Coral aquaculture may become ILLEGAL if we don't act NOW...
- Thread starter Morphologic
- Start date
Submitted
Can someone please clear this up for me? I was under the understanding that the corals that are already in captivity would be okay to have and sell, but with liscence (which is required to sell and propogate corals anyway).
- Joined
- May 13, 2006
- Messages
- 7,483
- Reaction score
- 37
- Review score
- +0 /0 /-0
- Location
- Kalamazoo Michigan
I don't need a license to aquaculture any coral in my tank or in frag tanks....Only need a license if you plan to sell as a business aquaculture facility that the aquacultured corals are in the actual waters that are regulated by EPA,OTF,ACE,NOAA and a few others. It depends on the type, size, and things being aquacultured where they are located and size(Lbs of product).....I have not read anything that states that you need a license to aquaculture as a privet citizen or hobbyist....I am sure there are state laws regulating aquaculture and those would differ state to state but the Fed agencys would also have regulations that have to be followed for a aquacultured business....The problem with this law is it doesn't differentiate between Business or hobbyist selling or trading across state lines.....I could be wrong but from my reading and from what some others have said that is my understanding.
in FL its a law but mostly ignored for small scale hobbyist.
but then this new bill would not criminalize our hobby at all but just require a simple license
but then this new bill would not criminalize our hobby at all but just require a simple license
I got certified as a FL aquaculturist a few years ago. When the representative came to inspect my operation think she had to hold back and keep herself from laughing at me. All the materials are written for people who are actual business identities growing in bulk. Applies more to clams, mussels, and all kinds of weird other stuff for food and other purposes. Elan is correct about FL law.
Yikes, yeah posting this on our local forum as well. Hoping common sense will prevail though.
And for the most part, I am pretty strongly in favor of the ESA and CITES protections in general. Just not a careless blanketing of nearly an entire industry/group of animals as "endangered" to basically freeze trade. I think its pretty clear there are much larger threats to coral reefs than our hobby (except perhaps in a few localities where things could be managed better), I'd like to see some efforts to address large-scale issues without restricting something that actually has the potential to reduce pressure on wild populations (captive propagation), similar to how the aviculture and herpetoculture industries have done without having too many animals made illegal in the trade.
And for the most part, I am pretty strongly in favor of the ESA and CITES protections in general. Just not a careless blanketing of nearly an entire industry/group of animals as "endangered" to basically freeze trade. I think its pretty clear there are much larger threats to coral reefs than our hobby (except perhaps in a few localities where things could be managed better), I'd like to see some efforts to address large-scale issues without restricting something that actually has the potential to reduce pressure on wild populations (captive propagation), similar to how the aviculture and herpetoculture industries have done without having too many animals made illegal in the trade.
please forward to everyone and act fast.
i have seen this happened with Bird and Reptiles industry.
If this starts , then eventually more limitation will follow and we all ( vendors/hobbists ) will be limited with corals and price will be extremely high for everyone to buy corals .
i have seen this happened with Bird and Reptiles industry.
If this starts , then eventually more limitation will follow and we all ( vendors/hobbists ) will be limited with corals and price will be extremely high for everyone to buy corals .
I dont know, I think the bird culture is a success story from both the hobbyist perspective as well as the conservationist's (at least in the US). Wild caught animals for the most part are now stigmatized as vectors of disease and much harder to maintain (both true IMO). Wild populations are mostly protected, collection pressure is off most populations and whats available CB these days is amazing. Sure there are animals that folks would like to be working with, bloodline issues etc but all things that I think the hobby can/does get over. Unlike with corals, hard data clearly showed the trade had significant impact on wild populations of Psittacinces in particular. Funny enough what first brought attention to bird collection issues were all the seizures of dead or dying birds either smuggled or just poorly handled in the chain of custody. We as hobbyists ought to carefully consider how we are perceived going forward. An example is the finding in Hawaii of that dumpster full of dead fish a little while back. Not great and gets a ban on Hawaiian collection one step closer to reality.
Ditto for herps, maybe even more so the hobby is bigger and better than ever with fewer wild-caught animals fueling it than even a few years ago.
Last edited:
Anyway, not trying to derail the point here, that this is a baseless and overly zealous proposed law that is seemingly not based on good science but knee-jerk legislative overreaction. Lets hope it gets shot down right quick.
for sure, I agree with further (not total or we wouldnt be on here) reg of reefs but not on hobbyists thats asinine. Plus once they realize how much $$$$$$$$$$ is involved there not going to regulate it to the point where its not doable, they're just going to make sure they get a piece the of pie......
I (and the reefs) have benefited way more from aquaculture than anything else...
I (and the reefs) have benefited way more from aquaculture than anything else...
I already posted this but,
How will this bill make aquaculture illegal?????
from my understanding it will only encourage it. You will still be allowed to sell the very few corals that make the list within state with no issues and out of state will need a small permit.
Can someone clear this up for me??
Requiring a license does not make something illegal. We need one to drive car, and noone complains
How will this bill make aquaculture illegal?????
from my understanding it will only encourage it. You will still be allowed to sell the very few corals that make the list within state with no issues and out of state will need a small permit.
Can someone clear this up for me??
Requiring a license does not make something illegal. We need one to drive car, and noone complains
so when is the vote?
I think the issue is that some of the corals on the list are extremely similar to many other species and thus it would be much more difficult to obtain those similar species. This would drive up price and possibly be risky due to the fear that what you're purchasing could actually be one of the illegal pieces.
so when is the vote???????
"Once a species is listed as endangered, it is illegal to “take” (harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, collect, or attempt to do these things) the species. If a species is listed as threatened, NOAA would issue regulations needed to conserve the species."
The fact of the matter is as a regular, small-scale hobbyist I may not be able to obtain a license that you speak of... if there is such a license (which I haven't seen in any of the posted documentation).
I have no idea... but that is a beautiful fish in your avatar :beauty:
EDIT: Found this in the article...
"The review is expected to be completed by October 20"
Last edited:
Similar threads
- AMS: Article
