NOAA Lists 20 New Corals as Threatened

[ghbrewer]

Just saw that Mr. Saltwater Tank is going to be doing a live Q&A on this tomorrow.
A lot of species that are popular in the trade are listed. Should be interesting to see how this affects the hobby.

http://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/stories/2014/08/corals_listing.html">http://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/stories/2014/08/corals_listing.html</a>

[IMG]http://new.livestream.com/accounts/1673384/events/3370656">http://new.livestream.com/accounts/1673384/events/3370656</a>

 

[ghbrewer]

Interesting live feed, concerns me a little in regards to the future of our hobby.

 

[ghbrewer]

Wow, the potential impact this could have on our hobby is tremendous. I do not know if this is just hype or is something that we should all be paying attention too closely. Either way might be worth taking a look at the PIJAC website (

 

[ghbrewer]

Looks like there are a total of 66 corals that could potentially be added to the ESA endangered or threatened list:

Acanthastrea brevis
Acanthastrea hemprichii
Acanthastrea ishigakiensis
Acanthastrea regularis
Acropora aculeus
Acropora acuminata
Acropora aspera
Acropora dendrum
Acropora donei
Acropora globiceps
Acropora horrida
Acropora jacquelineae
Acropora listeri
Acropora lokani
Acropora microclados
Acropora palmerae
Acropora paniculata
Acropora pharaonis
Acropora polystoma
Acropora retusa
Acropora rudis
Acropora speciosa
Acropora striata
Acropora tenella
Acropora vaughani
Acropora verweyi
Alveopora allingi
Alveopora fenestrata
Alveopora verrilliana
Anacropora puertogalerae
Anacropora spinosa
Astreopora cucullata
Barabattoia laddi
Caulastrea echinulata
Cyphastrea agassizi
Cyphastrea ocellina
Euphyllia cristata
Euphyllia paraancora
Euphyllia paradivisa
Galaxea astreata
Isopora crateriformis
Isopora cuneata
Leptoseris incrustans
Leptoseris yabei
Montipora angulata
Montipora australiensis
Montipora calcarea
Montipora caliculata
Montipora dilatata
Montipora flabellata
Montipora lobulata
Montipora patula
Montipora turgescens
Pachyseris rugosa
Pavona bipartita
Pavona cactus
Pavona decussata
Pavona diffluens
Pavona venosa
Pectinia alcicornis
Physogyra lichtensteini
Pocillopora danae
Pocillopora elegans
Porites horizontalata
Porites napopora
Porites nigrescens
Porites pukoensis
Psammocora stellata
Seriatopora aculeata
Turbinaria mesenterina
Turbinaria peltata
Turbinaria reniformis
Turbinaria stellulata

What's the most troubling is that it seems that the data used to determine that these corals are endangered or threatened, was both lacking and out of date.

 

[maelstrom79]

That is a list of many common corals in our tanks....

 

[maelstrom79]

I found this, which is a pretty good read:

http://www.reef2rainforest.com/2014/08/29/implications-of-esas-new-threatened-coral-listing-for-the-marine-aquarium-trade/">http://www.reef2rainforest.com/2014/08/29/implications-of-esas-new-threatened-coral-listing-for-the-marine-aquarium-trade/</a>

This is a good read from December 2012 / New York Times on aquaculture of corals:

[IMG]http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/finding-a-place-for-coral-farms-in-a-changing-ocean/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0">http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/finding-a-place-for-coral-farms-in-a-changing-ocean/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0</a>

 

[ghbrewer]

That last sentence in the article that you just posted is what concerns me the most:

"Given the negative impression of the trade as expressed in the NMFS document, some industry observers fear the listing of these corals as threatened could be just the beginning or more heavy-handed restrictions that could negatively affect the marine aquarium trade."

Just as I have seen in my line of work, sometimes these things get out of hand when politics gets involved.

 

[maelstrom79]

Agreed

 

[gacolt]

yep liberals at there best,they never have evidence to back there claims.its sad

 

[tonymission]

Way too many acroporas on that list

 

[seth the wine guy]

I think this is more sensationalized than the big "Going to take all your guns" scare a couple years ago. How many of the above listed corals do you think your typical inspections employee can spot? How many of the above listed corals can ANY of you spot?
There's about three people I know in this whole city that could give examples of each coral on the above list.
You can already commonly buy Rhizo's around town that are sold from the wholesale level as "Orange Bubble Coral." They've been illegal for a long time now.

PIJAC sees a new target market for fund raising (YOU) and with the help of a some high profile coral importers and wholesalers, are raping people for their donations. PIJAC is a joke. It's the who's who of puppy mill owners of the world and big box pet store chains. Just look up their Board of Directors if you need to know who they are or what they're about.

 

[giulianom]

Interesting article/blogpost: