Hey guys,
I thought this information could be interesting here, as food for thought with regards to control on this hobby.
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When I started my reef tank in 2003, while still living in Paris, everybody was always talking about "you need to get a CITES permit when you buy coral, clams, etc". Practically, most of my corals were frags coming from other people, and the only time I bought a clam in a big 100% coral store (the first one of its kind in France), they never even offered me to give me a copy of the CITES attached to the clam when it cleared the customs.
A lot of (mostly cocky) people where always telling "oh if you are getting a frag, the owner should always give you a copy of the original CITES". So basically a lot of paperwork involved.
Practically, I actually never knew anyone who ever had a CITES permit copy, from a store or another reefer. And the few old school hobbyists I knew dismissed that as "useless: how can you keep that much paperwork in a reef with 50+ corals, some from the wild, some from frags?".
Fast forward to March 2013.
The village of Sallertaine were holding their "frag swap" when the police arrived (the customs) and asked the different sellers copies of the CITES of the corals being sold. Since a lot were only hobbyists, their corals were seized, then later they had a visit of the police at their own houses.
Note that, according to one of them:
- the corals were not just put into a cardboard box and let to rot in a dark room, but brought to the local public aquarium which apparently has the expertise to care for them till the situation unfolds;
- no corals were seized in the display tanks of the hobbyists. However a detailed inventory was made, and they were asked to provide copies of the CITES by tracking them through the stores, other hobbyists, and importers.
I must say this is pretty extreme. The French nano reef website actually sent a letter to the minister in charge, asking them for clarification. It appears that basically:
- anyone who has corals needs to have a copy of the CITES of the wild colony when it first entered the European Union (fragging = photocopying the CITES permit!)
- for people selling frags during events (aka when their amount of activity is more than the average hobbyist), they need a "certificate of qualification" aka a piece of paper that allows you to resell corals.
Note that the law was made in 2004, but had never been enforced till now. Aka the things I heard in 2003 were either urban legend or ways to "scare the kids at night". The participants to the frags told that they "did not know" which I think is b/s since well... in 2003 there were these rumors already.
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So yep, you see what happens where there is an actually strict control on coral sales. It seems a bit weird to ask every single coral owner to have all the paperwork tracing back to the initial wild colony.
I guess some here (thinking about the fish coming from PNG) are trying to add some traceability to the hobby, but there is a point where it becomes "too much".
ps: for those who want the original article about this (in French): http://www.francenanorecif.fr/index...ew=article&id=681:le-futur-du-recifal&lang=en
I thought this information could be interesting here, as food for thought with regards to control on this hobby.
----
When I started my reef tank in 2003, while still living in Paris, everybody was always talking about "you need to get a CITES permit when you buy coral, clams, etc". Practically, most of my corals were frags coming from other people, and the only time I bought a clam in a big 100% coral store (the first one of its kind in France), they never even offered me to give me a copy of the CITES attached to the clam when it cleared the customs.
A lot of (mostly cocky) people where always telling "oh if you are getting a frag, the owner should always give you a copy of the original CITES". So basically a lot of paperwork involved.
Practically, I actually never knew anyone who ever had a CITES permit copy, from a store or another reefer. And the few old school hobbyists I knew dismissed that as "useless: how can you keep that much paperwork in a reef with 50+ corals, some from the wild, some from frags?".
Fast forward to March 2013.
The village of Sallertaine were holding their "frag swap" when the police arrived (the customs) and asked the different sellers copies of the CITES of the corals being sold. Since a lot were only hobbyists, their corals were seized, then later they had a visit of the police at their own houses.
Note that, according to one of them:
- the corals were not just put into a cardboard box and let to rot in a dark room, but brought to the local public aquarium which apparently has the expertise to care for them till the situation unfolds;
- no corals were seized in the display tanks of the hobbyists. However a detailed inventory was made, and they were asked to provide copies of the CITES by tracking them through the stores, other hobbyists, and importers.
I must say this is pretty extreme. The French nano reef website actually sent a letter to the minister in charge, asking them for clarification. It appears that basically:
- anyone who has corals needs to have a copy of the CITES of the wild colony when it first entered the European Union (fragging = photocopying the CITES permit!)
- for people selling frags during events (aka when their amount of activity is more than the average hobbyist), they need a "certificate of qualification" aka a piece of paper that allows you to resell corals.
Note that the law was made in 2004, but had never been enforced till now. Aka the things I heard in 2003 were either urban legend or ways to "scare the kids at night". The participants to the frags told that they "did not know" which I think is b/s since well... in 2003 there were these rumors already.
--------------------------
So yep, you see what happens where there is an actually strict control on coral sales. It seems a bit weird to ask every single coral owner to have all the paperwork tracing back to the initial wild colony.
I guess some here (thinking about the fish coming from PNG) are trying to add some traceability to the hobby, but there is a point where it becomes "too much".
ps: for those who want the original article about this (in French): http://www.francenanorecif.fr/index...ew=article&id=681:le-futur-du-recifal&lang=en
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