[Coral-List] "Worst places to harvest coral for aquarium trade?"

[Coral Morphologic]

I appreciate the feedback I've gotten from my response. Ron, to try and
answer your question about service companies and other 'interior design'
aquarium installations, you have to stop and consider the economics of the
situation. In many cases the majority of a coral or fish's cost at the
aquarium store is due to the cost of cargo/shipping. Live corals need to be
shipped in water, which is heavy, and thus expensive. They also need to be
shipped ASAP via air cargo or FedEx overnight. Every time they cross an
international border, there are costly customs and wildlife fees which adds
to the cost of an imported fish/coral (be it wild or maricultured). The
bottom line is that no one is making money when the corals or fish die in
transit (except the cargo and airline companies... which puts priority on
fresh cut flowers and dead bodies in caskets over living corals... and who
get paid regardless of whether they arrive alive or dead). So as much as
hobbyists may be passionate about their aquarium friends, it is no small
investment, and thus there is a huge economic incentive to try and keep
them alive. If you are good enough at coral husbandry, it is possible to
reduce those costs (or even profit) by selling frags. Whereas the aquarists
that aren't responsible enough to keep corals alive in their tank usually
give up fairly quickly because of the costs of replacement.

When it comes to hiring an aquarium service company to install and maintain
a tank, most of these clients do not really know (or care about) the
nuances between a true living reef aquarium ecosystem and a saltwater fish
tank decorated with replica corals. As long as 'Dory' and 'Nemo' are
swimming around, that's enough for them. The difference in cost between
setting up and maintaining a reef tank versus a saltwater fish tank is
significant. Particularly on the maintenance end. A saltwater fish tank
might require service only once per week, whereas a truly thriving coral
reef aquarium needs daily attention (and stocking it is super $$$). The
additional equipment, lighting, and additives required to keep corals alive
makes the installation/maintenance costs significantly higher as well. Most
clients, regardless of how deep their pockets are, will balk at weekly
coral replacements if they keep dying in their tank. And as Sarah
mentioned, there are decent coral replicas made for decoration, and many of
the saltwater tanks you see in public utilize them or just live rock. In
fact, up until the turn of the 21st century, almost all 'coral reef'
exhibits at major public aquariums lacked living corals, and relied on
these replicas.

Unfortunately, popular TV shows like 'Tanked' show the public a garnish,
'less than woke' side of the saltwater aquarium hobby, and most reef
aquarists wince when you bring that show up in conversation. Like all
reality tv shows, what it shows the viewer has little bearing on 'reality'
(full disclosure, I've never even been able to sit through a whole
episode). They also deal mostly in saltwater fishtanks with fake corals. We
can get into the weeds discussing the ethics of a saltwater fish tank
versus a living reef aquarium, but unless you are a strict vegan, there
isn't much anyone can say that will make me think that eating a bluefin
tuna is somehow more ethical than trying to keep a wild angelfish alive in
a tank for someone's enjoyment. Yes people need to eat, and the ocean is an
important food source for billions on Earth, but be mindful that most
seafood eaten in the US is at restaurants, and thus is not subsistence for
us. Most of the lobsters harvested in the US are now being shipped to China
to feed their luxury seafood market. Advances in aquaculture are needed in
order to grow both food fish, and also ornamental ones to reduce fishing
pressure on wild reefs. However, the ornamental reef fishery can be
significantly more sustainable than food fishing, which often targets one
large high value species, resulting in overfishing and unnecessary bycatch.
Reef fish are usually caught by hand, are smaller in size (and thus faster
to repopulate), and are extremely diverse. Most tropical fish collectors
are local, and the income from their fishing goes directly into their
communities. Conversely, much of the commercial fishing today is done by
multi-national factory ships that fish in international or another
country's territorial waters. Damaging fishing practices for the aquarium
trade like cyanide fishing still exists, but has been significantly reduced
in recent decades (largely due to industry-promoted awareness campaigns).
