Dr Matthew Bond, who took over as Chief Executive of the Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association (OATA) this year, makes a plea to the industry: “Support our bricks and mortar shops’ in 2026.

What’s your abiding memory of 2025 from a pet industry perspective?

2025 has been a bit of blur for me! I have spent much of the year shadowing our former Chief Executive Dominic Whitmee in readiness for a seamless handover when he retired in October. So my abiding memory of this year is how busy it’s been juggling so many issues, from keeping on top of the day-to-day workload, responding to issues and all the while making sure OATA is representing the ornamental aquatics industry. But no doubt that’s just the same for many in the pet industry. 

Is there one moment/experience that stands out for you?

My trip to Uzbekistan for the CITES Conference of the Parties. These happen every two years and yet again it was obvious there is still a significant force within the CITES community working to block sustainable trade in wildlife on pure ideological grounds – even though CITES is all about how to enable wildlife trade in a sustainable way. These meetings are always hard work trying to get the industry voice heard on the matter that are important to us. But the one silver lining I drew from the fortnight is how well the global pet trade coordinated to provide expertise, as well as highlight the inconsistences and lack of evidence in proposals relating to a wide range of pet species, from stony coral to tarantulas. It was a privilege to work with some really dedicated people with years of experience and I think we're well placed to push back on the anti-pet keeping ideology spreading both within and outside of CITES.

What are the challenges facing the pet trade in 2026?

There’s no doubt it’s extremely tough on the High Street. We all need to support our bricks and mortar shops because we know that the vast majority of money spent in the fishkeeping hobby is spent in these shops. And they are key places for providing face-to-face advice and guidance to pet owners. It is worrying that in the past decade there’s been a 22% decline in the number of retailers selling pet fish. That should worry all businesses, from manufacturers to importers and wholesalers, who supply retailers. What happens to our industry if people can no longer visit a shop and be inspired by watching beautiful fish?

How will you and OATA be approaching the year ahead?

We have a ‘new look’ team at OATA with myself taking over as Chief Executive, our new Office and Finance Manager Dawn and Scientific Support Officer Leigh, and Emily getting a promotion to Scientific and Technical Adviser. Only our PR & Parliamentary Officer Pauline is an ‘old hand’, with more than a decade in her part-time role. So we are actually approaching 2026 with a lot of energy! I really want to spread the word about the work we’re doing to promote and protect the industry, both online and also by getting out to visit aquatic businesses to better understand the issues they’re facing. I’m also keen to grow OATA’s membership and improve our membership offer. And we’re planning a review of our industry training programmes and how we can add to our guidance and caresheets. We have lots planned!

Is there one thing that the government (or outside agencies) could do to support the pet industry?

Reject calls for positive lists! There are elections coming in 2026 to Scotland and Wales and no doubt animal rights organisations will be pushing for political parties to include positive lists in their manifestos. With animal welfare being a devolved issue, pushing to get a positive list, which seeks to limit the animals we can keep as pets, in one part of the UK will be seen as a wedge to open opportunities to push this approach across the UK.

What are your hopes for 2026?

There’s lots I would wish for, like the cost of living to come down so that people have more money to spend on their pets, including fish! I’m also hoping that the situation at the UK Border will improve, to make it much less bureaucratic, time-consuming and expensive to import aquatic species. 

And what should the pet industry look forward to?

We hope OATA members will look forward to our new Members’ Webinar Programme, launching in 2026! 

For more infromaton on OATA visit https://ornamentalfish.org