Anyone go to South Pacific and bring back coral?

[ronvdp]

I'm going to Fiji in a few weeks and was wondering if anyone here had gone to South Pacific and managed to bring something back. I read a bit about it and understand there are a lot of laws in place. Thought about hooking up with an importer to help with the process. Just want to collect a few frags and possibly have them brought back by someone with a line on that sort of thing. I've read a bit about the collection process which is way tougher than I'd imagined. Apparently you have to cover a reef the size of a football field to find a few really colorful pieces. If anyone here has any experience please chime in or pm me!
Thanks!

 

[Wazzel]

Some places it is illegal to harvest without an collection permit. It is illegal to bring ornamental corals back to the US without the proper paperwork. The paperwork is to costly to make it practical for an individual.

There is also ethical questions on random individuals collecting when there is quite a bit of farmed and captive propagated selection out there.

 

[menard]

Go check out Walt Smith facility in Fiji they might be able to help u, private tour and such.

 

[ronvdp]

Some places it is illegal to harvest without an collection permit. It is illegal to bring ornamental corals back to the US without the proper paperwork. The paperwork is to costly to make it practical for an individual.

There is also ethical questions on random individuals collecting when there is quite a bit of farmed and captive propagated selection out there.

I get all that, I'm wondering if there is a way to bring back a few specimens, even small frags of particularly nice corals, if I find any. I have every intention to do it legally.

 

[ronvdp]

Go check out Walt Smith facility in Fiji they might be able to help u, private tour and such.

Thanks! That's what I was hoping for.

 

[Buddhatank]

It would be nice to be able to order from WSI

 

[ronvdp]

Yes it would. I looked into it and its near impossible without being a distributor/wholesaler. Business stuff.

Would be a huge bummer to be swimming along and see a piece of Purple Monster or something even better and no way to get a frag of it.

After doing some research I found that the amount of work going into collecting and bringing to our shops is impressive. Add onto that the rarity of the kind of specimens everyone seems to love most I now have a better understanding of why they can be so expensive.