german coral thief

[tidalsculpin]

http://www.nwcn.com/sharedcontent/northwest/environment/stories/NW_021309ENV-coral-smuggler-ks.12506c1f.html

 

Did you all see this story?

 

Pretty sad and kinda makes me upset that people are doing this under our noses.

[Smann]

Amazing ,I wonder how you "smuggle" 40 tons of coral

[Algae]

The story said 40 tons of coral. Assuming a portion of it was rock it is still a huge amount. Their site shows it to be under construction. Here is another link, http://www.alibaba.com/member/corapet/aboutus.html that shows where they export. It says, basically everywhere. There is information that they have been doing exporting for 40 years!

The news shows how captive propagation works at the Seattle Aquarium but unfortunately the end of the story shows a reporter with a piece of artificial coral as THE solution for illegal/over harvesting of corals. These kind of criminals, because of there greed and sociopathic behavior, are ruining it for us and giving the public a distorted view of what being a reef keeper is all about.

[wegotjs]

what store was he shipping to in Woodburn?

[steveweast]

That article is very misleading. First of all....the Woodburn importer invovled is PCI.....and the coral invovled is coral bones (used for reactor media)

 

Here's what invovled from PCI's website:

 

http://www.pacificcoastimports.com/product.cfm?sid=97439381V41207141209002W1234659734984P207Y200Y116Y133C73462810L9&p=116&cs=products%2Ecfm%3Fsid%3D97439381V41207141209002W1234659734984P207Y200Y116Y133C73462810L9%26c%3D31%26kys%3D%26pg%3D1

 

 

To NOT be covered under the CITES rules, fragments or sand must be under 30mm and unidentifyable. My guess is that the coral bones were too large (as pictured in the link) or still identifyable. But....the article gives the impression that 40 tons of recently harvested live coral was ripped from the reef......when we're talking about very course sand. Anyway....the feds were after the supplier and not PCI.....who, to the best of my knowledge....cooperated fully with the feds.

[steveweast]

The relevant provisions of CITES are:

 

Conf. 11.10 (Rev. CoP14) which contains definitions. Relevant to

biologists who collect coral samples which were once alive but in the

process of collecting/ preservation are killed, are the definitions of:

 

DEAD CORAL - pieces of coral that are dead when exported, but that may

have been alive when collected, and in which the structure of corallites

(the skeleton of the individual polyp) is still intact; specimens are

therefore identifiable to the level of species or genus.

THESE ARE SUBJECT TO CITES

and

CORAL FRAGMENTS (including gravel and rubble) - unconsolidated fragments

of broken finger-like dead coral and other material between 2 and 30mm

in diameter, which is not identifiable to the level of genus.

THESE ARE NOT SUBJECT TO CITES by virtue of

Conf. 9.6 (Rev.) "coral sand and coral fragments [as defined in the

Annex of Resolution Conf. 11.10 (Rev. CoP14)3] are not considered

readily recognizable and are therefore not covered by the provisions of

the Convention."

 

 

My guess would be that....

 

PCI ordered a container of coral bones for reactor media.....and that the supplier shipped too large of material without a CITES permit.

[WAVES]

I spoke with Steve at some point and he told me the media DOES require CITES and he has had permits in previous shipments. although I know nothing about this one.

[downhill_biker]

We will have to wait and see, but the report definitely makes it sound like these were live corals harvested from the reef.

[WAVES]

We will have to wait and see' date=' but the report definitely makes it sound like these were live corals harvested from the reef.[/quote']

 

Ya its not like the media to make it sound like its worse than it is (laugh)

it wouldnt be much of a story if they actually said what happened.

[JManrow]

I wonder what will happen to that 40 tons of coral? Will it be returned to the reefs? Destroyed? Left to die in the bags?

 

Ideally, it should be donated to a public aquarium propagating coral like Steinhart in San Francisco, or a deserving not-for-profit Marine Aquarium Society like PNWMAS.

[steveweast]

I wonder what will happen to that 40 tons of coral? Will it be returned to the reefs? Destroyed? Left to die in the bags?

 

Ideally, it should be donated to a public aquarium propagating coral like Steinhart in San Francisco, or a deserving not-for-profit Marine Aquarium Society like PNWMAS.

 

 

John....you're really missing the point here....this was NOT a live coral shipment. It was a large grained sand shipment. Here's the same story that was in yesterday's Oregonian that has a bit more detail.

 

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1234583704198930.xml&coll=7

 

Here's a quote from the article:

 

Two shipments reached the Port of Portland last spring, 40 tons of endangered stony corals. The fragments were hard and bony white, many as big as a man's thumb.

 

Again....there's NO live coral...or bags....involved in this story....just reactor media that apparently was illegal to be imported into this country for whatever reason.

[JManrow]

Thanks for clearing this up Steve. I had missed seeing the last few posts, and tried to find details on the story online with no success.

Looks like another case of the media keeping us well informed.

[tidalsculpin]

I also was under the impression it was live from the story. This is quite misleading.

 

Thanks for posting the Oregon Live article. It seems to provide more detail.

 

40 tons of live coral would be a lot of organisms to find a home for.

 

Reactor media makes sense plus reef bones for online suppliers who sell it. That must be where the German went wrong.

 

I thought this thread would be important for this club to clarify what is going on. I knew the video was sensationalist and figured somone out there knew a bit more of the truth. Thanks Steve.

[steveweast]

That news story is just amazing....it goes into live corals....how to grow them....endangered this and that.....when in reality, it was just long dead coral fragments (which is just what sand is) that is collected from the beach or surf zone.

 

Now, it could still be illegal to import or export with or without the proper permits....but....the media really created a completely different story out of the facts. If that trial is held here, I'd like to get on that jury.

[CA2OR]

typical of the media to manipulate the facts to make it sound like a more interesting story

[wegotjs]

Thanks for the clearing up Steve.

Jon

[TankIt]

Story

 

Not that I am by any means trying to defend someone who may or may not have done anything illegal but someone from the PNWMS and maybe PCI should contact the News/Oregonian about this and maybe help clarify to the public about the nature of this shipment and what its uses are. Maybe just explaining that the shipment was meant for reactor media and why reactor media is used for reef aquariums. This would be a good way for the PNWMAS to help get the word out about proper aquaculture practices and importation and wild collection practices. I think that as a Marine Aquarium Society we understand more about what is going on with this case then the "regular joe" so it should be our job to spread our knowledge about the situation.

[JasonH]

I sincerely doubt that the O cares enough about the situation (or the truth in general) to print a follow-up explaining the issue of dead coral fragments vs live coral importation and aquaculture.

 

But then I have little to no respect for the Oregonian to begin with.

[steveweast]

The problem as I see it (maybe I'm just cynical)......is that the truth is so much less dramatic than the story they printed.....and certainly less dramatic than that nwcn video segment. I doubt they would be interested in printing something that basically says...."our bad, it really was a non event."

[JManrow]

The problem as I see it (maybe I'm just cynical)......is that the truth is so much less dramatic than the story they printed.....and certainly less dramatic than that nwcn video segment. I doubt they would be interested in printing something that basically says...."our bad' date=' it really was a non event."[/quote']

 

I agree with you Steve. This is why I do not read the Oregonian, or watch much broadcast news. The news is often so far distorted from the truth, the basic thing it accomplishes is feed the masses lies to perpetuate ignorance and fear. http://www.nwcn.com/sharedcontent/northwest/environment/stories/NW_021309ENV-coral-smuggler-ks.12506c1f.html