<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10761477#post10761477 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by greenbean36191
CITES is the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, which is essentially a self governed treaty on trading threatened and endangered species. Based on how threatened each species is it's assigned to one of 3 appendices. Appendix I is pretty much for truly endangered or threatened species and trade is only allowed in very special cases and with a lot of red tape. Appendix II is species that aren't endangered but need to be regulated so they don't get that way. Essentially a yearly collection quota is set by each member country and once that quota is met no more collection is allowed for the year. Appendix III is for species that have regional or local issues but the rules are basically the same as Appendix II. To import any CITES species into a member country you have to have the correct documentation to prove that it was collected in accordance with CITES, i.e. it came from another member country and the quota for the year wasn't already met.
All of the hard corals, LR, clams, and some of the fish in the hobby are already listed as Appendix II. Pink and red corals (which refers to certain species, not the color) were recently added to Appendix II, so they got the same protection that our corals have had for years.