Can Corals Be Harvested Sustainably?

[StevenPro]

This title is not mine, but the subject of a paper written by Vicki Harriott, a PhD at Southern Cross University in Lisbmore, Australia. It was published in AMBIO, the Journal of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in volume 32, number 2, March 2003. In total, it was very informative and well-balanced.

 

[Anonymous]

So post the paper, or are you simply giving us a review of it?

 

[StevenPro]

So wheres the paper, or are you simply giving us a review of it.

You have to have a subscription to view it online, http://www.ambio.kva.se/ You can navigate your way through the site to see the abstract, but I got my copy through ILL. Here is the abstract (not much to it, though):

The international trade in corals has been identified as a potential cause of localized depletion of coral populations in the major coral-exporting countries. The international coral trade is regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) agreement, which requires that export of corals is not detrimental to the species. The primary coral importing regions (USA and Europe) have threatened to limit or ban coral imports unless sustainable practices can be demonstrated. The spatial and temporal scale at which sustainability is defined is important in evaluating sustainability, e.g. at geological, regional or local scales. Other major issues are: the ecology of the target species; management options including provision of no-take areas; and the potential for coral culture. Implementation of practices that enhance ecological sustainability in the coral harvest fishery is possible, but may be difficult in some developing countries because of limited natural-resource management capacity.