Coral trafficking...why we can't have nice things.

[Chrisv.]

And this, friends, is why the Lacey act legislation is not as crazy as it sounds.

10 Charged for Illegally Trafficking Corals from the Philippines

www.justice.gov

"According to court documents,

Jerome Anthony Stringfield, 43 of Kissimmee, Florida;

Albert B. Correira, 35, of Westport, Massachusetts;

Allen William Ockey, 35, of Long Beach, California,

are each charged with felony violations of conspiracy, violations of the Lacey Act and smuggling of corals from the Philippines.

In separate filings, the following individuals are each charged with misdemeanor offenses related to violations of the Lacey Act:

Derek M. Kelley, 31 of Elkhart, Indiana;

Wayne R. King, 42, of Cabot Arizona;

James Knight 47, of Newaygo, Michigan;

Valeriy V. Gorbounov, 46 of Morrison, Colorado;

Nathan C. Meisner, 35, of Rapid City, South Dakota;

Ricky A. Sprires, 34, of Gilbert South Carolina;

Michael J. Lecam, 50, of Providence, Rhode Island."

Here is what I could find about the companies involved... Obviously not an complete list:

Florida’s Finest Reef, LLC.
A&W Corals of Cabot az
CJ Corals of Michigan
Reef Stars LLC of Colorado
Refined Reef of South Dakota
Carolina Corals and Aquatics of South Carolina
Savage Reef of South Carolina



EDIT: @revhtree the savage reef was posting in the sponsor forum, but it's unclear if they are currently a sponsor. Can you confirm?

Tidal Wave Aquatics of Rhode Island (@fitch4 a seller at this year's FFM)

I wonder how many of these corals we're trafficked on reef2reef.

Chop shops are never the answer in this hobby. Sellers should be providing colony photos to demonstrate that their corals are truly long term captive grown aquacultured frags.

If we don't sell regulate by asking for proof of corals being aquacultured, the government well regulate the industry for us.

 

[SlugSnorter]

Coral chop shops are just awful...

We need one of those undercover reporters to get a scoop in on whose knowingly buying smuggled corals

 

[3429810]

And this, friends, is why the Lacey act legislation is not as crazy as it sounds.

10 Charged for Illegally Trafficking Corals from the Philippines

www.justice.gov

"According to court documents,

Jerome Anthony Stringfield, 43 of Kissimmee, Florida;

Albert B. Correira, 35, of Westport, Massachusetts;

Allen William Ockey, 35, of Long Beach, California,

are each charged with felony violations of conspiracy, violations of the Lacey Act and smuggling of corals from the Philippines.

In separate filings, the following individuals are each charged with misdemeanor offenses related to violations of the Lacey Act:

Derek M. Kelley, 31 of Elkhart, Indiana;

Wayne R. King, 42, of Cabot Arizona;

James Knight 47, of Newaygo, Michigan;

Valeriy V. Gorbounov, 46 of Morrison, Colorado;

Nathan C. Meisner, 35, of Rapid City, South Dakota;

Ricky A. Sprires, 34, of Gilbert South Carolina;

Michael J. Lecam, 50, of Providence, Rhode Island."

Here is what I could find about the companies involved... Obviously not an complete list:

Florida’s Finest Reef, LLC.
A&W Corals of Cabot az
CJ Corals of Michigan
Reef Stars LLC of Colorado
Refined Reef of South Dakota
Carolina Corals and Aquatics of South Carolina
Savage Reef of South Carolina

(Note to @revhtree savage reef is a sponsor here. You should NOT continue to provide a place for them to hock illegal corals. https://www.bizapedia.com/sc/savage-reef-llc.html)

Tidal Wave Aquatics of Rhode Island (@fitch4 a seller at this year's FFM)

I wonder how many of these corals we're trafficked on reef2reef.

Chop shops are never the answer in this hobby. Sellers should be providing colony photos to demonstrate that their corals are truly long term captive grown aquacultured frags.

If we don't sell regulate by asking for proof of corals being aquacultured, the government well regulate the industry for us.

Corals don’t have to be aquacultured to be legal though? I get your general premise but you don’t seem to be accounting for wild caught and maricultured corals.

what does the Lacey act have to do with this at all? Is it not cites that regulates what coral is legal from what areas?

 

[Chrisv.]

Coral chop shops are just awful...

We need one of those undercover reporters to get a scoop in on whose knowingly buying smuggled corals

It's a huge part of the current hobby. I suspect that only a tiny fraction of the torch corals that are a part of the most recent craze come from aquaculture. But everyone has to have their torches.