Most cyanide caught fish do not survive well for long, so again, not much
economic incentive to continue fishing that way. A bigger problem today is
the cyanide fishing for live fish markets in Asia (these fish don't need to
live as long obviously). I see the Asian seafood and traditional medicine
markets being considerably more damaging to the world's wildlife stocks.

Regardless of what we might think of our capitalist system, there has to be
economic incentive to do anything in order for it to be truly
self-sustaining. That includes the aquarium, dive, and conservation
industries. Until divers feel compelled to be part of the reef restoration
solution and choose to adopt-a-coral, I don't see how eco-tourism is going
to save the reefs. Fortunately, I don't think this is really that hard to
do. Most people have fond memories as a child planting a tree on Earth Day,
and that same enjoyment can be even richer when it comes to restoring an
ecosystem like a reef. My mom 'adopted' a manatee (hi 'Troy'!) for my 10th
birthday and I can say it made a huge impact feeling like I had a
connection to a creature from a place I could only imagine. I can only hope
that anyone that belongs to the Coral List considers 'adopting a coral' as
a gift to a younger family member for their birthday from the CRF or other
restoration non-profit.

Most recreational divers seem to be much more tuned into the charismatic
megafauna than they are with the macroscape of the reef. I don't blame the
dive industry for their slow uptake on the coral mariculture revolution,
but it takes a unified front and strong communication to relay these
opportunities to recreational divers. What CRF is doing is changing the
game, and I see that trickling down into the dive industry starting through
Divers Alert Magazine, and with PADI introducing a coral restoration
specialty. As much as divers race to see 'the last pristine reefs' on Earth
(before the other tourist divers ruin it, right?), we need to instill an
even bigger sense of pride and accomplishment for the recreational divers
who choose restoration over exploring some remote island.

The fisherman who collect these corals and fish should truly be seen as
allies. Many of the Australian corals that are exported are not
'traditional' reef building corals. They are frequently coming from turbid
areas where there is little tourist (or research) diving. I believe that
the government asks these Australian collectors to gather and provide data
to researchers who otherwise have little access to these oddball
sites/species. The Acroporas shipped from Australia are usually only the
species that aren't maricultured in Indonesia (which ship and survive
significantly better than wild Acros). Rather than focusing on an outright
ban, anyone concerned about over-collection of Australian corals should
instead support initiatives that promote closed system aquaculture or
ocean-based mariculture, such that eventually the need to export their wild
corals will dwindle. Tropical North Queensland could develop a sustainable
industry from one of its most irreplaceable and imperiled natural
resources. Any breakthroughs in ornamental coral aquaculture should be seen
as equally beneficial to coral restoration allies. Currently, the most
economic incentive to develop these techniques is coming from the private
hobby sector, but once developed, such aquacultured Australian corals could
be grown for eventual restoration/conservation/research use.

Last thing I'll mention is that until very recently, there have been few
coral research institutions that offer any courses or training in
closed-system coral aquaculture. My experience in the early 2000's (at UM
and JCU) is that the aquaculture departments and coral biology departments
don't really overlap. Aquaculture classes focus almost exclusively on food
fish production. And coral biology departments don't really teach captive
care requirements. Maintenance of lab tanks is often pawned off to
undergrads/interns who have even less of an understanding or interest. This
isn't a recipe for good coral science. It is my hope that we will see
institutions offering coral aquaculture accreditation courses so that
biologists can perform closed-system research with the confidence to
understand and eliminate the myriad of variables that can otherwise impact
coral growth/health in aquarium-based studies. I am hopeful that the
recently opened National Coral Reef Institute up the road at Nova
Southeastern in Dania Beach, FL and the Florida Aquarium's Apollo Beach
coral nurseries will be part of that sea change that enables coral
biologists with aquacultural skills to last a lifetime. From what I
understand there is a new coral aquaculture research base opening in
Townsville, Australia. This is exciting news, and I hope that the knowledge
gained from these new high-tech, scientist-led facilities will be shared
with all to ensure that corals will thrive in the wild and captivity for
centuries to come.

