Fiji Livestock Ban: Coral and Rock Exports Halted

Reefphd

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Walt said they use manmade Rock based for his coral. The question is if they will stop him from exporting farmed coral on his man made bases.

He has not been legally informed of the govts decision. So until he is, he will keep going with business as usual.
We will all know the full extent of the ban when he attempts to open his operation this Tuesday.
 

Maritimer

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Initial reaction; "Aaaawww nutz."

Secondary reaction; No consultation with industry - which, for all I know, is a fairly major industry by Fijian standards. No official notification to local businesses. No mention of this ban anywhere other than the one website and Facebook post. Something seems ... off ... here.

Watching with interest, because my maricultured colonies are among my favorite corals.

~Bruce, feeling like he's just gotten warmed up in this hobby and is watching the rug being pulled out from underneath
 

ReefDweller

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You really think this would happen and Walt wouldn't know about it? Total BS IMO. Watch, Fiji coral and rock prices will jump and who benefits??? Same production from the island at higher prices because of this announcement. There will be a full stop but magically we will still be able to buy Fiji coral....
 

Mark Gray

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I am following this closely I am concerned, not sure the government may have changed or something this can happen without notice it places like Fiji.
 

BradB

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Seems to be a trend, Fiji, Hawaii, the most environmentally sound and well managed practices are turned into outright bans. While the less regulated countries still don't care what anyone does.
 

ETBReefer05

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So, from my understanding this is a committee that gets signatures from countries and then that country appoints their own manager to take care of enforcement. So basically its a voluntary agreement but CITES will give mandates to different countries...what a time to be alive...also none of this appears anywhere except the various vendors who sell Coral and Rock from Fiji, and it makes me wonder if this is a resolution which has been submitted, but not adopted. Of course the conspiracy theorist in me thinks its a ploy to raise coral prices...lol
 

ETBReefer05

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A quote from the minister in charge of fisheries. This was a resolution signed in Germany in November and will come to pass on Jaunary 7th. " but the breaking of corals from the coral reef and regenerating it for export is banned from 2018,” he said." To me that says you can't remove a coral from the reef, put another coral in its place in order to export the harvested coral. The Fiji sun looks to be a legitimate news source, sad day for our hobby.
 

Mark Gray

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So, from my understanding this is a committee that gets signatures from countries and then that country appoints their own manager to take care of enforcement. So basically its a voluntary agreement but CITES will give mandates to different countries...what a time to be alive...also none of this appears anywhere except the various vendors who sell Coral and Rock from Fiji, and it makes me wonder if this is a resolution which has been submitted, but not adopted. Of course the conspiracy theorist in me thinks its a ploy to raise coral prices...lol
Yes it will raise coral prices, Fiji used to have an abundance of giant clams but the locals harvested them all for mostly food. But there are very responsible exporters in Fiji like Walt Smith they have a huge operation there. Not sure what the real answer is but I don't think an outright ban is necessary. Thailand has had a ban in place for many years, I have seen the Reefs in Fiji and they looked good to me. I spent much more time in Thailand most places they also looked good. The conspiracy theorist in my tells me some one is listing to the views of a girl friend or a certain group
 

ETBReefer05

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The conspiracy theorist in my tells me some one is listing to the views of a girl friend or a certain group
Yes, this is heavily influenced by probaby NATO as the article as reads "The announcement comes after it had officially joined the Coral Alliance in Bonn, Germany, in November this year." So, some lobbyist from the Coral Alliance has been working with (or on) the Fijian government and pressuring them to join the Coral alliance, which, I'm sure bound them to the Convention for Internation Trade of Endangered Species (CITES). Its all political.
 

Mark Gray

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Yes, this is heavily influenced by probaby NATO as the article as reads "The announcement comes after it had officially joined the Coral Alliance in Bonn, Germany, in November this year." So, some lobbyist from the Coral Alliance has been working with (or on) the Fijian government and pressuring them to join the Coral alliance, which, I'm sure bound them to the Convention for Internation Trade of Endangered Species (CITES). Its all political.
Yes very True, the reef in the Phillipines at one time were in bad shape but have recovered a lot mostly due to them not using cyanide much any more but Yes I believe it's political but it's also possible some one in the Fiji Government wants Walt Smith's place
 

kyleinpdx

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Probably an unpopular opinion here, but I generally support this decision.