 

[Chrisv.]

Corals don’t have to be aquacultured to be legal though? I get your general premise but you don’t seem to be accounting for wild caught and maricultured corals.

They certainly don't need to be aquacultured to be legal. Mariculture is actually an ok solution, but unfortunately it provides a trafficking opportunity for unscrupulous exporters.

There are certainly wild corals that are legal. Most of them won't do as well in a hobbiest's tank and an obscene proportion of them die while making their 15,000 mile trip from the wild reef to the US.

I don't have patience for chop shops because they are overall bad for corals, bad for wild reefs, and for most reefers, result in fewer success stories than fully aquacultured specimens. Aquaculture facilities need brood stock from somewhere. My issue is that many chop shops treat coral like cut flowers.

But the point of THIS thread is to call out the problem of illegal import. It's related to the Lacey act because it's what was used to charge them. Details in the article.

 

[SlugSnorter]

It's a huge part of the current hobby. I suspect that only a tiny fraction of the torch corals that are a part of the most recent craze come from aquaculture. But everyone has to have their torches.

I have nothing against people who are just unaware, If someone buys a torch thinking its captive bred and they get a chop shop coral, its not their fault. I despise people/stores/companies who mislabel and sell chop shop corals

 

[3429810]

They certainly don't need to be aquacultured to be legal. Mariculture is actually an ok solution, but unfortunately it provides a trafficking opportunity for unscrupulous exporters.

There are certainly wild corals that are legal. Most of them won't do as well in a hobbiest's tank and an obscene proportion of them die while making their 15,000 mile trip from the wild reef to the US.

I don't have patience for chop shops because they are overall bad for corals, bad for wild reefs, and for most reefers, result in fewer success stories than fully aquacultured specimens. Aquaculture facilities need brood stock from somewhere. My issue is that many chop shops treat coral like cut flowers.

But the point of THIS thread is to call out the problem of illegal import. It's related to the Lacey act because it's what was used to charge them. Details in the article.

My bad I thought you were meaning the proposed changes to the Lacey act not just referencing it in terms of this case. Brain was clearly still half asleep lol. I agree with everything else you said though and luckily I think a lot of other hobbyists, at least on here, feel the same.

These changes needs to come from the retail and wholesale level though. No way the average hobbyist can put in enough time and research to figure out which corals from where are illegal to import/own. Even if every r2r member was perfect in policing this stuff that can’t be a large percentage of the entire hobby so that leaves lots of room for people to sell illegal stuff. It’s certainly a hard situation to really to and regulate.

 

[snorklr]

this is the basic problem when you make anything illegal and there's still a market for it...the price goes up and the potential for profit makes it worth the risk of doing it illegally...from corals to drugs to ivory to exotic animals...there will always be a black market and no matter how hard the authorities try the stuff will always be available if you know the right people...they just caught one group..how many more do you think are still out there

 

[polyppal]

 

[Wasabiroot]

this is the basic problem when you make anything illegal and there's still a market for it...the price goes up and the potential for profit makes it worth the risk of doing it illegally...from corals to drugs to ivory to exotic animals...there will always be a black market and no matter how hard the authorities try the stuff will always be available if you know the right people...they just caught one group..how many more do you think are still out there

Yeah, but the alternative isn't better in this case.

 

[polyppal]

And this, friends, is why the Lacey act legislation is not as crazy as it sounds.

10 Charged for Illegally Trafficking Corals from the Philippines

www.justice.gov

"According to court documents,

Jerome Anthony Stringfield, 43 of Kissimmee, Florida;

Albert B. Correira, 35, of Westport, Massachusetts;

Allen William Ockey, 35, of Long Beach, California,

are each charged with felony violations of conspiracy, violations of the Lacey Act and smuggling of corals from the Philippines.

In separate filings, the following individuals are each charged with misdemeanor offenses related to violations of the Lacey Act:

Derek M. Kelley, 31 of Elkhart, Indiana;

Wayne R. King, 42, of Cabot Arizona;

James Knight 47, of Newaygo, Michigan;

Valeriy V. Gorbounov, 46 of Morrison, Colorado;

Nathan C. Meisner, 35, of Rapid City, South Dakota;

Ricky A. Sprires, 34, of Gilbert South Carolina;

Michael J. Lecam, 50, of Providence, Rhode Island."

