Transporting Corals on International Flights

ginoandres · Jun 15, 2020

Hi all,

I've done a fair bit of digging online but can't find any definitive answers to this question. An employee at my LFS claims you can bring home a limited number of coral frags on an international commercial flight as long as you claim you are a collector.

I haven't been able to substantiate this claim anywhere on the internet. I ask because I visit Taiwan every so often and certain corals are way, way cheaper there. I'd love to be able to bring back a few frags if possible. The only information I've been able to find online is vague... people claiming you "need permits" and "it's not worth the hassle." I'm looking for specifics. Anyone have any idea?

Biglew11 · Jun 15, 2020

i'd recommend contacting the airline your flying on, and customs possibly at your port of entry (airport you fly back into u.s.) and maybe taiwan.

https://travel.state.gov/content/tr...-travel/before-you-go/customs-and-import.html

tehmadreefer · Jun 15, 2020

Don’t ask on here as nobody has any authority to say yes or no. Contact customs and the airlines.

BighohoReef · Jun 15, 2020

ginoandres said:
Hi all,

I've done a fair bit of digging online but can't find any definitive answers to this question. An employee at my LFS claims you can bring home a limited number of coral frags on an international commercial flight as long as you claim you are a collector.

I haven't been able to substantiate this claim anywhere on the internet. I ask because I visit Taiwan every so often and certain corals are way, way cheaper there. I'd love to be able to bring back a few frags if possible. The only information I've been able to find online is vague... people claiming you "need permits" and "it's not worth the hassle." I'm looking for specifics. Anyone have any idea?

I've wondered the same thing... we're going back to Taiwan in Dec and of course I have to check out the LFS stores.

US Fish and Wildlife Regulation of coral import: https://www.fws.gov/international/animals/coral.html

I know not quite what you're looking for but there was an article on reef.com talking about taking corals from indo.

Indonesian coral collection rules, and those who abuse them

Many marine aquarists may not be aware, but Indonesia is the supplier of a large percentage of aquarium corals and fish. This southeast Asian country has a popu

reefs.com

sfmacguy · Jun 15, 2020

I can tell you the last time I flew back from Taiwan I attempted to do this, and the customs agents when I landed had no idea what to do. They offered that I could set up a saltwater aquarium at the airport, and await the Fish and Wildlife to come in and verify during their next shift, which was like 4 days away. The amount of paperwork needed, which was an impossible to get from Fish Street vendors to prove CITES legality. Good Luck and let us know if you find anything more solid

jaxteller007 · Jun 15, 2020

Considering they make you fill out all kinds of forms and stuff even for bring back some fruit, I'd imagine anything like coral would not be that simple. It's already been mentioned but your best bet is contacting customs directly. I wouldn't even bother with the airlines, it doesn't matter what they say you can bring back if customs says no.

Might be worth checking on international shipping and shipping it from there back to your house then have someone you know and trust there waiting...

Kyl · Jun 15, 2020

Smuggling CITES (SPS / LPS / CLAMS / LIVE ROCK & RUBBLE) is a good way to get arrested. Just don't.

ginoandres · Jun 15, 2020

Kyl said:
Smuggling CITES (SPS / LPS / CLAMS / LIVE ROCK & RUBBLE) is a good way to get arrested. Just don't.

No one is talking about smuggling anything...

Kyl · Jun 15, 2020

ginoandres said:
No one is talking about smuggling anything...

You need a CITES export permit from the country of origin, it is something the seller initiates, not the buyer. Any appendix II CITES listed species won't just be carry-on and declare when you land. Ignorance of the importation laws isn't a defense, if you lack the proper permits it is effectively smuggling, and in the case of an appendix II listed CITES species, that would be smuggling in trade of a restricted species.

See this list for corals that require CITES exportation permits:

Checklist of CITES species

checklist.cites.org

JoshH · Jun 15, 2020

As mentioned above, not really worth the effort and would probably cost you far more than buying locally or within your own country. I looked into it a little while ago and while there are some things you can travel with that wouldn't be too hard to deal with. The majority of the sought after corals can't be moved without multiple permits and dealing with more than one government entity. If you are traveling domestically there are farrr less restrictions if any depending on the state your in that is. It's when you cross a border where the issues lie

jaxteller007 · Jun 15, 2020

Kyl said:
You need a CITES export permit from the country of origin, it is something the seller initiates, not the buyer. Any appendix II CITES listed species won't just be carry-on and declare when you land. Ignorance of the importation laws isn't a defense, if you lack the proper permits it is effectively smuggling, and in the case of an appendix II listed CITES species, that would be smuggling in trade of a restricted species.

See this list for corals that require CITES exportation permits:

Checklist of CITES species

checklist.cites.org

121 pages. Yea I'm going to guess just about any coral you'd want to buy over there and bring back is going to be on that list lol.

