ABSOLUTLY DISGUSTING!!!!

[FragMaster]

Fare enough.
I am sorry I took your interest in this as only that of instegation.
It just realy came acrossed that way with your line of questioning to me.
As well with your email to some one whom you thought was a supplier of mine. I took that to mean you were tying to let my supplier believe I was playing both sides of the fence and trying to get him shut down. Which I am not because he is a legal collector,who adheres strictly to the bag limits the state of florida sets forth,as does Tom, and many other above board collectors in Florida.
Then ofcourse came others who saw what they thought was a blood sport and joined in.
My selling ricordia on ebay, or buying ricordia from a wild collector ( who also propogates as well) has little to no bearing on this matter what so ever. As I said though I operate above board. I don not need a liscense as I have no store frot or web site,and I do not meet the requirements income wise to pay income tax on it. As well I propogate my stock as much as I can. (I have the pics to prove it )
I answered every question you gave me with facts.
Proved them to be true,and some were proven before I even got a chance to post it. Emailed them, and then tunred them into the FWCC before I even posted here or anywhere after I got thier response (which was nothing at all like my post BTW).
What I ,LFS,and retail wholsale out fits do that are above board, do
not even hold a candle to this thing man. This in my mind (and apreantly the WFCC'smind as well as Ijust got a return mail from them letting me know this type of thing is illegal and they are going to investigate it further I will Pm you or post the email if you wish?)
There are somtimes fine lines between right and wrong in our hobby, but to me this is wrong in plain view.

 

[treeman]

I think the second link answers the question about how they can take a different person out each time. It only costs $150 a year!

It may just be inmoral but I am afraid it is not illegal.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't see why its immoral.
If its fine to buy the coral that is collected, why is it any worse to let a certified diver hobbyist, supervised, collect it themselves?

 

[Anonymous]

Please post the WFCC's reply.

 

[treeman]

Maybe it isn't, I am not sure yet. But you have to qualify for the licenses. Recreational fisherman taking commercial quantities. I wonder if that was the intention of the new license. Probably not. This is the first year that it has been available.

 

[FragMaster]

Survey says........ Bada BING BABY!!!




From: [email protected] To: [email protected]
Subject: RE-This has to be illegal! [incident:060225-000001]


on Feb 25, 2006 [[email protected]] wrote

Dear Mr. Johnson,
Thank you for your expressed concern about our native marine life.
Unfortunately this type of thing is all to common in the State of Florida.
If the events of the excursion happen exactly as stated it would indeed be a direct violation of Florida State comercial, and leasure fishing laws.
This matter will be investigated fully and thoroughly.
Sincerely,
Lt. Tom Hawthorn
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Comission


From: [email protected] To:[email protected]
Subject: This has to be illegal! [incident:060225-000001]


on Feb 24, 2006 [[email protected]] wrote

Please take a look at what local Florida LFS is getting ready to do.
I find this act DISGUSTINGLY REPREHENSIBLE!
Somthing should be done about this. This is effectively telling people " It is ok to rape the reef and we will show you how if you pay us!"
They are offering an "all you can carry colection excursion" under the guise of a normal fishing expedition (IN THIER OWN WORDS ON THIER OWN WEBSITE!!) I know MANY honest hard working people in Florida that collect coral ,and fish LEGALY as a soul source of income.
Things like this if left unchecked will not only destroy the hobby,and industry, but the reef its self!
http://ricordeas.net/package.htm
Please get back to me on this, reguarding legality and current Laws.
Sincerely,
Duane Johnson
Cincinnati Ohio

 

[Anonymous]

Illegal. Good job at getting them caught.

I still believe that 'collection tours' are a good thing for this hobby.

 

[FragMaster]

Righty:
It could have effects going for and against.
I vote more for against than helping.
Aquaculture is the way to protect our reefs.

I am just glad that these underhanded nit-witts were found out in time!
I may be a tad emotional sounding about things somtimes but dang it is the sqeeky wheel that gets the grease!

This is like the umpteenth time that site has been the center of a HEATED
debate over some seriously messed up thing they have done.

 

[Anonymous]

Righty:
It could have effects going for and against.
I vote more for against than helping.
Aquaculture is the way to protect our reefs.

Aquaculture is one way to protect our reefs. Having people who care about our reefs and our hobby actually going to collection points and becoming more educated about what actually happens will also help us all.

I really don't believe that anyone who could afford to do a tour of a collecting area is going to be greedy and sloppy in diving and collecting practices. They just have too much invested to be that kind of jerk. If they have the money, and want the corals, its just so much easier to buy them.
I wouldn't know half of what I know about collection if I hadn't seen it myself, and I wouldn't be able to tell people about that if I hadn't done it. More transparency in the industry will do everyone some good - IMHO.

I am just glad that these underhanded nit-witts were found out in time!

I am interested to see how this plays out. Please keep us posted.

I may be a tad emotional sounding about things somtimes but dang it is the sqeeky wheel that gets the grease!

You can be squeaky without being 'emotional'. We are all here for the same reason, and I have found that everyone is better served if they are given the benefit of the doubt first!

This is like the umpteenth time that site has been the center of a HEATED
debate over some seriously messed up thing they have done.

What galls me if that is the case is why they are allowed to continue. As I said earlier, I am indeed interested to see how it plays out.

 

[FragMaster]

Will keep you posted.