Here is what I could find about the companies involved... Obviously not an complete list:

Florida’s Finest Reef, LLC.
A&W Corals of Cabot az
CJ Corals of Michigan
Reef Stars LLC of Colorado
Refined Reef of South Dakota
Carolina Corals and Aquatics of South Carolina
Savage Reef of South Carolina

(Note to @revhtree savage reef is a sponsor here. You should NOT continue to provide a place for them to hock illegal corals. https://www.bizapedia.com/sc/savage-reef-llc.html)


EDIT: @revhtree the savage reef was posting in the sponsor forum, but it's unclear if they are currently a sponsor. Can you confirm?

Tidal Wave Aquatics of Rhode Island (@fitch4 a seller at this year's FFM)

I wonder how many of these corals we're trafficked on reef2reef.

Chop shops are never the answer in this hobby. Sellers should be providing colony photos to demonstrate that their corals are truly long term captive grown aquacultured frags.

If we don't sell regulate by asking for proof of corals being aquacultured, the government well regulate the industry for us.

“The indictment alleges that between July 2017 and August 2018, the defendants paid a Philippine national to dive for and collect protected marine corals. The Philippine national would illegally ship the collected coral through common carriers and falsely label the packages. All shipments landed and traveled through Anchorage, Alaska. The defendants would then sell the coral online to coral collectors and hobbyists.”

Sadly I’d bet there’s a TON of this going on still… I’ve met a lot of shady ‘coral dealers’ over the years

(imagine how many heat packs he was using to keep them alive using Anchorage as his hub?!)

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I wonder if any of the stores that bought had any idea

 

[Chrisv.]

I wonder if any of the stores that bought had any idea

Many of these people own stores, and sell directly to folks online. I'm wondering how many of us have seen these people at our local frag swaps. I know at least one of them sold at two frag swaps in my area.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Corals don’t have to be aquacultured to be legal though? I get your general premise but you don’t seem to be accounting for wild caught and maricultured corals.

what does the Lacey act have to do with this at all? Is it not cites that regulates what coral is legal from what areas?

CITES II is difficult to enforce directly once the import has taken place. Moving the corals across state lines makes it a Lacey Act violation as well….
Jay

 

[Arego]

Did we really think this wasn't already happening? And that we all inadvertently support it? How could you possibly vet every single frag from everyone with a 40g lowboy and a $60 LLC.. if they're really big they have a banner hung above their table.. c'mon. Anyone caught doing it should absolutely feel industry pain for sure.

Cannabis has it right with going RFID on seeds from planting to the consumers mouth, it's all tracked.

 

[mdb_talon]

Did we really think this wasn't already happening? And that we all inadvertently support it? How could you possibly vet every single frag from everyone with a 40g lowboy and a $60 LLC.. if they're really big they have a banner hung above their table.. c'mon. Anyone caught doing it should absolutely feel industry pain for sure.

Cannabis has it right with going RFID on seeds from planting to the consumers mouth, it's all tracked.

I assume the vast majority of us knows it goes on, but a good discussion topic nonetheless. Also a good reminder for people.

I use facebook only for my hobbies of which coral is one. I have been contacted multiple times to buy coral from overseas under what i would consider shady circumstances. Obviously they dont come out and say "do you want to buy some illegal coral", but in some cases looking at their profiles and the fact they dont reply when you ask about CITES is a pretty good indication to stop any discussion.

 

[DE FISH]

Watching let me get the popcorn out

 

[Chrisv.]

I assume the vast majority of us knows it goes on, but a good discussion topic nonetheless. Also a good reminder for people.

I use facebook only for my hobbies of which coral is one. I have been contacted multiple times to buy coral from overseas under what i would consider shady circumstances. Obviously they dont come out and say "do you want to buy some illegal coral", but in some cases looking at their profiles and the fact they dont reply when you ask about CITES is a pretty good indication to stop any discussion.

Exactly. We know that it happens, but we don't have to knowingly support it directly. Given that at least one of these people was at one point a sponsor here who sold coral on this site, it's a relevant discussion.

Personally, I buy coral from the tanks of local hobbiests who I know do not run chop shops.

 

[mindme]

I find myself caring about this way less than the majority here.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Savage Reef of South Carolina

(Note to @revhtree savage reef is a sponsor here. You should NOT continue to provide a place for them to hock illegal corals. https://www.bizapedia.com/sc/savage-reef-llc.html)


EDIT: @revhtree the savage reef was posting in the sponsor forum, but it's unclear if they are currently a sponsor. Can you confirm?

I looked into this, and checked with Rev. We do not have a sponsor by that name.