The aquatic industry is being urged to get behind a special #handsoffmyhobby campaign which has been launched to shout about why people love to keep fish.

The Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association (OATA) is warning that popular tropical marine and freshwater fish, corals and invertebrates could be under threat if a European lobbying group for animals is successful in its #votes4animals lobbying campaign in the run-up to the European elections being held in May.

Eurogroup for Animals, which is based in Brussels, is asking MEPs to sign a pledge to work towards banning the import of wild caught animals, which could include all types of tropical marine and freshwater fish, corals and invertebrates.

The trade association – which will be lobbying Euro MPs in coming weeks to make sure they hear the other side of the argument – is calling on people power to help in this work by urging companies involved in the tropical and marine species industry to contact MEPs to urge them not to sign the pledge – and tell their customers to do the same.

“We think it’s time that the views of the millions of people who enjoy fish keeping across Europe - and the industry that supports them in their passion – should also be brought to the attention of MEPs,” said OATA Chief Executive Keith Davenport. 

“Currently, MEPs are signing up to a manifesto written by Eurogroup for Animals. While we can all agree that everyone must be concerned about and protect animal welfare, this lobby group goes much further by asking on all political groups to include a call to ‘ban the import of wild-caught animals and restricting the number of exotic species that can be imported and traded in the EU’ in their manifestos.

“Taken to its logical conclusion this would mean you potentially won’t have tropical marine or freshwater fish, corals, soft corals or other invertebrates to sell to your customers. All of these are either wild-caught and/or exotic, which means they’re not native to the UK, so they would no longer be available to sell. 

“We don’t think the industry or its customers are aware of this potential threat. And if we don’t all start speaking up – loudly – for this hobby and industry then it’s could be under real threat. So we need industry to support our #handsoffmyhobby campaign by lobbying MEPs yourself and – perhaps more importantly – sharing the campaign with your customers.” 

What you and your customers can do to support the #handsoffmyhobby campaign:

• Contact the MEPs who have already signed up to the Eurogroup for Animals’ manifesto to ask why they support this document and let them know what the hobby means to you and your customers.
• Contact any candidates for the European Parliament in your area to let them know about our #handsoffourhobby campaign and why you support it.
• You can find the contact details of your local MEP at http://www.europarl.org.uk/en/home.html and the details of those MEPs who have signed up to the Eurogroup for Animals pledge on OATA’s website.
• Like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter or follow our LinkedIn page to find out the latest news on this campaign – and share updates with your fishkeeping customers on your company social media channels and encourage them to share the #handsoffmyhobby campaign with their fishkeeping friends.
• Encourage customers to use the #handsoffmyhobby hashtag on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to share what they’d miss the most from their tank if any wild caught animal ban came into effect.

There’s more information about the #handsoffourhobby campaign on the OATA website here. http://www.ornamentalfish.org/hands-off-my-hobby