Cheers,
Colin Foord
Coral Morphologic



On Fri, Apr 7, 2017 at 12:00 PM, <coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. 2017 AMLC Scientific Conference - poster abstracts        deadline
>       (Lewis, Cynthia)
>    2. Re: Response: "Worst places to harvest coral for aquarium
>       trade?" (Sander Scheffers)
>    3. Further response: Worst places to harvest coral for       aquarium
>       trade? (Russell Kelley BYOGUIDES)
>    4. Re: Coral-List Digest, Vol 104, Issue 5 (Ron Hill (NOAA Federal))
>    5. Worst places to harvest coral for aquarium trade? (Damien Beri)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2017 21:17:06 +0000
> From: "Lewis, Cynthia" <cynthialewis at usf.edu>
> Subject: [Coral-List] 2017 AMLC Scientific Conference - poster
>         abstracts       deadline
> To: "members at lists.amlc-carib.org" <members at lists.amlc-carib.org>,
>         "GCFINET at LISTSERV.GCFI.ORG" <GCFINET at LISTSERV.GCFI.ORG>,
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>
> Marine Science in a Changing Climate
> Greetings everyone!
> Tomorrow, Friday 7 April is the final deadline to submit your abstracts
> for POSTER presentations for the 2017 AMLC Scientific Conference in Merida,
> Yucatan, Mexico
> http://www.amlc-carib.org/meetings/2017/2017.html
>
> More conference updates:
> Our opening plenary speaker will be Dr. Ernesto Weil. He is Professor of
> Coral Reef Biology & Ecology and Systematics at the University of Puerto
> Rico, Mayaguez. We are looking forward to his talk on Coral Reefs in a
> Changing Sea: "Nature" vs. "Nurture"?
>
> See you in Merida!
>
> Cindy Lewis
> Communications Committee
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2017 02:56:04 +0000
> From: Sander Scheffers <Sander.Scheffers at scu.edu.au>
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Response: "Worst places to harvest coral for
>         aquarium        trade?"
> To: Russell Kelley BYOGUIDES <russell at byoguides.com>
> Cc: Coral List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Message-ID: <4E0C87E2-9C0C-41DF-89FC-72964B6B765A at scu.edu.au>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Hi Russell,
>
> Interesting story. Do you have data to support your claim that most corals
> from the GBR are collected from "inter reef areas"?
>
> Many Acroporids, the most sought after genus, are shallow water species
> (2-20m) and can not survive those high sediment and low light conditions.
>
> Also from own experience, finding other hard corals on those deeper
> (35-50m) sand flats, is like finding a needle in a haystack.
>
> Collecting coral and selling them on straight after 3 days is not
> sustainable, as I believe there is a 200 ton combined live coral collection
> license per year for the GBR, please correct me if I am wrong. Let alone
> "live rock" collection.
>
> Farming coral is a more sustainable solution I believe.
>
> Kind regards, Sander
>
> Dr. Sander Scheffers
>
> Senior Lecturer (Hoogleraar), School of Environment, Science &
> Engineering, Southern Cross University
>
> Honorary Research Fellow, University of Queensland, QLD, Australia
>
> Associate Researcher, Caribbean Institute for Biodiversity (CARMABI),
> Curacao, Netherlands Antilles
>
> Military Rd, Lismore NSW 2477
> T: 02 6620 3277<tel:02%206620%203277> | E: sander.scheffers at scu.edu.au<ma
> ilto:sander.scheffers at scu.edu.au>
> CRICOS Provider: 01241G
>
> On 6 Apr 2017, at 22:26, Russell Kelley BYOGUIDES <russell at byoguides.com
> <mailto:russell at byoguides.com>> wrote:
>
>
> Hello Damien
>
> I was intrigued and a little troubled to read your post...  "Worst places
> to harvest coral for aquarium trade?? ?.which singled out Australian coral
> collecting as a particular problem in the great and good fight to conserve
> the world's reefs. First, by way of background, and in the interest of full
> disclosure, I am author of the Indo Pacific Coral Finder and I run coral ID
> training workshops around the world including for members of the coral
> collecting industry in Australia with whom I am in occasional contact. I
> have also participated in the Queensland Coral Fishery Ecological Risk
> Assessment  - a state government process which regulates the collection of
> corals within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. (Queensland is an
> Australian state.)