I grew up on a small tropical island and in my 30years I've seen reef after reef destroyed by ******** pleasure boaters, unscrupulous industry and even back to back hurricanes. 20-30 years ago this would have severely crippled our hobby but I am confident now with the technology we have at our disposal and the monetary incentive harvesters and growers will switch over to aquaculture/mariculture and will continue on. We'll probably see some cost increases get passed along to the consumer in the short run, however almost everyone on this board highlights we're good at growing coral now, we can take over from mother nature and give her a rest.

Now as someone in business, I do believe transparency and involving stakeholders is always the way to go, it is curious why this was put in place so suddenly.
 
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Ghxst

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I think this is a great opportunity for hobbiest and coral businesses to step up and grow out what we have already taken from Fiji. There isn’t anything new to take but more and if there government decides its reefs are in decline who is to tell them otherwise? Certantly none of us, including big business.

On that note let’s not move forward blind, fellow reefers. It’s clear our natural reefs and oceans health are in decline and threatened. This is not a one off and I can tell more and more exporting countries will follow suit eventually. If you want to keep the hobby alive, grow your own.
 

ETBReefer05

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Probably an unpopular opinion here, but I generally support this decision.

I grew up on a small tropical island and in my 30years I've seen reef after reef destroyed by ******** pleasure boaters, unscrupulous industry and even back to back hurricanes.

I understand your opinion and respect that humans generally treat nature with a lack of respect and even intentional malice, and also understand that there are responsible and irresponsible actions regarding nature in general. The particular part that grinds my gears is that groups like Walt's are replacing every single coral they harvest and had a set plot of reef that they maintained in order to practice responsible husbandry. I cannot attest that these practices were shared by every collector in Fiji, nor am I an expert in Marine Biology, but, the way I understand it is the same as Michigan and responsible forestry. The forest harvesting in Michigan was purely virgin forests until the late 19th century, then, someone with a lick of sense said "Eventually our forests will be gone" and, since then replanting as you cut has been practice and eventually signed into Law. This may be a broad generalization, but I would expect (as Trees and Corals are both photosynthetic, living things) that Coral propagation and harvesting would work the same. Plant a coral in the place you just harvested, wait a set period, let it grow out, reharvest.

In the end, if one of the responsible harvesting companies were to go out of business, their plot of the reef would have MOST of its coral retained through responsible harvesting. My next thought is that the Fijian government mentions shifting to a captive cultured and farmed Coral industry, which makes me wonder, as Mark did, if the government already has plans to enter that industry themselves.
 

drawman

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I understand your opinion and respect that humans generally treat nature with a lack of respect and even intentional malice, and also understand that there are responsible and irresponsible actions regarding nature in general. The particular part that grinds my gears is that groups like Walt's are replacing every single coral they harvest and had a set plot of reef that they maintained in order to practice responsible husbandry. I cannot attest that these practices were shared by every collector in Fiji, nor am I an expert in Marine Biology, but, the way I understand it is the same as Michigan and responsible forestry. The forest harvesting in Michigan was purely virgin forests until the late 19th century, then, someone with a lick of sense said "Eventually our forests will be gone" and, since then replanting as you cut has been practice and eventually signed into Law. This may be a broad generalization, but I would expect (as Trees and Corals are both photosynthetic, living things) that Coral propagation and harvesting would work the same. Plant a coral in the place you just harvested, wait a set period, let it grow out, reharvest.

In the end, if one of the responsible harvesting companies were to go out of business, their plot of the reef would have MOST of its coral retained through responsible harvesting. My next thought is that the Fijian government mentions shifting to a captive cultured and farmed Coral industry, which makes me wonder, as Mark did, if the government already has plans to enter that industry themselves.
I tend to agree. I think promoting collectors that act sustainably and can replenish reefs is the way to go and will hopefully help reefs in the future. Coral reefs are in decline and we need collectors willing to repopulate the reefs. Otherwise we will have to rely solely on nonprofits and government that unfortunately are underfunded for these tasks (not that they aren't doing great work). Unfortunately, I feel it will be out of sight out of mind for most of the world...
 
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