Corals to be banned and it will be illigal to own them.

[shred5]

Well this bill looks like it is going through in November if it not stopped but It is probably too late now.
Corals Proposed for Listing as Threatened or Endangered under the ESA - Office of Protected Resources - NOAA Fisheries

This includes frogspawns, hammers, anchor etc.

Atlantic/ Caribbean

1. Boulder star coral (Montastraea annularis)
2. Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) *
3. Mountainous star coral (Montastraea faveolata)
4. Pillar coral (Dendrogyra cylindrus)
5. Rough Cactus Coral (Mycetophyllia ferox)
6. Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) *
   
7. Star coral (Montastraea franksi)

* proposed to be reclassified from threatened to endangered
Pacific

1. Acropora jacquelineae
2. Acropora lokani
3. Acropora rudis
4. Anacropora spinosa
5. Euphyllia paradivisa
6. Millepora foveolata
7. Pocillopora elegans - E Pacific

Proposed Threatened Species
Atlantic

1. Lamarck's Sheet Coral (Agaricia lamarcki)
2. Elliptical Star Coral (Dichocoenia stokesii)

Pacific

1. Acanthastrea brevis
2. Acanthastrea hemprichii
3. Acanthastrea ishigakiensis
4. Acanthastrea regularis
5. Acropora aculeus
6. Acropora acuminate
7. Acropora aspera
8. Acropora dendrum
9. Acropora donei
10. Acropora globiceps
11. Acropora horrida
12. Acropora listeria
13. Acropora microclados
14. Acropora palmerae
15. Acropora paniculata
16. Acropora pharaonis
17. Acropora polystoma
18. Acropora retusa
19. Acropora speciosa
20. Acropora striata
21. Acropora tenella
22. Acropora vaughani
23. Acropora verweyi
24. Alveopora allingi
25. Alveopora fenestrate
26. Alveopora verrilliana
27. Anacropora puertogalerae
28. Astreopora cucullata
29. Barabattoia laddi
30. Caulastrea echinulata
31. Euphyllia cristata
    
32. Euphyllia paraancora
33. Isopora crateriformis
34. Isopora cuneata
35. Millepora tuberosa
36. Montipora angulate
37. Montipora australiensis
38. Montipora calcarea
39. Montipora caliculata
40. Montipora dilatata/ flabellata/ turgescens
41. Montipora lobulata
42. Montipora patula/ verrilli
43. Pachyseris rugosa
44. Pavona diffluens
45. Pectinia alcicornis
46. Physogyra lichtensteini
47. Pocillopora danae
48. Pocillopora elegans - Indo-Pacific
49. Porites horizontalata
50. Porites napopora
51. Porites nigrescens
52. Seriatopora aculeate

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/corals.htm#threatened
Basically it looks like if you own these corals which allot of us do it will be illegal to own them unless you can prove you owned them before they went into affect or take out a permit before hand.. This can lead to fines or jail time it seems... I am looking for more info right now.. I am just passing info read and sent to me from others... I have not looked to much into this myself.

I am trying to find more info on this.

This one is real bad if it goes through... Why? This is allot of corals in the trade. It is not just banning the coral from collection it is making it illegal to even own them with out a permit. This hurts the coral farmers because if corals require permits who is going to buy them and go through the hassle if they even can be sold.. This is a different route this time and a different angle to hurt the hobby.

Selling, receiving, transporting, or shipping listed species in interstate or foreign commerce is prohibited, even if the specimens were legally held in captivity at the time of listing.For corals currently maintained, it is your responsibility to demonstrate that the animals were already in captivity before the final listing decision. Please contact us at 301-427-8401 for information on this process.

I am usually up on these and I think Walt Smith plus a few others may have allerted me a while ago on this. I dont know if this has passed now and goes in effect in November of if it get voted on in November.

 

[Rhino]

I will surprised if it becomes a real thing. There have been bills like this pending since I got into the aquarium hobby as a kid in the mid 90s. Would be upsetting if it did though.

 

[shred5]

I will surprised if it becomes a real thing. There have been bills like this pending since I got into the aquarium hobby as a kid in the mid 90s. Would be upsetting if it did though.

Well there have been allot that have gone through.. Most have not affected the hobby to bad because they closed collecting in certain areas, just to have other areas open up.. But I think that is why this one is so important, most hobbiest have that attitide "it has not affected me yet why should I care". That is why this has a chance to go through. Than once it is voted on it is too late than people will care..

This one makes it illegal to even bring them in and possibly to sell them or even own them with out a permit.. This is a different angle. Once they get permits things will go south and eventaully you will have to have a permit just to have a reef tank. Eventually everything gets label exotics.

You know what this means to a place like R2R? No one will post pics of their tanks anymore incase they have a illigal coral incase someone turns them in, you will have to becareful who you show your corals too. Unless you have a permit.

 

[jokervueboi]

Big brother will be watching your tanks

 

[cdness]

This has been brought up many times. The arguments end up all over the place and really it gets us nowhere... In the end if this goes through, enforcement will be nearly impossible as there are very few who can accurately identify the corals. Then when that is realized they will either raise the umbrella to cover more corals or the law will get removed. I signed every petition out there, contacted officials, etc but if it passes I will be disappointed for sure.

 

[shaft]

Looks like the discussion period ended in april... where they hiding this from the public?

