@Chrisv. As an ex-wholesaler myself I'm gonna tell u something terrifying and upsetting at the same time... lacey and cites were both passed into legislation in the 60s in order to protect coral from climate change and international harvesting...
But on the same hand there are many loopholes and gray areas in certain clauses
Think of it this way if you were a wholesaler and had 300k coral instock
Wild maricultured or even aquacultured
Chances are me, you or even a marine biologist couldnt even identify half by their Latin scientific name
Mostly just speculation, we can only assume what it is based on where it comes from and how it grows
So really alot of these names dont = what they actually are
Some wild coral colonies pulled and sold from the ocean may not even have a trade name or scientific name yet bc their undiscovered
The only thing you can tell is it indo pacific blah blah coral, or an aussie ric yuma, or fiji birdsnest
Legally were allowed to collect coral from 42 reefs in the world but something more like 50 we actually collect from
It's the same with chalice theirs over 12 species of chalice 24 families oxypora echinopora echinophylllia and mycedium are the only four that are generally recognized by hobbiest but there are so many more than that do we really know the latin name no it's just a speculation
Alls I'm trying to say gray areas are something that's very prevalent in this hobby and whoever's has the most money invested are generally the ones that pay pulpit groups to pass certain agendas through legislation to further a certain individual's financial gain
Certain things are mislabeled on purpose just to get over bilaws
And on the fish end of things
Look at the Hawaii ban sure it's great for the nation of hawaii but ppls greed will always get the better of them and the almighty dollar will rule over righteousness
It's like yellow tangs have a monopoly now, we know they can only be bred in the wild ...so now a certain unamed company pays for pulpit legislation moves operation from Hawaii to palau and begin harvesting seaweed with yellow tang eggs bc they're illegal to net / harvest in Hawaii, so now they just operate somewhere else and are still ocean poaching and passing it off as something that it isnt and lying and saying it is sustainable, its sustainable because they breed in palau every year
And they paid for the bill to get passed in the first place how ironic or will say to be fair paid for atleast 15% of it
That my friend Is what you call a monopoly
And deceptive marketing tactics
Which in turn increase value and generate revenue
Just like how singapore acted as a hot spot when indo shut down and all the hot indo coral were smuggled by divers and farmers who's livelihoods where at stake, indonesia to singapore then sold to the chinese, European then canadian reefers
Eventually finding their way back to america
It doesnt matter where you are in the world ,all I'm trying to say is this kinda thing goes on more than you think and it's sad and its what's ruining the hobby and killing mom an pops stores
And really the gov doesnt care if your poaching coral along as you have the propper funding for permits stateside
And can pay the customs agent when you go to pick up your boxes
You can even tranship coral and get around it completley
The only way you could get caught is if you were caught doing it red handed and even then people in florida still dive for thing in the reef it and it goes unchecked and overlooked
Because like the teenagers at petco say it doesnt matter they're just fish
