[Coral-List] question about the expanded listing of coral species
Andrea A. Treece
atreece at biologicaldiversity.org
Mon Feb 22 13:01:15 EST 2010
Hi Les,
The petition authors chose the corals based on three criteria:
(1) species occur within US jurisdiction
(2) IUCN species accounts estimated population reductions of at least 30%
over a 30-year period; they are IUCN-listed as Vulnerable, Endangered, or
Critically Endangered
(3) literature review of threats
With regard to the aquarium hobby, the petition notes harvest of wild coral
- particularly destructive and unregulated or poorly regulated wild harvest
- as a threat to the species. There's no criticism of trade in aquacultured
corals or intent to prevent it. The ESA petition process requires that all
threats to the species be identified. Obviously, some are greater than
others.
Thanks,
Andrea
Andrea A. Treece
Senior Attorney, Oceans Program
Center for Biological Diversity
351 California Street, Suite 600
San Francisco, CA 94104
ph: 415-436-9682 x306 fax: 415-436-9683
Message: 3
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:39:39 -0500
From: Les Kaufman <lesk at bu.edu>
Subject: [Coral-List] question about the expanded listing of coral
species
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Message-ID: <5D31552B-5B2A-4C58-8ADD-EDE02BF9A578 at bu.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed;
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Hi coral listing aficionados, pro and con.
I looked at the Center for Biodiversity petition for listing 83 (some say
82, I guess counts vary) species of coral under the ESA. I was supportive
of the Caribbean Acropora spp. listing but this time I'm a bit puzzled.
How were these particular species arrived at? I might have just missed it,
but certain species that really are of serious concern didn't seem to be
there- for example, Agaricia tenuifolia, or a host of regional endemics that
might have made more logical first-ups for such a list.
Also, I am just wondering- what are the intended effects on the aquarium
hobby and trade? The intention of adding some legal teeth to the fight for
350 ppm I can understand, but to worry about over- collection of live corals
for the aquarium trade- or more importantly, trade of aquacultured corals-
in the same breath, while we have this
immense global problem as first priority, is peculiar. It's been
demonstrated in a few places that collecting of corals for the aquarium
trade can be conducted in a sustainable manner, and having more coral reef
fans in the world could hardly be a bad thing if they were suitably engaged
in the larger battle.
Les
Les Kaufman
Professor of Biology
Boston University Marine Program
and
Senior PI
Marine Management Area Science
Conservation International
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