It seems such registration could only work for captive bred specimens. I like the idea of a reliable certification for captive bred critters, BUT, I have serious reservations about the registrations of lineage in corals--or fish, for that matter.
I raise, train and sell draft horses. I switched from Belgians and Percherons (and occassional mules) several years ago to Suffolk Punch.
There are differences between the breeds in terms of body confirmation and even some behavioral patterns (i.e., Percherons TEND to be more high strung than Suffolks) but these are only statistical patterns and none hold true for every individual of every breed (i.e., I have a Suffolk mare now that is more high strung than any Percheron I've ever seen.)
So, why did I bother to switch breeds, which involved an incredible amount of planning, expense, and work (transporting draft horses is more involved than transporting aquarium fish)? Simple: Suffolks are a rare breed and sell for a higher price. Registration of lineage in horses is what I am doing for my on-farm income.
People will pay more than twice the price for a horse with papers than for a "grade" horse that is much better in terms of actual quality. In short, they are not paying for the horse, they are paying for the papers.
Is this what we want for corals?
One more factor: The Minor Breeds Conservancy and the University of Kentucky have been doing genetic testing of rare breeds of livestock, including draft horses, for awhile. In total numbers there are several times more Belgians and Percherons than there are Suffolks. But, in terms of genetic diversity there is far more diversity among the Suffolks than among the Belgians or Percherons.
Why? Because the Belgians and Percherons have become primarily show animals instead of actual work animals the registration papers have become more important than the quality of the individual animal. There are "certified" lines that are deemed by current fashion to be "superior" to other lines. These become the lines everyone seeks to cross into whatever lines they currently have. The result has been massive inbreeding.
Look at what has happened with Thoroughbreds! There are too few individuals, and individual blood lines, that every one is scrambling to breed to. The result is a decline in the breed, if not the species. Thoroughbreds have become VERY fast, but too brittle to survive (and crazy as hell, as everyone who has been around them knows). Look at the breeds of what used to be working dogs that are now useless show animals.
Do we really want to go that route for the various species that are becoming rare? Or do we want to just keep reproducing the most survival tested individuals? I can easily envision corals being selected primarily on the basis of color intensity--or any other single trait--and traits critical to their survival as a species being lost.
Is this what we want? I vote for staying the hell away from any form of registration and sticking to favoring what is actually working at the individual level. That will, hopefully, strengthen the species rather than weakening it.