Halal Hotdog · Jun 15, 2020

tehmadreefer said:
Don’t ask on here as nobody has any authority to say yes or no. Contact customs and the airlines.

Ummm...

sfmacguy said:
I can tell you the last time I flew back from Taiwan I attempted to do this, and the customs agents when I landed had no idea what to do. They offered that I could set up a saltwater aquarium at the airport, and await the Fish and Wildlife to come in and verify during their next shift, which was like 4 days away. The amount of paperwork needed, which was an impossible to get from Fish Street vendors to prove CITES legality. Good Luck and let us know if you find anything more solid

Funlad3 · Jun 15, 2020

Kyl said:
You need a CITES export permit from the country of origin, it is something the seller initiates, not the buyer. Any appendix II CITES listed species won't just be carry-on and declare when you land. Ignorance of the importation laws isn't a defense, if you lack the proper permits it is effectively smuggling, and in the case of an appendix II listed CITES species, that would be smuggling in trade of a restricted species.

See this list for corals that require CITES exportation permits:

Checklist of CITES species

checklist.cites.org

I've handled imports from overseas countries and researched CITES policy as a part of my undergrad degree. @Kyl is 100% correct. If you really want to get coral overseas, your best bet is to find a professional exporter in that country and have them apply for CITES permits for the corals you're looking for, but you'd still need to get a bunch of paperwork cleared with US Customs and FWS, which would be incredibly difficult to clear with them as a passenger on a flight.

tehmadreefer · Jun 15, 2020

Halal Hotdog said:
Ummm...

One person’s supposed experience is law?

tehmadreefer · Jun 15, 2020

I’ve decided to hear by state: YES! you are allowed to bring them with you. If you need a permission slip, I will write one up for you. If you have any problem just tell em a guy on r2r said it was ok.

that should work!

Dr. Dendrostein · Jun 15, 2020

ginoandres said:
Hi all,

I've done a fair bit of digging online but can't find any definitive answers to this question. An employee at my LFS claims you can bring home a limited number of coral frags on an international commercial flight as long as you claim you are a collector.

I haven't been able to substantiate this claim anywhere on the internet. I ask because I visit Taiwan every so often and certain corals are way, way cheaper there. I'd love to be able to bring back a few frags if possible. The only information I've been able to find online is vague... people claiming you "need permits" and "it's not worth the hassle." I'm looking for specifics. Anyone have any idea?

I did a thread on what you mention, the only difference is I was trying to get 6 pieces ship to the US. Whether you ship them here or you bring them with you it is the same. I'll get you a link on my thread and it has emails from US customs exactly what they expect from you and what documentation. In a nutshell, it must be declare for personal use, you're permitted up to eight pieces but you want to bring just six, the US custom email mention that if you bring 8 they may consider it as commercial use and then you won't be able to bring them in. I'll look for the link

Dr. Dendrostein · Jun 15, 2020

Here's link

IMPORT 101

So I have contact with a station in Africa, for Alcyonacea corals , dendronephthya, one common name carnation corals. The catch, this region of Africa not under CITES treaty. Not an issue because most Alcyonacea corals aren't protected from CITES treaty. This coming week will talk to Fish...

www.reef2reef.com

jaxteller007 · Jun 16, 2020

Dr. Dendrostein said:
Here's link

IMPORT 101

So I have contact with a station in Africa, for Alcyonacea corals , dendronephthya, one common name carnation corals. The catch, this region of Africa not under CITES treaty. Not an issue because most Alcyonacea corals aren't protected from CITES treaty. This coming week will talk to Fish...

www.reef2reef.com

Very informative thread. Did you ever wind up importing or did it end up being too costly?
Also I would assume there are some big differences between importing them through a vendor and trying to import on your own by bringing them back on a flight with you... mainly that in my experience airline employees will tell you just about anything even if it's not correct.

Dr. Dendrostein · Jun 16, 2020

jaxteller007 said:
Very informative thread. Did you ever wind up importing or did it end up being too costly?
Also I would assume there are some big differences between importing them through a vendor and trying to import on your own by bringing them back on a flight with you... mainly that in my experience airline employees will tell you just about anything even if it's not correct.

Even if you bring them with you on the flight, they're going to want health certificate, certificate of origination, CITES permits...... it's alive creature so they have concerns
I was not able to import them because importing 6 corals would cost me a little under $900, I believe.

jaxteller007 · Jun 16, 2020

Dr. Dendrostein said:
Even if you bring them with you on the flight, they're going to want health certificate, certificate of origination, CITES permits...... it's alive creature so they have concerns
I was not able to import them because importing 6 corals would cost me a little under $900, I believe.

As far as the flight, I meant more in lines that I wouldn't trust what the airline told me to be what was actually allowed or required. I worked overseas for a number of years and had airlines tell me quite a few times that something was allowed to bring back with no paperwork or only one little form, only for customs to be all "LOL nope!". And that wasn't even live goods lol.