Buying coral in other countries

[reefnoob87]

Good evening,
May be a dumb question but I'm leaving for Jamaica Saturday, and thought it would be neat to purchase a piece of coral for my reef tank as a memento of the trip. I know it is illegal dive and collect wild corral, but could I legally purchase a piece and bring it back?

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Good evening,
May be a dumb question but I'm leaving for Jamaica Saturday, and thought it would be neat to purchase a piece of coral for my reef tank as a memento of the trip. I know it is illegal dive and collect wild corral, but could I legally purchase a piece and bring it back?

How are you getting back, driving or flying? If you are flying, what airline?

 

[saltcats]

I don't believe it would be allowed - the "exporting country" would need to issue a CITES permit to accompany the specimen and I don't think an LFS would be able to do that readily!

Permitting - Coral Disease & Health Consortium

Permitting Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Permits What is CITES? CITES is an international agreement between 166 governments that regulates the trade and exchange of biological specimens to ensure that sample collection and demand does not...

cdhc.noaa.gov