List of Protected Coral?

I have been seeing more and more articles on vendors getting busted for buying and selling coral illegally because that coral is under protection. It made me think about buying coral online, or even from local vendors. How am I supposed to know if the coral I am purchasing is safe and legal to purchase?

It led me to wonder if there is a list out there that specifies what coral is under protection, and what areas of the world house reservations for re-growing and protecting these endangered corals. Does anyone know if something like this exists??

See pp29-31 here:

http://www.cites.org/eng/app/2011/E-Dec22.pdf

Appendix I is 'endangered' and illegal to import for commercial purposes. Luckily there isn't anything in our hobby likely to be on this list.

Appendix II is 'threatened' and requires an export permit from the place they're collected- all stony corals (Scleractinia spp.) fall under this designation, as well as some other corals ('blue' corals, organ pipe corals, millepora), some snails (strombus gigas), seahorses/pipefish, and tridacnid clams.

Appendix III require permits for export, but they're not particularly threatened (if I understand the CITES protocol.) The only things in our hobby listed here are one species of sea cucumber and some chinese corals.

edited to add: Appendices

I just found that link myself.

Thanks so much for the link, Ashlar! I wasn't finding anything helpful when I tried looking myself.

So, most of us have stony corals in our tank that fall into group 2 - am I understanding things correctly that to export these corals a permit is required?

Or is that only when exporting from a wild site, once its in aquaculture a permit is no longer required??

That is an interesting question, and I found this..

Coral

While scleractinian corals are CITES listed and require permits etc., aquacultured corals qualify as 'captive bred' and are exempting from CITES regulations, but only if they are certified as grown from second generation cultured stock.

Aha!

http://www.cites.org/eng/com/ac/16/16-12-2.pdf

Which mentions..

Clearly, the methods describe above do not meet the definition of ‘captive bred’ in Resolution Conf.
10.16

Which leads to-

http://www.cites.org/eng/res/all/10/E10-16R11.pdf

.. which leads to..

Text of the Convention

4. Specimens of an animal species included in Appendix I bred in captivity for commercial purposes, or of a plant species included in Appendix I artificially propagated for commercial purposes, shall be deemed to be specimens of species included in Appendix II.

Hrmm.. we aready know they're Appendix II.. Can't find anything directly from CITES, but that could just be my google-fu lacking.

lol - your google-fu has be totally mind boggled!!

So, if it is a wild maricultured colony, CITES would probably consider it wild, and would mean that you could not propogate said coral without a permit as it would not be documented second generation?

But then again, how the heck do you document second generation???

We are digging into quite an ethical question on this one

Yeah, it is a sticky wicket. I'd love to spend a few minutes chatting with Walt Smith or Bob Fenner about this.

Good news for us is that unless we're shipping frags across international borders, we're pretty safe. It's our LFSs, wholesalers, and distributors who have all the headache.

Originally Posted by Ashlar

Yeah, it is a sticky wicket. I'd love to spend a few minutes chatting with Walt Smith or Bob Fenner about this.

Good news for us is that unless we're shipping frags across international borders, we're pretty safe. It's our LFSs, wholesalers, and distributors who have all the headache.

Its really not that bad..

1)Overseas dealers grow or harvest wild pieces.

2)They send me a list of what they have in stock (After there holding period). Depending on the dealer. Some already pull there CITES or wait till the order has been paid for by me and then pull the CITES.

3)Once the permits have been issued. Its on a plane and in your tanks in two or more days. Depending on if I hold them for any length of time.

Sometimes I get what's available to pull from/on the CITES ahead of time.. So, I can see or request x amount of such and such..

Say the CITES says they can harvest XX amount of Acropora's

My dealers will send me this. Now, I can have an idea of how many they are pulling and what to put on my list.

We send 30 Maxima's to Brazil for a Universtiy Study last June or so. In this case, we had to apply for a Re-Export CITES Permit. Its really no big deal...

These cases are all people that have and or trying to pull livestock in without doing the proper documentation and trying to get odd ball livestock in. They are doing things under the radar and its catching up with them..

So do maricultured / aquacultured corals require CITES certs?

And thanks for joining the conversation!

Originally Posted by Ashlar

So do maricultured / aquacultured corals require CITES certs?

And thanks for joining the conversation!

Pretty much yes. At least, all that I have seen. The local dealers (USA) have there suppliers from overseas pull the permits.. and the USA dealers usually will not show the info on the permit because of the overseas suppliers info.

Now, I receive about 30-50 emails a day from all over the world. All of them are from different suppliers overseas and local (USA) dealers.

Like I said... I can only say pretty much yes.. Because, I don't see some of the local permits.

Originally Posted by Ashlar

And thanks for joining the conversation!

No Prob..

From what I could find (admittedly limited).. one of the 'working groups' on corals from CITES determined that 'captive bred' doesn't fit with fragging- not a sexually reproduced specimen, grown in a 'controlled environment'.

Now if you put out a concrete plate on the reef, let coral larvae settle and grow (first gen), then moved that plate to a 'controlled environment', and had them spawn and settle (second gen)-- *then* you'd have a 'captive bred' specimen.

http://www.cites.org/eng/com/ac/16/16-12-2.pdf

Clearly, the methods describe above do not meet the definition of ‘captive bred’ in Resolution Conf. 10.16 (Rev.) – not only are the specimens usually the product of asexual, rather than sexual, reproduction but the donor colonies are wild, the specimens are not maintained in a closed environment and so on. In many respects, the means of production are more akin to the artificial propagation of plants but the Convention reserves that term strictly for plants alone and, in any case, the definition of that term in Resolution Conf. 11.11 also requires that specimens are cultivated under ‘controlled conditions’. Ranching may be a more appropriate label but even then, the current definition requires that specimens taken from the wild are reared in a ‘controlled environment’. With the exception of corals being propagated by aquarists (usually in importing countries) rearing does not often appear to take place in controlled environments (as defined in Resolution Conf.10.16 (Rev.)). One might then simply describe specimens as being of wild origin but this denies the investment and expertise that has gone into producing cultured corals, which may have the positive benefits of a reduced impact of collection of wild corals on reefs and also the provision of specimens that may be actively sought in the market as being from ecologically friendly sources. The distinction in reported trade between propagated and wild-taken corals is not currently possible (with any degree of accuracy).

I think it's more about proper documentation than taking endangered species. Just like you can't hunt deer without a license. Not that deer are by any means threatened or imperiled, but not getting the proper license is considered poaching and will land your butt in jail.

Originally Posted by spinycheek

I think it's more about proper documentation than taking endangered species. Just like you can't hunt deer without a license. Not that deer are by any means threatened or imperiled, but not getting the proper license is considered poaching and will land your butt in jail.

Yep!

n.m.