another coral ban on the table

[ctenophore]

http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/us-considers-endangered-species-protection-82-stony-coral-species

 

Here we go again, just like HR 669 last year. If one of these ever slips through, those boring turbinarias, acros, or galaxeas will get a whole lot more valuable.

[Coral Hind]

Wow, if that law gets passed the greenhouse becomes even more critical. Thanks for sharing!

[lanman]

Except - even interstate shipment would be illegal, and you would need a federal license for each species you keep.

 

bob

[ctenophore]

Except - even interstate shipment would be illegal, and you would need a federal license for each species you keep.

 

bob

The burden of proof of species should be on the government. I don't see that getting enforced very easily, although the headaches of dealing with all the bureaucracy might not make it worthwhile to be in business. If something like this were to go down, I would probably just turn my greenhouse into one big reef pool, swim in it and enjoy my coral, and go back to software. Unless there is a provision for domestic aquaculture in the bill, in which case I would be in a pretty good position.

 

What's worrisome about this bill is the angle it takes- it sounds very reasonable to many laypeople (i.e., lawmakers) out there to classify a handful of random coral species as endangered (Turbinaria reniformis??), since all they hear about is how reefs are declining. That, coupled with the difficulty of species identification for many corals, would make importation very costly. Think about getting a box of coral through customs- nearly everything would die while the gov't sat there trying to figure out if you've got an A. aspera or A. nobilis. This would be very bad for the hobby- driving up the price of coral puts it out of reach of many casual hobbyists, which means less people would have the opportunity to learn and love reefs in their own houses.

 

However, considering the (failed) effort it took to even get Banggai cardinals on the endangered list, I doubt anyone will be able to get 80 species of coral put through.

[zygote2k]

I'm all for the ban as long as domestic aquaculture is approved for the same species. They'd be grandfathered in.

[ctenophore]

http://www.reefs.org/forums/topic134794-20.html

 

Some chatter on RDO's industry forum. I think the recent post by Walt Smith's employee here sums things up pretty well for the aquarium industry. Hopefully, sane scientists will prevail here.