NOAA Lists 20 New Corals as Threatened Under the Endangered Species Act

[Eric Boerner]

NOAA announced today that 20 coral species have now been listed as endangered under the ESA.

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/stories/2014/08/corals_listing.html

For those not wishing to read the full article:

US Waters
Acropora cervicornis (Staghorn)
Acropora palmata (Elkhorn)
Mycetophyllia ferox
Dendrogyra cylindrus
Orbicella annularis
Orbicella faveolata
Orbicella franksi

Pacific Waters
Acropora globiceps
Acropora jacquelineae
Acropora lokani
Acropora pharaonis
Acropora retusa
Acropora rudis
Acropora speciosa
Acropora tenella
Anacropora spinosa
Euphyllia paradivisa
Isopora crateriformis
Montipora australiensis
Pavona diffluens
Porites napopora
Seriatopora aculeata

We can expect import trade of these species to halt in the coming months. Of the listed species, several are commonly traded in the hobby: Euphyllia paradivisa, Acropora jacquelineae, Acropora speciosa, Acropora lokani, Montipora australiensis, and Seriatopora aculeata.

The rumors of Frogspawn imports coming to and end is certainly true.

Secondly, it also brings on a new set of dangers for us as hobbyists. While the ESA states plainly that any trade of endangered species 'live' or as 'parts' is a federal felony, it does not state plainly about animals already in captivity when the species is listed. So we do know that any 'trade' of these corals be it live or skeletons, will result in a NMFS special agent tracking us down. They set up stings all the time to rope in people they think are dealing in the back-market. Any coral traded on that list will be considered BM trade, regardless if it was self-propagated or not.

As much as I hate to say it, it's a pretty bad day for the hobby. A great day for the reef ecosystems in the wild, but a really bad day for the aquaculture trade.

 

[GreshamH]

ooops.... they are listed as Threatened, not Endangered.

 

[nvictor]

Good write up Eric. But in all honesty we(hobbyists, sellers) haven't policed ourselves.
When we buy fresh wild harvested corals we are destroying the corals in the wild.We should try to limit what we harvest from the wild and use more aquacultured corals. Since these have higher survival rates anyway this will help preserve the wild reef ecosystems and get them off the threatened list.