too young, before they have had a chance to spawn fish to replace those being taken. (Some of the most valuable Grouper take seven years to mature to a stage where they produce eggs which can be fertilized.) Many fish are also caught during their spawning aggregations (reproductive gatherings of reef fish) and these aggregations are in serious decline.
Much of the fish that is exported from Malaysia however, is actually caught in the waters of the Philippines, making it difficult to know the real statistics for the export of fish from Malaysia.
Dr Muldoon explained that fish farming is one solution to the problem and as this practice increases in the Coral Triangle it will hopefully enable the natural fish populations to regenerate, as well as produce fish that will mature faster to spawn new fish populations as well as provide fish for consumption.
The World Wildlife Fund had also produced a chart which helped customers make a meaningful decision on which fish to choose from a menu, to ensure that we weren’t eating a threatened species and this had been used very successfully in restaurants in Hong Kong and China. We were told that such a chart would be available soon for Malaysia.
Whilst it was of concern that the Coral Triangle was losing so much of its treasures, it was comforting to know that measures were now underway to try and stop the loss before it was too late. These measures are aimed at finding a balance between ensuring the livelihood of the millions of fishermen who rely on fishing for their livelihoods, whilst at the same time protecting the rich biodiversity within the Coral Triangle, which in turn would ensure the livelihoods of future generations in the region.
Dr Muldoon concluded his presentation with a short video produced by the ABC Australia’s Catalyst Program entitled Borneo Live Reef Fish Trade
