[Coral-List] reply to "selling coral" post

Don Baker reefpeace at yahoo.com
Sun Feb 17 04:16:36 EST 2008


Hi James,

The Market is there.....Its not going end.  But we can try to maneuver it to accept ONLY CPF farm raised corals.

Don

"James Cervino PhD." <jcervino at whoi.edu> wrote: Here we go again, back to the "revolving doors of the coral trade" issue again.
Nothing has changed with regards to this industry as Shell-Man and Coral World
right here in the USA operate as a normal business thereby selling massive
amounts of corals as if this were a selling factory to US consumers.

The aquarium industry also remains adamant about selling valuable corals that
are wild collected instead of sticking to a propagated only industry in the
face of all of these informative posts on the coral list that pertain to the
serious loss due to climate change, deforestation, NaCN fishing and nutrient
pollution.

The two most egregious threats to coral reefs that WE can possibly can control
are to BAN the coral importation industry once and for all and not allow corals
that are growing in the wild, in the midst of serious loss due to thermal stress
and diseases, to be imported into the USA.

Lets face it the policy makers of all countries do-not look at coral reefs as a
serious significant resource worth truly saving and protecting.

The other threat, we as a scientific group can influence, are the environmental
advisory committees to the Bahamian Govt. that allows for these types of
developments to take place

http://reearth.org/wp-content/images/2007/10/070201bakers-bay-053.jpg

The Bahamas is calling this "one of the best environmental development projects
they have seen" There comments are as follows: "Baker's Bay will serve as a
model by which all future projects can be assessed and guided."

How can we address these two issues: 1) Banning the importation of wild
collected corals (outside of scientific research) and the developments that
KILL corals as seen in Bimini and Guana Cay? Will there be a session at the
ICRS?




*************************************
Dr. James M. Cervino
Pace University & Visiting Scientist
Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst.
Department of Marine Chemistry
Woods Hole MA.
Cell: 917-620*5287
************************************


Quoting Charles Delbeek :

* Sarah.Friastorres at noaa.gov wrote:
* > Dear coral-listers,
* > in the web site provided by Ed Blume on "selling coral"
* > http://www.steventhornedesign.com/store/front
* > Steven Thorne claims to be the "only licensed UK and European
* > distributor of coral from the Great Australian Barrier Reef". The site
* > clearly has a commercial purpose (=wants to sell the corals).
* >
* > Let's review CITES, the Convention of International Trade in
* > Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna. I think it's appropriate
* > since Australia and all the countries in the European Union (including
* > UK) are members of and have ratified CITES.
* >
* > All stony corals (Scleractinia) are listed under Appendix I CITES,
* > with the exception of coral fossils listed under app. II. For the look
* > of the photographs at the site, it seems they are live (non-fossil
* > corals) that have been killed and cleaned.
* > Appendix I CITES PROHIBITS INTERNATIONAL TRADE in specimens of the
* > species listed because they are in danger of extinction. The only
* > exception are imports of such species for non commercial purposes
* > (i.e. scientific research). Further exceptions apply (Under Article
* > VII) if the corals have been propagated in captivity (which is not the
* > case here).
* >
* > So, what do you suggest should be the next step now?
* >
* > Sarah Frias-Torres, PhD
* > CIMAS-RSMAS University of Miami & MRAG Americas
* >
*
* Unless something has changed recently, I believe that all Scleractinia
* are _*NOT*_ CITES Appendice I animals, they are Appendice II. Therefore
* trade is legal.
*
* http://www.cites.org/eng/app/appendices.shtml
*
* You appear to have misinterpreted the table in the link above.
*
* Aloha!
*
* -
* J. Charles Delbeek M.Sc.
* Aquarium Biologist III
* Waikiki Aquarium
* University of Hawaii
* 2777 Kalakaua Ave.
* Honolulu, HI, 96815
*
* (808) 923-9741 VOICE
* (808) 923-1771 FAX
*
* _______________________________________________
* Coral-List mailing list
* Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
* http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
*
*


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Alternate Email: donbjr95 at hotmail.com

"Dedication and motivated direction in achieving specific goals related to the care and protection of living things is not necessarily a guaranteed formula for success.  Success is, more often than not, a direct result of a person’s passion in addition to the above formula." [Don Baker, Marine Conservationist/Activist, 1998]
       
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