>
> In your post to Coral List you rightly raise concerns about coral
> collecting which in some parts of the world is a smash and grab exercise.
> However your statement... "As I will be operating essentially in "enemy
> territory" vouching for people not to buy things like Australian corals
> (which can be the most expensive and profitable) I would like as much
> scientific backing as possible.?  ...is profoundly ill-informed.
>
> The Queensland coral fishery is the most regulated of any I can think of.
> It is a licensed fishery, with a modest, science based collection quota
> spread across a vast geographic range. The coral collectors have to comply
> with state, federal and international regulations. Much, perhaps most, of
> the coral collected does not come from the shallow water ?reef? as people
> know it from pictures of divers, corals and swarms of fish. Rather it comes
> from the Great Barrier Inter-Reef - thousands of square kilometres of soft
> sediment habitats where collectors are literally able to exercise the
> option of never collecting twice in the same place.
>
> So your blanket statement - "Understandably any harvesting of live coral
> is detrimental when the corals are directly removed from a reef.? -
> dismisses the hard work and good faith of all of those in government and
> industry who are ?doing the right thing? in planning, managing and
> participating in a sustainable coral collecting industry. And your urging
> for people? "not to buy things like Australian corals (which can be the
> most expensive and profitable)? ...shows you are unaware of: (a) this well
> managed, regulated, sustainable fishery, and, (b) the fact that price does
> not necessarily equate with profit. Sustainability costs money. In my view
> you should be steering aquarists towards purchasing corals from these
> sources - passionately.
>
> You ask for the Coral List community to:  "Please provide me with any
> articles, data, or videos of proof to such destructive attributes of live
> coral harvesting.?  ?and I am sure that people will be able to send you
> examples from the many unregulated fisheries spread around the Coral
> Triangle. However, to my knowledge, as an observer of the industry,
> Australia is not among them. Instead let me point you to PROVISION REEF the
> organisation that represents the coral collecting industry in
> Queensland...  http://www.provisionreef.org.au  ? You might also want to
> contact the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority for further
> information about coral collecting and what it takes to run a highly
> regulated, multi-user marine park.
>
> Finally, you ask:   ?"how can aquarists confirm their corals are as
> sustainably harvested as possible??  ?I would suggest you direct your
> efforts towards persuading the aquarium industry to promote transparent
> supply chains that expose which livestock (corals and fish) come from
> regulated / well managed fisheries. Only then will the customer be free to
> make a sustainable choice and your energies will not have been spent
> attacking people who are doing the right thing.
>
> Russell
>
>
>
>
>
> Russell Kelley
> russell at byoguides.com<mailto:russell at byoguides.com> <mailto:
> russell at byoguides.com>
>
> Manager: BYOGUIDES (Be Your Own Guide)
> Author: Reef Finder <http://www.byoguides.com/reeffinder/> - the world?s
> first searchable underwater ID smart guide to reef life
> Author: Indo Pacific Coral Finder <http://www.byoguides.com/coralfinder/>
> - the world?s first searchable underwater ID smart guide to corals
> Subscribe to Dr Flotjet?s Ocean Literacy Newsletter <
> http://www.byoguides.com/subscribe/>
>
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> www.coralhub.info<http://www.coralhub.info> <http://www.coralhub.info/>
> www.russellkelley.info<http://www.russellkelley.info> <
> http://www.russellkelley.info/>
>
>
> Int. + 61 (0) 7 47804380 ph.
