Lowman Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_101409_news_coral_theft_conviction.218b19087.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef165 Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Interesting! whare did they all go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oxx155 Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 The guy is not from Oregon, he is from Germany. Portland was the cheapest port for him to arrive at. He was going to have the container driven to Florida for the convention (I guess hoping to sell it all why he was there). I believe I heard several aquariums (including Georgia) picked up all the corals and fish and gave them a home. I did not hear if the Oregon Coast Aquarium received anything or not. He almost got away with it, but thankfully some diligence and a good agent caught the guy. Hopefully they will catch who he was working with and shut down those that ravaged the reef where they got everything. I have read a couple of stories about this over the last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveweast Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 You guys are way off base here....this was news back in February. This whole story revovled around our own Pacific Coast Imports who had the feds knock at his Woodburn place asking about his recent shipment of coral media. This whole fuss was about the coral bones that we use for reactor media. Apparently, PCI ordered a new shipment of coral bones (as he had in the past) from the guy named in the article. PCI took the container sized delivery as usual....but Gunter shipped without proper documentation......and the coral bones were too large. These were land mined coral bones we're talking about here....no live frags....no live corals....no water of any kind. I had a nice long personal talk with the owner of PCI (Steve Weeks) over he whole episode last March. PCI completely cooperated with the feds and no charges were brought against PCI.....but, the whole thing was over land mined coral bones that we use for reactor media. The media made it sound like Gunter had 40 tons of live corals dripping from his pockets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveweast Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Here's the story that I recieved from the owner of PCI that I posted on another board last Spring..... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just to put a bow on this thread....I had a long talk with Steve Weeks today....the owner of PCI. Here's basically the story... 1) A few years ago, PCI ordered a container of land mined reactor media from Gunter......who apparently claims to own several of these land mines throughout SE Asia. The source for this shipment was Vietnam. After a year of working through the stock, it was time for PCI to order again. 2) PCI paid up front as usual....but, it took over a year to fill the order. Gunter then called to say he was able to finally fill the order of media....but the source would be PI. PCI didn't care about the source. PCI did not know that coral pieces (land mined or not) over 30mm was illegal from PI since he regularly ordered sand from there (and still has some). PCI only deals in dry goods and the closest thing to the wet side of the trade that he deals with is reactor media. 3) When the container from PI reached Portland, it was turned away since the order was packaged in wood crates.... which would require fumigation. The container was sent back to PI. 4) To make up for the error, Gunter promised two shipments one month apart at a reduced rate. 5) The first container of the replacement shipments arrived at PCI.....along with feds, DFW, local police, etc with a full search warrant of all of PCI. After several full cavaity searches, they realized that PCI was not doing anything illegal and was caught up in Gunter's violations. They wanted Gunter and had been watching him for awhile. 6) PCI was still receiving illegal goods and was in violation of the law....but, no charges would be brought if PCI could lead them to Gunter. Of course, PCI agreed. The feds seized the container. 7) Gunter was notified that the next shipment was ready to be recieved and that a PCI assistant would be handling the transaction (the feds). The feds then took charge of the second shipment sting operation and built their case from the inside with PCI's help. 8) PCI is in the clear.....but is still out about $ 30K that he'll never see again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveweast Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 And here's the original story from the Oregonian.... http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1234583704198930.xml&coll=7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveweast Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 This event....while still illegal....was over land mined reactor media. The violation here was importing coral fragments over the minimum size (whether live or dead) from the Philipines.......no live anything was invovled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-3 Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Thanks for the lowdown Steve. Glad to see that Steve didnt get in any trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oxx155 Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 You guys are way off base here....this was news back in February. This whole story revovled around our own Pacific Coast Imports who had the feds knock at his Woodburn place asking about his recent shipment of coral media. This whole fuss was about the coral bones that we use for reactor media. Apparently' date=' PCI ordered a new shipment of coral bones (as he had in the past) from the guy named in the article. PCI took the container sized delivery as usual....but Gunter shipped without proper documentation......and the coral bones were too large. These were land mined coral bones we're talking about here....no live frags....no live corals....no water of any kind. I had a nice long personal talk with the owner of PCI (Steve Weeks) over he whole episode last March. PCI completely cooperated with the feds and no charges were brought against PCI.....but, the whole thing was over land mined coral bones that we use for reactor media. The media made it sound like Gunter had 40 tons of live corals dripping from his pockets.[/quote'] I apologize that I was wrong, I guess the news I read was incorrect. Its funny that none of those news websites updated their article with any truth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveweast Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 To me.....the real interesting part of the story is how the media warped a mundane violation into a stealing of the world's reef event. We all know as reefers how ridiculous it all seemed from the beginning......importation of 40 tons of live coral ? on a container ship that takes weeks to get to the USA ? and the corals would survive ? maybe for the curio trade....but, really ??? Each article revealled snipets of truth....like an agent's saying "some pieces were as large as my thumb".....or "fingered sized" coral pieces.....or "the corals were in 50lb sacks". We all know that no one would be smuggling in vast amounts of live frags (the logistics would be impossible....let alone the distribution).....but, the media needed a sensational story. Thanks Bob for posting the results of all this.....I guess the punishment fit the crime with a 35K fine and probation. Imagine what the sentencing would have been if it were really 40 tons of live coral though ? The big loser in all this was PCI who was out the cost of his original order. This was broadcast last February in Seattle. Notice how they show living reefs....turtles....live and dead coral....and build this story into something sensational......when all that it was was land mined coral fragments from a reef that hasn't seen water in thousands of years. http://www.nwcn.com/sharedcontent/northwest/environment/stories/NW_021309ENV-coral-smuggler-ks.12506c1f.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewie Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 This was broadcast last February in Seattle. Notice how they show living reefs....turtles....live and dead coral....and build this story into something sensational......when all that it was was land mined coral fragments from a reef that hasn't seen water in thousands of years. http://www.nwcn.com/sharedcontent/northwest/environment/stories/NW_021309ENV-coral-smuggler-ks.12506c1f.html lol! The media does that with just about every "story". Would you be more interested in a story that reads "dog bites man" or "man bites dog" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finch6013 Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 oooh ooh!!! man bites dog!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 "Coral pleads guilty in Oregon to German smuggling" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 That would be an intriguing headline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveweast Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 "Coral pleads guilty in Oregon to German smuggling" make that...."Coral rubble pleads guilty in Oregon to smuggling endangered 40 ton German" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowpunk Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 make that...."Coral rubble pleads guilty in Oregon to smuggling endangered 40 ton German" now we got a story....(plotting) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Is this the same story? http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/german_importer_charged_with_s.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveweast Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Is this the same story? http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/german_importer_charged_with_s.html It is indeed. It looks like it finally boiled down to the real violation.....a paper work failure. It was also a size problem....had those coral bones been less than 30mm, it would have been fine....or if it had come from Vietnam instead of PI, it would have been fine. The 50 lb bags were still bags of dried coral bones (like the Shuran reactor media).....not a live endangered species......but, at least the story is getting closer to reality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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