Malaysian ban official?

[ScottR]

I heard from coral exporters that the last shipment of corals from Malaysia was this week. There’ll be no new corals from Malaysia. I can’t confirm this but this article from last month (oct 2019) seems to verify this. We probably won’t hear anything official about this as they are just revoking licenses and not putting it into law.

Time to ban extraction, export of wild corals, says Sabah minister | New Straits Times

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry is mulling the possibility of revoking all licences related to extracting and exporting of wild corals in the state, its minister Datuk Junz Wong said today.

www.nst.com.my

 

[Devaji]

I don't see why these countries set up aquaculture farms and ween the people whos lives depends on the coral market to feed there family. 1st year import only 50% of the corals take that 50% set up farms. then next year only sale 25% of the average yearly harvest and so on. that way they farms can get the funds needed to set up and operate a true aquaculture and sustainable along term practices is set up.

as an avid diver and card carrying tree hugger I see the needs to protect our oceans. BUT IMHO ( and i'll be the 1st to admit I do not know all the info) but just banning corals sales offers little to the overall issue.

 

[ScottR]

I don't see why these countries set up aquaculture farms and ween the people whos lives depends on the coral market to feed there family. 1st year import only 50% of the corals take that 50% set up farms. then next year only sale 25% of the average yearly harvest and so on. that way they farms can get the funds needed to set up and operate a true aquaculture and sustainable along term practices is set up.

as an avid diver and card carrying tree hugger I see the needs to protect our oceans. BUT IMHO ( and i'll be the 1st to admit I do not know all the info) but just banning corals sales offers little to the overall issue.

To understand the why in this, we’d have to understand their governments more. I think they want a chunk of the money but apparently people are being sneaky about it and taking corals from non-approved places and it probably just led to the government getting angry and putting an end to all collections.

 

[Devaji]

To understand the why in this, we’d have to understand their governments more. I think they want a chunk of the money but apparently people are being sneaky about it and taking corals from non-approved places and it probably just led to the government getting angry and putting an end to all collections.

yup I am sure that is the case more than they care about the oceans of the world. I have traveled all over the world and I see n this kind of behavior 1st hand.
I do hope a win win win type of thing can happen and soon coral prices are already crazy if more places Ban then prices will continue to rise. :(

perhaps we as hobbyist can come together and at the very lest support each other and get as many corals growing in tanks as possible. that way if there is ever a full ban or natural disasters in area think fires in Cali there are corals growing all over the Us and the world so we still have a verity.
IDK that's my 2cents worth. I do think we need to come together for the oceans, the corals and the hobby if we cant get behind the idea of supporting each other as humans..

 

[vetteguy53081]

Crazy to hear they’re moving forward with this since tourism and the export of coral is a part of their economy.
Crack down on the illegals, I support but why makes those who make a living off this suffer?

 

[Devaji]

IDK guys/galls if the price of corals keep going up we might have to move over to FW planted tanks :eek::eek::eek:

I joke but not really...

 

[smiley28]

Might have to switch to fowler.. maybe get one of those fancy inserts..

 

[ProfessorAronnax]

Might have to switch to fowler.. maybe get one of those fancy inserts..

Do use that fowl language here! Inserts are the devil!

 

[Reesj]

Sri Lanka also have a Coral harvesting ban now for decades as most of the reefs are completely decimated. (not for aquarium harvesting though)

Thing with coral exportation is that, if not monitored, people will harvest them untill almost nothing is left. It is all about making a living and profit and all the controlls go out the window.
This is specially true in developing nations.
If you have large reefs spaning many killiometers, Coral harvesting with some control might be a option. As it stand for most countries, you can not let people harvest corals for exmport without leting the already damged coral reefs heal and making proper regualations.

I know it sucks as hobbists . But the right thing to do will be a ban on collection, let the reefs recover and make a proper procedure and let people who want to make coral imports make coral farms. Then they can let them export from their aquacultured farms only.

 

[ScottR]

Sri Lanka also have a Coral harvesting ban now for decades as most of the reefs are completely decimated. (not for aquarium harvesting though)

Thing with coral exportation is that, if not monitored, people will harvest them untill almost nothing is left. It is all about making a living and profit and all the controlls go out the window.
This is specially true in developing nations.
If you have large reefs spaning many killiometers, Coral harvesting with some control might be a option. As it stand for most countries, you can not let people harvest corals for exmport without leting the already damged coral reefs heal and making proper regualations.