> Int. + 61 (0) 419 716730 mob.
> P.O. Box 1859, Townsville, 4810, AUSTRALIA
> ABN 66208215206
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> russellkelley at mac.com>
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>
> Writer, project manager, television producer, science communication
> consultant.
>
> Program Director
> Coral Identification Capacity Building Program
>
> Adjunct Senior Lecturer
> College of Marine and Environmental sciences
> James Cook University
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2017 20:29:42 +1000
> From: Russell Kelley BYOGUIDES <russell at byoguides.com>
> Subject: [Coral-List] Further response: Worst places to harvest coral
>         for     aquarium trade?
> To: Coral List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Message-ID: <0F3CCF12-E5C5-4A35-B2FF-E69413F825BF at byoguides.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset=utf-8
>
>
>
>
> Good day Sander
>
> Thanks for the follow up. To your questions...
>
>
> Hi Russell,
>
> Interesting story. Do you have data to support your claim that most corals
> from the GBR are collected from "inter reef areas??
>
>
>
> To be clear I said, "Much, perhaps most, of the coral collected does not
> come from the shallow water ?reef? as people know it from pictures of
> divers, corals and swarms of fish.?
>
> While I know this to be true anecdotally from my ID training and site
> visits to coral collectors, I decided to ring a couple of geographically
> widely separated Queensland collectors this afternoon and ask them: one
> quoted the ratio of 60 / 40 (inter-reef / reef collection ratio), the other
> was 50 / 50.
>
>
>
>
>
> Many Acroporids, the most sought after genus, are shallow water species
> (2-20m) and can not survive those high sediment and low light conditions.
>
> While the genus Acropora / Montipora are sort after by aquarists so too
> are many other genera: Cycloseris, Catalaphyllia, Scolymia, Acanthastrea,
> Echinophyllia, Acanthophyllia, Trachyphylllia, Goniopora, Turbinaria etc.
> many of which have low light/ sediment rejecting species with the kind of
> colours and behaviours aquarists enjoy.  If you trawl around a variety of
> aquarium community  sites you?ll see it?s not all about Acroporids.
>
>
>
>
> Also from own experience, finding other hard corals on those deeper
> (35-50m) sand flats, is like finding a needle in a haystack.
>
> I have to disagree with you here. The Great Barrier Inter-Reef is a vast
> and variable thing - it?s estimated to be about 210 000 square kilometres
> out of the 344 400 sq. km GBR Marine park. It?s ecology and biology is best
> described as patchy. When the GBR Marine Park was rezoned around 2004 the
> science described ~70 bioregions spread over the 2000km length of the GBR -
> basically a reflection of the various combinations mud / sand / current /
> light and coastal influence possible in this vast system. Inter-reefal
> corals can be found anywhere in the system and it would be a mistake to
> think that there is a bias to 35-50m.
>
> There are distinctive coral communities on the inter-tidal flats of the
> coast / rocky islands, in the inshore muck of shallow costal bays, around
> inshore islands, between the reefs on sediments, between the reef on
> patches or "isolates", between the reefs on submerged shoals, and, between
> the reefs in high, medium and low current flows. The coral collectors know
> what to look for by a combination of context, depth, sounder texture and
> have no trouble finding them. Though they avoid the deeper reaches for
> practical workplace health reasons. (Indeed it's hard to find 50m depth
> except in the southern third of the GBR Marine park.) In my experience,
> while the coral collectors may not be up on the latest literature, they
> know a lot more about what-lives-where across that 210 000 sq. km. of the
> inter-reef than scientists like me.
>
>
>
>
> Collecting coral and selling them on straight after 3 days is not
> sustainable, as I believe there is a 200 ton combined live coral collection
> license per year for the GBR, please correct me if I am wrong. Let alone
> "live rock" collection.
