The end of our hobby is among us! HELP!

Thanks to AI for alerting me to this proposed NOAA rule.
(perhaps you have all seen this, but after a quick search I could not find anything)

- TEXT FROM AQUA ILLUMINATION AI - life illuminated -

Our hobby is in jeopardy.

NOAA proposal threatens to earmark 83 species of coral as endangered.

What does that mean for us? The end of our hobby as we know it.

Imagine if we could no longer buy, sell, trade, or even remove and replace any number of very common aquarium species we have in our systems. Nearly all common stony corals including many of our favorite Acropora, Montipora, Porites, Pocillopora, Seriatopora, Pectinia, Pavona and Millepora species. In addition many of our favorite large polyp stony species such as Hammer coral, Frogspawn and Candy Cane corals will be illegal to even grow and share with your friends.

This would make no distinction between wild collected, maricultured, farmed, or aquacultured. The result is it could be a felony to give a branch of Hammer Coral to a friend, punishable by up to a $50,000 fine and 1 year in jail for doing so.

Help us fight! We only have until APRIL 6th to file opposition! That is only a few days away, please take the time to send feedback today!

To register your opposition to this regulation:

Electronic Submissions: Click below and complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.

Regulations.gov

Postal Mail Submissions:
Regulatory Branch Chief
Protected Resources Division National Marine Fisheries Service Pacific Islands Regional Office 1601 Kapiolani Blvd. Suite 1110 Honolulu, HI 96814
Attn: 82 Coral Species proposed listing
or
Assistant Regional Administrator Protected Resources Division National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Regional Office 263 13th Avenue South
Saint Petersburg, FL 33701
Attn: 82 Coral Species proposed listing

Fax submissions:
808-973-2941: Attn: Protected Resources Regulatory Branch Chief
or
727-824-5309: Attn: Protected Resources Assistant Regional Administrator

Copies of relevant documents:

Redirect - Office of Protected Resources - NOAA Fisheries

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/stories/2012/11/82corals.html

US NOAA Coral Species Listing II_ALT

 

There is also a similar bill in the House. I emailed my 1 Representative and he emailed me back about it. /shrug

 

Na, won't happen.

They'll just appoint a whole board to study it, for a few years.
Then they'll pay all of them a quater million a year salary.

Then they'll just impose a special 'coral' tax on every sale, etc.

Who's in power in DC these days?

 

Respect the intention of the thread creator by not dragging politics into this thread or it will be closed.

 

it wouldnt be the end of the HOBBY, just the end of common corals, im sure many corals will still be available, as well as anemones,clams, and other sessile inverts. not to mention fish. sure it would be a big change, but not the end as we know it.

 

Despite the proposal, I find it hard to believe that tank grown will be restricted; in fact that should be highly encouraged. Almost impossible to regulate something like that too.

 

Thanks for bringing it to our attention Bob. Everyone can speculate what they think will happen or we can just go and register to do our part and stop this before it starts or at least have our voices heard. If we do something at least we aren't just sitting around and if something happens we can't say we didn't try.
Thanks Bob, I'm going to do it right now.

 

JUST TO LET EVERYONE KNOW I DID NOT DO THIS, THIS IS A QUOTE I PULLED OFF ANOTHER SITE THANK GOD FOR HIM!
JUST TO LET EVERYONE KNOW I DID NOT DO THIS, THIS IS A QUOTE I PULLED OFF ANOTHER SITE THANK GOD FOR HIM!

So I wanted to take some time and break a couple things down for everyone curious or freaking out about the new proposal.

If you didn't already know,

NOAA Fisheries division is proposing Endangered Species Act (ESA) listings for 66 coral species:

59 in the Pacific
7 would be listed as endangered
52 would be listed as threatened

7 in the Caribbean
5 would be listed as endangered
2 would be listed as threatened

In addition, they are proposing that 2 Caribbean species--elkhorn and staghorn corals--already listed under the ESA be reclassified from threatened to endangered.

Proposed Endangered

Atlantic/ Caribbean

Boulder star coral (Montastraea annularis)
Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) *
Mountainous star coral (Montastraea faveolata)
Pillar coral (Dendrogyra cylindrus)
Rough Cactus Coral (Mycetophyllia ferox)
Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) *
Star coral (Montastraea franksi)
* proposed to be reclassified from threatened to endangered

Pacific

Acropora jacquelineae
Acropora lokani
Acropora rudis
Anacropora spinosa
Euphyllia paradivisa
Millepora foveolata
Pocillopora elegans - E Pacific
Proposed Threatened Species

Atlantic

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

Pacific

Acanthastrea brevis
Acanthastrea hemprichii
Acanthastrea ishigakiensis
Acanthastrea regularis
Acropora aculeus
Acropora acuminate
Acropora aspera
Acropora dendrum
Acropora donei
Acropora globiceps
Acropora horrida
Acropora listeria
Acropora microclados
Acropora palmerae
Acropora paniculata
Acropora pharaonis
Acropora polystoma
Acropora retusa
Acropora speciosa
Acropora striata
Acropora tenella
Acropora vaughani
Acropora verweyi
Alveopora allingi
Alveopora fenestrate
Alveopora verrilliana
Anacropora puertogalerae
Astreopora cucullata
Barabattoia laddi
Caulastrea echinulata
Euphyllia cristata
Euphyllia paraancora
Isopora crateriformis
Isopora cuneata
Millepora tuberosa
Montipora angulate
Montipora australiensis
Montipora calcarea
Montipora caliculata
Montipora dilatata/ flabellata/ turgescens
Montipora lobulata
Montipora patula/ verrilli
Pachyseris rugosa
Pavona diffluens
Pectinia alcicornis
Physogyra lichtensteini
Pocillopora danae
Pocillopora elegans - Indo-Pacific
Porites horizontalata
Porites napopora
Porites nigrescens
Seriatopora aculeate

That's the list, and by my count only 14 species on the list are common, 8 more are rare at best and the rest are even more rare or never even seen in the hobby. However, all on the list are important reef building species.

Just to take it one step further
I JUST called the NOAA and spoke with a rep to get clarification for myself, here's the gist......

You can own any on the list,

You can continue to own them,

You can transport them across state lines but not for commercial purposes,

You can give or receive any specimens on the list for free but no money or services/goods can be exchanged. (IE frag swaps and giving frags to friends),

Most on the list are being classified as "threatened" not "endangered" which means there will be even more "exclusions and circumstances" that allow for ownership and the likes,

Other rights and privledges are available if you own the specimen prior to the new classifications,

For more info on the ESA (endangered species act) or "Threatened" species classification and what it really means, go here......

(ESA) http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/laws/esa/
("Threatened" species)
http://www.fws.gov/e....df/listing.pdf

If you would like to call them yourself, contact info can be found here.....

http://www.nmfs.noaa...t/contacts.html

Hope this clears some things up for everyone
If you have any further questions, let me know. I kept that rep on the phone for close to 30 minutes

 

I guess I just don't see this as bad thing, necessarily. Selfishly, I would love to purchase every single one of those corals if given an opportunity, but not at the risks of losing these species forever. Many of these are reef building corals and play an integral role in providing a substrate for other corals to thrive. Lose large portions of these and we may lose reefs all together. As a fellow diver, I am sure you agree. Allowing sale of threatened corals just opens up the potential for exploitation.

Aqua culture should be encouraged for that reason and that aspect I disagree with them on.

 

Aqua Cultured and already having the species in your own tank and not being able to share with fellow reefers is one of the only problems I have. I dont think that any reef should be stripped of its beauty. There are things that I don't agree with and that's why I don't support this.