Frag No More? Endangered Species Proposal Threatens Marine Aquaculture
A petition to classify 82 stony corals as Endangered Species under U.S. law could spell doom—or a bureaucratic nightmare—for any business or individual aquaculturing corals or live rock for the aquarium trade, industry experts are predicting.
Marinelife Collection Debate Heats Up in Florida
The headline “Are Aquariums Getting Too Lifelike?” is splashed across the top of the front page of today’s Science Times section of The New York Times, with a jumbo image of Joe Yaiullo doing maintenance in the 20,000-gallon reef at Atlantis Marine World. The article, by Henry Fountain, provides a balance of viewpoints, but it has Florida marinelife collectors, and state wildlife regulators, lining up to defend themselves.
U.S. Considers Endangered Species Protection for 83 Stony Coral Species
A move to place more than 80 species of stony corals on the Endangered Species list appears to be gaining traction with the U.S. federal government. A petition from an Arizona-based environmental group calls for protection of 8 Caribbean and Western Atlantic species, 9 corals in the Hawaiian Islands, and 66 species from the Indo-Pacific.
Endangered Corals
We (NMFS) announce a 90– day finding on a petition to list 83 species of corals as threatened or endangered under the ESA. We find that the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned actions may be warranted for 82 species; we find that the petition fails to present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted for Oculina varicosa. Therefore, we initiate status reviews of 82 species of corals to determine if listing under the ESA is warranted. To ensure these status reviews are comprehensive, we solicit scientific and commercial information regarding these coral species.
Online Odds and Ends
Public Aquarist Jay Hemdal covers a diverse range of fish health and husbandry topics in this “odds and ends” report.
Jon Gordon says:
Please sign this to support common sense rules in Florida. Ask Fish and Wildlife not to use an ill-advised whitelist of animals that can be kept. All you need to do is add your name to the following statement, "A viable option I support would be a list of prohibited species, which would be a much smaller, manageable and enforceable list than one that attempts to encompass all allowed species. " https://petadvocacy.org/advocacy-campaigns?vvsrc=%2FPetitions%2F3902%2FRespondBryce David says:
To whom it may concern, A whitelist approach to regulating which species are legally allowed to be obtained and traded will decimate fish farms and pet stores. This is not a well thought out approach for combating invasive species release into ecosystems. Best Management Practices have already made inroads on preventing the release of foreign invader species. I suggest a review of those practices and amend them if they are deemed to be insufficient. Sincerely, Bryce DavidEdward Moats says:
I urge you to consider the ramifications of losing a 172 million dollar industry in your state. I completely support the black list and agree that invasive species is a big concern. However , I feel that this bill is over reaching and will have a negative impact not only On the industry , but to Florida’s economy.