>
> The coral collectors I spoke with where puzzled by the "3 day? figure you
> quote - saying more typical holding times are 3 weeks and sometimes months
> (because they range across vast areas they will bring in stock and hold it
> to minimise fuel costs).
>
> Yes the industry has a combined 200 tonne quota which includes 60 tonnes
> of "specialty corals? and 140 tonnes of ?other?. Bizarrely "other" includes
> Acropora, Pocillopora, the ?softs? and live rock. Apparently this is a
> historical hangover relating to the evolution the industry from the days of
> the ?curio trade?). To my mind the coral take seems trivial spread across
> the 210 000 square kilometres of "inter-reef" and 134 400 sq. km of ?reef?.
> Particularly when one considers coral eating fish like the bumphead
> parrotfish are estimated to process 5 tonne / year. (Bellwood et al. 2003).
> The GBR is the kind of place where you can still see these massive fish in
> schools of 50 - so it?s conceivable that in one year, one school could eat
> more coral on one reef than the coral collecting industry processes from
> the entire GBR Marine Park. (Bellwood DR, Hoey AS, Choat JH (2003) Limited
> functional redundancy in high diversity systems: resilience and ecosystem
> function on coral reefs <htt
>  p://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1461-0248.2003.00432.x>. Ecology Letters
> 6:281-285).
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Farming coral is a more sustainable solution I believe.
>
> I agree that coral farming is an important development and aquarists
> themselves are fragging their own corals like there is no tomorrow.
> However, based on my observations and experience of the Queensland Coral
> Fishery, the Environmental Risk Assessment process and what I know about
> the Great Barrier Reef I can not agree with Damien?s stance. More to the
> point, as I stated in my original coral list post, I believe his views are
> ill-informed and disrespectful of the people ?doing the right? in a well
> managed coral collecting industry.
>
> For the time being on the Great Barrier Reef at least, for coral farming
> to win, it doesn?t mean wild coral collecting has to lose.
>
> Respectfully
>
> Russell
>
>
> Some background:
>
> My Blue Highway publication sought to popularise the Great Barrier
> Inter-reef via a simple schema:  http://www.russellkelley.info/
> print/the-blue-highway/ <http://www.russellkelley.info
> /print/the-blue-highway/>
>
> See also: CAPPO, M. & KELLEY, R. 2001 Connectivity in the Great Barrier
> Reef World Heritage Area-an overview of pathways and processes. In
> Wolanski, E. Oceanographic processes of coral reefs: physical and
> biological links in the Great Barrier Reef: 161-187. CRC Press, New York.
>
> A more recent rendering of the 70 biophysical regions down to 9 non-reefal
> habitats but the Seabed Biodiversity Project and was published in: Pears R.
> et.al 2012 Ecological risk assessment of the East Coast Trawl Fishery in
> the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Technical report, Great Barrier Reef
> Marine Park Authority.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Russell Kelley
> russell at byoguides.com <mailto:russell at byoguides.com>
>
> Manager: BYOGUIDES (Be Your Own Guide)
> Author: Reef Finder <http://www.byoguides.com/reeffinder/> - the world?s
> first searchable underwater ID smart guide to reef life
> Author: Indo Pacific Coral Finder <http://www.byoguides.com/coralfinder/>
> - the world?s first searchable underwater ID smart guide to corals
> Subscribe to Dr Flotjet?s Ocean Literacy Newsletter <
> http://www.byoguides.com/subscribe/>
>
> www.byoguides.com <http://www.byoguides.com/>
>
> www.russellkelley.info <http://www.russellkelley.info/>
>
>
> Int. + 61 (0) 7 47804380 ph.
> Int. + 61 (0) 419 716730 mob.
> P.O. Box 1859, Townsville, 4810, AUSTRALIA
> ABN 66208215206
> GMT + 10 hours
> Email: russellkelley at mac.com <mailto:russellkelley at mac.com>
> Skype: wireruss
>
> Writer, project manager, television producer, science communication
> consultant.