 

[shred5]

This has been brought up many times. The arguments end up all over the place and really it gets us nowhere... In the end if this goes through, enforcement will be nearly impossible as there are very few who can accurately identify the corals. Then when that is realized they will either raise the umbrella to cover more corals or the law will get removed. I signed every petition out there, contacted officials, etc but if it passes I will be disappointed for sure.

I dont think it is a matter if this passes or not I do not believe this is a bill. It gets voted on which go on the list and which dont. May be hard to enforce but these are corals pretty much everyone has and people will not risk importing them or certainly selling them. They may have a hard time enforcing the hobbiest that already has them, but the problem is you dont take out a permit you are a criminal and if you do get caught it means fines or jail time.

Also some of these are very easy to id like branching frog spawn....

 

[shred5]

Looks like the discussion period ended in april... where they hiding this from the public?

That was when the period to petition was. I saw on another forum they decide Nov 30 but can not find that anywhere to verify that.

 

[duke4130]

geese... You cant even own a sunset monitpora

 

[shred5]

Also their is a difference between threatened and endangered and they go under different rules. Most of those corals go under threatened.

 

[Battlecorals]

Scary stuff. I have to wonder how they would even begin to enforce the specifics of this. Determining species and whatnot.

Seems like it has the potential to he a real headache for some at the very least

 

[shred5]

Scary stuff. I have to wonder how they would even begin to enforce the specifics of this. Determining species and whatnot.

Seems like it has the potential to he a real headache for some at the very least

Adam the problem I see with this is even if a couple corals go on that list this time and require a permit, next time there will be more.. Finally you will need a permit to even have a saltwater tank and that wont be hard to enforce.. It like taxes, you never want a new tax because they never go away they just go up...

Again I do not believe this is a bill, they will get together and decide which are going to be endangered or threatened or not.

 

[DaveMorris]

Julian Sprung gave a talk on this subject at MACNA. According to him, we should be very scared. It is real. However, it is based on totally bogus data. it is just a matter of getting them to see the true nature of it.

 

[typicalwhiteazn]

Adam the problem I see with this is even if a couple corals go on that list this time and require a permit, next time there will be more.. Finally you will need a permit to even have a saltwater tank and that wont be hard to enforce.. It like taxes, you never want a new tax because they never go away they just go up...

Its basically a slippery slop.. once they start the ban one these guys, its only a matter of time when the other species get thrown on there too... the worse is that once its there, it often won't be reversed... I hope I'm wrong, but no one's going to write a scientific paper 5 years from now saying 'Paraancora is growing abundantly, recommend they be allowed for ornamental trades.'

I've been following this since almost the beginning, NOAA isn't the root of this. All this was the doing of an Environmentalist group in Arizona.. they petitioned NOAA originally based on a poorly researched scientific paper. NOAA ignored them, so with their endless donation had their attorney sue NOAA and many reviews later, we are here...

 

[typicalwhiteazn]

Julian Sprung gave a talk on this subject at MACNA. According to him, we should be very scared. It is real. However, it is based on totally bogus data. it is just a matter of getting them to see the true nature of it.

Agree, based on ONE scientific paper that supposedly surveyed comprehensively corals density in all those regions. Then an Environmental Group in Arizona took off with it and sued enough law makers to hear their claims and here we are.

Another case of environmentalist being excessive with the power and advantage.

If this goes through, we can lose an entire industry.

 

[shred5]

Well I am all for banning or even limiting certain corals if they are truly endangered but this is not that.

I mean get a permit or destroy those that are already here.. The whole permit issue is what bothers me. Turn yourself in now or deal with the concequences latter if you actualy read that..



What do the ones already in the hobby have anything to do with the wild ones.... Really allot of good has come out of this hobby and if we can propagate them all the better. Why does it have to be only zoos or universities get to do this stuff. Yea there is some greed and chop shops in the hobby and more so lately but there are also good coral farms.

 

[FishyPapa]

This has been brought up many times. The arguments end up all over the place and really it gets us nowhere... In the end if this goes through, enforcement will be nearly impossible as there are very few who can accurately identify the corals. Then when that is realized they will either raise the umbrella to cover more corals or the law will get removed. I signed every petition out there, contacted officials, etc but if it passes I will be disappointed for sure.

+1

I can understand it for those corals that are endangered and the process of collecting harms them. I also agree that the possibility of enforcing anything is remote in the least. Stores might not be able to get them in but there will always be plenty of frags out there by private sellers.

 

[typicalwhiteazn]

+1

I can understand it for those corals that are endangered and the process of collecting harms them. I also agree that the possibility of enforcing anything is remote in the least. Stores might not be able to get them in but there will always be plenty of frags out there by private sellers.

Even so, its illegal to sell endangered or threaten species... well ya know what they say, it aint illegal til ya get caught.

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[FishyPapa]

Even so, its illegal to sell endangered or threaten species... well ya know what they say, it aint illegal til ya get caught.

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True. There's just not enough people who care to make this a big issue. It's not newsworthy and "cute" like a f&$@ panda or koala so people pay no mind. It's a shame really.

 

[Rhino]

This will be thrown on the back burner again guys and gals. Keep in mind this is a super small fish in the pond to the government right now if you consider everything else they have to worry about right now: gun control laws, trying to pass Obama care, the issues is Syria this will be pushed way way back once again and eventually dismissed IMO.