I know it sucks as hobbists . But the right thing to do will be a ban on collection, let the reefs recover and make a proper procedure and let people who want to make coral imports make coral farms. Then they can let them export from their aquacultured farms only.

My diving buddies all say that the ocean is packed with lots of healthy corals. What we take for the hobby is only a tiny percentage of corals in the wild.

 

[Reesj]

My diving buddies all day that the ocean is packed with lots of healthy corals. What we take for the hobby is only a tiny percentage of corals in the wild.

:) :)
This is the same argument people in brazill are making about cutting down the amazon rainforrests. Actually in that case they atleast have some leg to stand on considering the coverage or forrest!

 

[Montiman]

I am a big believer in the free market but a classic case of market failure is situations of unclear property rights. I suspect if the reef were privately owned you would see much better management. No one wants to remove the potential for all future profits so no one would harvest all of the corals, but now the reef doesn't belong to anyone so their is no incentive to collect responsibly. In fact their is a case to collect irresponsibly.

This is the same case with commercial food fishing. If the stock was private the incentive would be to manage collections at a sustainable level but because it belongs to no one, if you don't harvest the fish now someone else might take the fish and then you won't make a profit now or latter so you might as well collect as many fish as you can now.

 

[shred5]

I heard from coral exporters that the last shipment of corals from Malaysia was this week. There’ll be no new corals from Malaysia. I can’t confirm this but this article from last month (oct 2019) seems to verify this. We probably won’t hear anything official about this as they are just revoking licenses and not putting it into law.

Time to ban extraction, export of wild corals, says Sabah minister | New Straits Times

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry is mulling the possibility of revoking all licences related to extracting and exporting of wild corals in the state, its minister Datuk Junz Wong said today.

www.nst.com.my

I have not heard this yet but that does not mean it aint true.
Isn't there a limit there on how many corals can be collected during a certain period. Once they reach that limit corals can not be collected till the next period.

It could be they just hit the limit for this period.

i am not sure how many Malaysia corals came into North America.

 

[shred5]

I don't see why these countries set up aquaculture farms and ween the people whos lives depends on the coral market to feed there family. 1st year import only 50% of the corals take that 50% set up farms. then next year only sale 25% of the average yearly harvest and so on. that way they farms can get the funds needed to set up and operate a true aquaculture and sustainable along term practices is set up.

as an avid diver and card carrying tree hugger I see the needs to protect our oceans. BUT IMHO ( and i'll be the 1st to admit I do not know all the info) but just banning corals sales offers little to the overall issue.

There was in Indonesia and Fiji. These mariculture farms were affected by the bans too..
Some of these bans are not to protect the reefs they are political.
Some are aimed at taking down the hobby too..

 

[sfin52]

Sri Lanka also have a Coral harvesting ban now for decades as most of the reefs are completely decimated. (not for aquarium harvesting though)

Thing with coral exportation is that, if not monitored, people will harvest them untill almost nothing is left. It is all about making a living and profit and all the controlls go out the window.
This is specially true in developing nations.
If you have large reefs spaning many killiometers, Coral harvesting with some control might be a option. As it stand for most countries, you can not let people harvest corals for exmport without leting the already damged coral reefs heal and making proper regualations.

I know it sucks as hobbists . But the right thing to do will be a ban on collection, let the reefs recover and make a proper procedure and let people who want to make coral imports make coral farms. Then they can let them export from their aquacultured farms only.

The countries need to look at like selective cutting of trees. That protects the forests but have increased lumber as well. I imagine coral would be the same way

 

[MixedFruitBasket]

It was then it happened...the rise of the Cnidaria Mafia....
War between the Hexorcrorallia and the Octorcorallia over the illegal salt market, dealers in the street, hidden aquariums in the back end of potato chip factories where bags of contraband are smuggled in with chips set for market.

And there will have to be specialists to deal with these criminal master minds....

In the criminal justice system, Anthozoa based offenses are considered especially heinous.
In the US, the dedicated customs officials who investigate these vicious felonies are member of an elite squad know as the Cnidarian Victims Unit.
These are their stories...

 

[sfin52]

I find it interesting that four companies have a license. It did not ban aqua cultured corals. There may still be harvesting but under much stricter guidelines. There is still hope as countries look at Australia as a way to keep reefs intact but still make a profit.