An incredible 80% of tropical marine fish sold worldwide come from the Philippines. A massive diversity of fish, combined with cheap labour and export-friendly air freight costs, mean a veritable rainbow of species pours out of Philippine waters and into aquariums around the world each year.
Apart from the obvious damage to local fish populations and ecosystems, many of these fish die from severe liver damage within days of being transported. Such damage is common in marine creatures poisoned by sodium cyanide - a chemical first introduced in the Philippines in the 1960's to stun fish and now widely used as an easy (and seemingly harmless) way to catch large numbers of fish for both domestic and foreign markets.
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