<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">A move to place more than 80 species of stony corals on the Endangered Species list appears to be gaining traction with the U.S. federal government. A petition from an Arizona-based environmental group calls for protection of 8 Caribbean and Western Atlantic species, 9 corals in the Hawaiian Islands, and 66 species from the Indo-Pacific. </span></span>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">The 83 species included in the original petition range from 4 species of Acanthastrea, 22 species of Acropora</em>, 3 species of Euphyllia</em>, 8 species of Montipora</em>, and 4 species of Turbinaria</em>. Among the corals on the list are such commonly kept aquarium species as Euphyllia parancora, Galaxea astreata, Pavona cactus, Turbinaria reniformis</em>, and many species of Acropora</em>. </span></span>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">“This is a http://cts.vresp.com/c/?MicrocosmAquariumExp/106a47419d/244c00b1fc/f0aca18c02">call to action</a>,” said Marshall Meyers, CEO of the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (PIJAC)[/B] in Washington. “There may be some species that do need protection, but to list all of these corals demands serious science-based, credible studies demonstrating that each of these species is endangered.” </span></span>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">If listed, the [IMG]http://cts.vresp.com/c/?MicrocosmAquariumExp/106a47419d/244c00b1fc/13818f8f20">corals would be banned</a> from collection in U.S. waters, banned from import into the United States; interstate shipment would become illegal. Captive propagation would require a federal permit, and corals could only be bought and sold within states. [B]“Effectively, this would end the international trade in stony corals to the United States,” Meyers said in an exclusive interview with CORAL. [/B]</span></span>
<span style="font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“I think many people have been taken by surprise and don’t yet know the implications...</span></span>[/QUOTE]
