How to get 10-20 years in prison travelling with corals....

[Graffiti Spot]

Fair enough. I dove the keys this past Summer for the first time since 1995-ish, and it was quite distressing to see how degraded they are. I wasn't until the second to last day that we actually saw living elk and staghorn corals - and those were small, isolated colonies.

Yeah I went for the first time and only noticed maybe one staghorn on each reef island. Looked more like they were planted there by people the way they were growing.

 

[Admann]

Coral reefs will survive climate change (read: normal climate cycles for our planet, it's planetary history, not Al Dorf's idea, like when he invented the internet), humans have only survived a few of these events in very recent geological history. Illegal collection of such delicate species of coral, fish and inverts only adds insult to injury. I would much rather acquire my coral and livestock grown by licensed, inspected, reputable dealers buying from licensed, regulated and reputable suppliers. It wouldn't bother me if all livestock privately purchased by us were all aquacultured from stock that has never seen the ocean. If it can't be or is highly risky for a species to grow, thrive and procreate in an aquarium the species should never be collected. I love this hobby, (my lovely wife, not so much. The people in it are for the most part genuinely concerned about the future of it. I am 61 years old and cried recently when my plain old ugly lawnmower Blenny became puppy food while inspecting our hardwood floor for defects. I thank God for Reef2Reef and all the fine people that run and use this forum. I started this hobby knowing very little about it a long time ago. Man, I wish I had the info then, that I can get here with a search, (Newbies, RESEARCH!!!!, if you don't it will cost you lots of money and frustration).
Thanks to all of you, for the hours of education and laughs.

 

[fish farmer]

If it can't be or is highly risky for a species to grow, thrive and procreate in an aquarium the species should never be collected.

This could be said of many species we keep in our aquariums. I don't remember seeing acropora readily for sale back in the 1980's. Just saying...obviously if it is endangered it should be left to the professionals or left alone.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Coral reefs will survive climate change (read: normal climate cycles for our planet, it's planetary history, not Al Dorf's idea, like when he invented the internet), humans have only survived a few of these events in very recent geological history.

Absolutely. Some of the major reef building events (by calcifying organisms of course) that have occurred over geological time (starting at 55 million YPB) did so when atmospheric CO2 was 12.5 times higher than present & global temperature was on average 8°C above present. This is proof that atmospheric CO2 does not directly control ocean pH.