>
> Program Director
> Coral Identification Capacity Building Program
>
> Adjunct Senior Lecturer
> College of Marine and Environmental sciences
> James Cook University
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2017 09:56:34 -0500
> From: "Ron Hill (NOAA Federal)" <ron.hill at noaa.gov>
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Coral-List Digest, Vol 104, Issue 5
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Message-ID: <8f1bafaa-e89f-53f7-5920-a9f1c25caf4d at noaa.gov>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
>
> Colin,
>
> You make some very good points about folks who keep aquaria and spend
> time and money in pursuit of coral aquaculture.  I know some of those
> folks and agree they can produce ecological insights and benefits.
> However, as with the discussion of divers and the dive industry being
> inherently different - there are also a very large number of people
> worldwide - who simply keep aquaria to look at and enjoy.  This includes
> companies that set-up, stock, and manage aquaria for businesses and
> individuals.  Many fish and corals die in these tanks and are simply
> replaced to maintain the aesthetic beauty of the tank without regard to
> the ecological costs.  Any idea how many of these types of tanks and
> fish tank people there are worldwide compared to those who actively
> culture corals, etc?  Seems this is an important statistic to discuss in
> the stated context of harvest of wild corals.
>
> Regards,
>
> ron
> > Message: 5
> > Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2017 13:11:06 -0400
> > From: Coral Morphologic <coralmorphologic at gmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Worst places to harvest coral for aquarium
> >       trade?
> > To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > Message-ID:
> >       <CADNNdUrcN0OxCZNYmPKcNHT5v70Z_R1fmpUUQ5gODz1b4z9GEA at mail.g
> mail.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
> >
> > Damien and Sarah,
> >
> > Most hobbyists who are aquaculturing corals in their homes feel very
> > passionate about preserving the coral reefs, and want to help stem the
> > losses. Captive corals don't get 'loved to death'... if they are
> > properly-cared for, they will grow until they need to be pruned (like a
> > plant), and then those fragments can be given/traded/sold to another
> > hobbyist to perpetuate the wild lineage. Anyone investing thousands of
> > hours of time, and then thousands of dollars of money into keeping a
> > miniature coral reef ecosystem in their homes should be seen as an ally,
> > not enemy. Furthermore, the information and understanding that hobbyists
> > have provided about coral husbandry over the past 3 decades has provided
> > scientists a major base to work off in the 21st century. Don't forget
> that
> > the first/most important coral restoration non-profit, the Coral
> > Restoration Foundation, was founded by an ornamental marine life
> collector
> > and aquaculturist. Not by a scientist, or an environmental group.
> Sometimes
> > the best ideas come from unlikely allies and outside the box thinking.
> >
> >
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2017 10:59:29 -0400
> From: Damien Beri <beridl at g.cofc.edu>
> Subject: [Coral-List] Worst places to harvest coral for aquarium
>         trade?
> To: Coral -List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Cc: coralmorphologic at gmail.com, Sander.Scheffers at scu.edu.au,
>         matthew.eric.clark at gmail.com
> Message-ID: <536777DF-2001-4686-8DCB-B2EA1A71616C at g.cofc.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
>
> Thank you to all contributors of this email, there is so much to say but I
> will speak on the points I feel have resonated the most.
>
> Just to mention prior: I am still actively waiting for some intel (data,
> photos, videos) on areas, regions, operations that have been negatively
> effected by live coral harvesting. So far I have heard only good things.
>
> Also to clarify:  My reference to ?enemy? is not geared towards the coral
> trade, aquarists, or suppliers. I owe much knowledge to working in the
> aquarium industry with corals. The enemy I am referring to are the hidden,
> unsustainable players who take part in the trade daily and profit heavily.
