Still no word on when or if exports will be happening again.
As mentioned earlier, the conference was held in Bali and the Jakarta Post has an article about the activities: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/...n-every-little-bold-action-counts-jokowi.html
I haven't heard whether corals, cultured or otherwise, were discussed, but by what I see in the article it seems that the general tone does not sound promising for coral exports.
I have gotten several reports of supposed coral smuggling into the US. It seems some accusations have been made that corals are being smuggled in with live fish shipments. I have no firsthand knowledge of such activities, but it seems some in Indonesia are seeing Facebook and other posts by some vendors touting Indonesian corals for sale and that these posts lead them to either believe or confirm their suspicions that smuggling is occurring. This may be a total overreaction to these posts or it could really be happening. It shows the fragile state of disposition of some exporters since they have had no income for more than 7 months. I have been inundated with inquiries from exporters begging me to take fish shipments just so they can have some income. Unfortunately for them I recently decided to stock only tank-raised fish since the quality of wild caught fish has declined so much in recent years due to cyanide collection, rampant diseases, and poor handling, IMO.
If in fact coral smuggling is occurring it would be extremely foolish for those involved since huge fines and federal prison time would await them and surely such practices if found out would permanently end any possibility of reopening exports.
Rumors abound that Australia is considering restrictions or ending coral exports since the closure of Fiji and Indonesia has put such a huge demand on Aussie corals. I have no confirmation whether such rumors are at all true, but the rumor mill keeps churning them out.
Propagation of corals at our facility keeps going strong, although IME the general reefkeeping hobbyist is still mostly unaware of the circumstances surrounding the actual origin and acquisition of the corals they seek for their aquariums. There's a huge number, the vast majority, of marine aquarium hobbyists that never come on these forums or attend any swaps or conferences and are unaware of this issue. We, and I'm sure many, LFS owners encounter such hobbyists every day. I engage in conversation with them about this issue and many folks that come into our shop are completely oblivious.
You would think the exporters would be making up some of the difference on fish sales. Since Hawaii ban fish prices have risen. Prices will continue to rise as permits expire.
I have seen vendors on R2R say they have saying they are selling coral Indonesian corals. My guess these corals we are sing list as Indonesian are not and they are lying.
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