SPEAK UP FOR YOUR HOBBY OR LOSE IT! April 5th, 2013

I've spent the last 24 hours working on the "mass media" aspects of getting this news out, and am now spending time to bring my local clubs up to speed. In short, if you wish to continue keeping corals in your reef tanks, you need to take time to investigate this issue TODAY, April 5th, and submit commentary to our government before 11 PM CTS.

This has been going on for years, but recently NOAA has pushed forward with the proposal to list 66 species of stony coral on the endangered species list. MANY of these species are corals we commonly keep and frag and propagate.

If this listing goes through, it will do two things.

1. Due to the general inability to ID corals with certainty, the listing of the 66 species in question touches most genera we keep, and likely would cause the wholesale banning of the trade in live coral (and for that matter, coral jewelry etc. as well). This includes maricutlured and aquacultured corals, because the ESA has no provisions to allow for trade in cultivated endangered species.

2. This will make the possession, propagation, and sale of any species listed illegal. I have no clue if there would be any way to be grandfathered in, but I also think that this hasn't come up in the past, so there's no precedent. We very well could find ourselves in a position where the only way to stay on the legal good side would be if they provided some sort of amnesty and we all turned in our now "endangered corals"....or we simply threw them in the trash or buried them in our gardens or something.

This may sound absurd, but this is how the ESA works. I found nothing to give me any hope that our hobby would NOT be affected....pretty scary.

Here are three important links to help get you started:

PIJAC call to action with instructions on how to comment (please read the PDF linked in the article for the FULL story):
http://www.reef2rainforest.com/2013/04/04/pijac-call-to-action-comment-on-proposed-esa-listing-of-66-coral-species/

My commentary on this issue:
http://www.reef2rainforest.com/2013/04/04/commentary-noaas-20122013-66-coral-esa-proposal/

MASNA's stance on this issue (I encourage you to reference the MASNA letter in addition to any personal comment you make):
http://www.reef2rainforest.com/2013/04/04/open-letter-to-coral-readers-from-masna/

Do not wait, do not delay, you MUST comment today, April 5th, before 11:00 PM CTS.

None of these links work.

Sorry, they got truncated in the copy and paste. They should work now!

I have a thread up on Red River Valley Reefers as well... I have commented and I hope it gets tossed out.

I posted my comments. I never thought I'd be an activist! I hope others joined the movement as well. And, hopefully it will make a difference.

Thanks Matt for the heads up!

It's not about being an activist, so much as simply defending your rights.

Was kidding....

Looks like public commentary did not close last night, which means it closes tonight. I am frankly shocked that more people have yet to comment - it seems like folks aren't "getting it".

This is VERY serious and potentially a game changer. Please read Julian Sprung's contributions today, and do not delay to comment NOW while you still can! http://www.reef2rainforest.com/2013/04/06/julian-sprungs-noaa-esa-commentary/

799 comments as of right now

When I saw this Thursday it was 46....

That's good, right? lol

I think so....