Take good care of your frogspawn...

[Reef Bass]

In case you haven't heard, some of our lovely and popular corals have been declared as threatened in the wild and as such any trade in those species will soon be illegal. Frogspawn (Euphyllia paradivisa) is listed, as are some acro species.

Here's a link to Eric Boerner's post

As reefs decline around the world, I think it is likely that more and more corals that we love as hobbyists will be listed. While obviously the official legal importation and commercial distribution of these species will be discontinued, I'm not clear on what happens to specimens that are already in the country and in hobbyist tanks.

Anybody know?

I am for protecting remaining endangered species in the wild. IMHO, it would be ironic if the preservation of endangered species through private hobbyist sharing of already imported and existing captive animals were to be prohibited.

 

[woodnaquanut]

I don't know if Mr. Saltwatertank is totally right but he has taken the effort to publish.

Take a look at:
http://youtu.be/gVwkh27b59c

Simple response is anything listed as threatened, like the last 20 corals, can be treated by NOAA as endangered. Endangered means it is illegal to own, sell and most importantly for us, transport across state lines. There is very little chance NOAA will hunt down our own tanks, but it will kill the commercial trade in these organisms.

If they get endangered status I foresee a 'Smokey and the Bandits' kind of activity. The car will be a well insulated Prius with perhaps a Grateful Dead sticker on the bumper.

Unfortunately the law doesn't distinguish between wild caught and aqua-cultured. It was originally written to protect organisms from extinction. As far as I know it has not been amended to deal with cultured creatures.

MASNA, the Marine Aquarium Societies of North America, is now matching funds for donations to PIJAC, an industry lobby, to influence the rules and laws concerning our industry. If you'd like to donate just go to the MASNA website, masna.org