 

[FragMaster]

Savethereefs, you cant possibly be a dumb as you sound guy?
Galleon your WRONG dude.
http://www.itchyfeet.org/caribreef/purplefan.jpg
THAT IS THE PROTECTED SPECIES OF SEA FAN IN FLORIDA AND OTHER COLOR VARIATIONS LIKE IT. It is considered the "sea fan" by
Florida officials and the only illegal gorg. to take possesion of.
Now who dosent understand Florida law? :lol:
If you do not believe me (as I am sure you do not) simply email the good folks at FWCC where you got the link from and ask for a photo.
next!!!!!!!!!!!!.........

The porites..yep I was wrong

 

[Anonymous]

Savethereefs, you cant possibly be a dumb as you sound guy?

This kind of posting has been discussed with you before. Kindly refrain from it in the future.
If you don't like what someone else has to say, you can say so respectfully, and you are responsible for the content of your own posts.

 

[FragMaster]

Newtons law: Every action has an equal and oposite reaction. Holds true for conversation as well. :wink:
As did my action cause a reaction from you. It's a vicious cycle isnt it.

 

[Anonymous]

Newtons law: Every action has an equal and oposite reaction. Holds true for conversation as well. :wink:

We would all be better served if you took your insulting "conversations" somewhere else in my opinion.

 

[Anonymous]

Newtons law: Every action has an equal and oposite reaction. Holds true for conversation as well. :wink:
As did my action cause a reaction from you. It's a vicious cycle isnt it.

Yeah this isn't physics though, and what Righty did was a nice way of telling you to stop what the hell you're doing. Try to learn from him when you disagree with what someone says instead of resulting to name calling.

It's true that heated arguments/debates do tend to get more heated as people start to get emotional about things which can result in a violent outcome, but all it takes is one person to not continue the cycle (aka GROW UP) and things remain civil.

 

[SavetheReefs]

WOW

I can not believe that someone is not on "timeout" yet.

 

[Anonymous]

Newtons law: Every action has an equal and oposite reaction. Holds true for conversation as well. :wink:
As did my action cause a reaction from you. It's a vicious cycle isnt it.

My post was my choice, not an uncontrollable, unstoppable reaction. Same goes for your posts, or anyones posts. We all choose to post, but more importantly, we choose how we post. If someone insults you, it is your choice to insult back. Notice I did not choose to insult you, rather I took the time to explain what I was thinking.

RDO staff do not like to put people on 'timeout' or to ban people. We like to give as many chances as possible because we think that everyone has something useful to add to the discussion and the hobby if they can understand that their opinions are fine, but the way they chose to express them may not be. It is my sincere hope that you, and everyone else, will understand this.

 

[Anonymous]

Survey says........ Bada BING BABY!!!




From: [email protected] To: [email protected]
Subject: RE-This has to be illegal! [incident:060225-000001]


on Feb 25, 2006 [[email protected]] wrote

Dear Mr. Johnson,
Thank you for your expressed concern about our native marine life.
Unfortunately this type of thing is all to common in the State of Florida.
If the events of the excursion happen exactly as stated it would indeed be a direct violation of Florida State comercial, and leasure fishing laws.
This matter will be investigated fully and thoroughly.
Sincerely,
Lt. Tom Hawthorn
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Comission


From: [email protected] To:[email protected]
Subject: This has to be illegal! [incident:060225-000001]


on Feb 24, 2006 [[email protected]] wrote

Please take a look at what local Florida LFS is getting ready to do.
I find this act DISGUSTINGLY REPREHENSIBLE!
Somthing should be done about this. This is effectively telling people " It is ok to rape the reef and we will show you how if you pay us!"
They are offering an "all you can carry colection excursion" under the guise of a normal fishing expedition (IN THIER OWN WORDS ON THIER OWN WEBSITE!!) I know MANY honest hard working people in Florida that collect coral ,and fish LEGALY as a soul source of income.
Things like this if left unchecked will not only destroy the hobby,and industry, but the reef its self!
http://ricordeas.net/package.htm
Please get back to me on this, reguarding legality and current Laws.
Sincerely,
Duane Johnson
Cincinnati Ohio

Sweet!! Really, nice work. This is the post the thread should have started with, IMHO, rather than crying 'illegal' before knowing for sure.

 

[Anonymous]

Matt Obviously the post you quoted states my methods and, what I do.
EXACTLY.
It's with thin the law because my sales do not exceed the set amount to have to be reported to the IRS. I do not have a business so I need no tax Id number,without a Tax id number I am not considered a retailer/wholsale buyer. Would you like toknow my shoe size as well?

Gee, it's almost like you're offended that someone is questioning your business practices in a public forum without knowing all the facts yet. Do you see why that could be damaging, especially if you weren't here to defend yourself?

That fact that you as a moderator,one or two other mods,and someone with "Save The reefs" For a user name would try and turn this in to a flaming war and a mockary is apualing.
The fact that Bookfish thinks he carries any wieght out side of this forum and thinks he will mess up my supplier is just plain hilarious though! LOL!!!!
This is realy sad that you guys are too thick headed to see what this thing is going to do to this hobby if it is allowed to happen.
I give up on ya. Profess to save the reefs, start a web site to further such knowledge, then mock it.
I tried to point you guys in the right direction to stop someone from wrecking this hobby in to the ground. I didnt even have to post the rules and regs for collection,some one else did it but you still dont see it.
You still se this as somthing other than what it realy is.
VERY VERY SAD.

I think you need to rethink what you consider facts. :? I care very much about the plight of coral reefs. Just because I very strongly disagree with the tone and method of your voice doesn't mean I disagree with the intent of its end. Speak calmly and relax. People will listen.

 

[SavetheReefs]

I don't know Matt

Speak calmly and relax. People will listen.

It might be to late for that but we can only hope!