> Most people would agree there is a lot of sustainable, as well as
> unsustainable Coral Harvesting taking place.  It is hard to identify those
> players respectfully, it is becoming more clear through this email chain
> how hard this truly is.
>
> Matthew Clark, you raise a very valid point.  The source's of aquarium
> corals that shops utilize are almost always kept secret.  Even if you are a
> buyer who just purchased a beautiful colony, and ask what the source of the
> coral is, the shop will normally tell you a region if they are aware of
> it.  They will almost certainly not reveal their supplier specifically even
> if you ask (I am sure there are a select few who do).  This would be road
> block #1 for even the most avid sustainable aquarist.
>
> Russell Kelley, Sadly, from this email chain I have received no images,
> data, or proof of any destructive practices which is startling because you
> would think this is the place to find them.   You are very right,
> "persuading the aquarium industry to promote transparent supply chains?
> would highlight who these sustainable, and destructive players are.   How
> would someone persuade the aquarium industry as a whole to do such a
> thing?  I don?t think thats possible, it needs to come from a bottom up
> stance, and from CITES, inducing sustainable mariculture and aquaculture as
> a standard and the only method allowed.  This would drastically raise
> prices of Corals for the aquarium trade, but then again its all relative
> and a price humans affix.  Their ecological value is not incorporated into
> these prices.  It would also exponentially increase the cost of LPS
> corals.  (Scolymia, Cynaria, Lobophyllia, Heliofungia, Acanthastrea,
> Cataphyllia)
>
> Ryan Donnelly & Russell Kelley
> I am sorry, but the types of Soft Fleshy Corals (LPS) that come out of
> Australia for the Aquarium trade are extremely slow growing, taking on
> average 3-5, even 10 years to even obtain a sellable size! (Scolymia,
> Cynaria, Lobophyllia, Heliofungia, Acanthastrea, Cataphyllia) to name the
> common Australian LPS exports.  I find it hard to rely on a report once
> every 3 years conducted most likely with minimal funding, could
> successfully monitor these animals, especially over the vast range they
> inhabit.  I understand its a natural resource which should be governed
> locally, but as the current state of the GBR shows, local governance has
> had little effect on halting actions which further deteriorate the GBR
> water quality, ecology, and resilience.  Receiving a D, several years in a
> row on your own report card for GBR water quality, removing all mentions of
> your name from UN reports, and still approving plans to build large coal
> mines upstream from the GBR doesn?t sound good to me, and
>   does not instill trust.  Also, just because Australia?s regulations are
> actually in place for coral harvesting, and they maintain quotas, which is
> far better than most countries does not mean they are correct.  Just
> because your ahead of the crowd, does not mean you are on the right path.
>
> ^^^^^^^^^
> Please explain what modifications to harvesting have occurred given the
> events taken place in the past 2 years?
>
>
> Sarah, while I understand there are alternatives to utilizing live
> aquarium subjects for display, this would completely deny the right for
> newer generations to learn the valuable lessons live corals can teach
> them.  I am sure there is a lot of valuable information live coral
> specimens taught you that no dried specimen ever could.  I am sure you used
> those lessons in such a way to make a huge difference for Coral Reefs in
> certain parts of the world, Thank You!
>
> Colin, You have been an outstanding advocate for the beauty and importance
> of Coral.  I encourage everyone to watch some of the video's Colin has
> produced through Coral Morphologic because they show Coral in a light that
> is rarely seen and appreciated by those outside the hobby/field. The
> ability to learn to grow corals in aquariums has granted innovation and
> discoveries that would possibly be nonexistent today.  The knowledge gained
> by keeping these delicate animals alive in aquarium systems is
> interdisciplinary on every level.  Learning how to reliably induce sexual
> spawning in an aquarium would be the next greatest leap for active reef
> restoration, aside from reducing CO2 emissions!
>
>
>
>
> Thanks,
> Damien Beri
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
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>
> End of Coral-List Digest, Vol 104, Issue 6
> ******************************************
>