Since the last thread got locked, thought I'd introduce some more pertinent information ON the subject. A good friend of mine and collector in the Keys explains a different side of the story:
In my opinion we shouldn't be labelling anyone a hyprocritical criminal until all the facts come to light, and have been proven guilty in a court of law. This is a very slippery and tricky area right now for collectors in the Keys. The 1" square rule only applies (as written explicitly on paper) as far as I know only to gorgonians. It had been assumed that this rule must also apply to ricordea. 1" square. If no one asks for clarification, I guess people would prefer to plead ignorance as the law is just not clear. Another issue is that a while back several collectors demanded that the FWC allow the use of chisels and hammers as collecting equipment for gorgonian and ricordea collection. They probably should have just not said anything about it. FWC was appalled that hammers and chisels were being used, so instead they explicitly banned their use outright. So you are allowed to collect gorgonians with a 1" square base, but apparently you are supposed to use very strong fingernails to pry it with 1" of rock from the sea floor. Not likely. Unless FWC catches you with a hammer in your hand underwater, it is nearly impossible to prosecute, so many collectors take the chance. 1" square of rock is 1" square of rock as far as I'm concerned no matter how it is collected. But FWC doesn't share that opinion. My own opinion is that if there is, say, a cluster of 4 ricordea such that they take up a total of 4" inches square of rock, is there any difference whether the collector takes each one individually with 1" square, or whether all 4 are taken at once? The amount of rock removed from the seafloor is identical in either scenario. Sometimes when trying to remove a polyp a larger piece of rock than is allowed breaks off, so the diver just "cleans it up" underwater to whittle down the rock attached to the polyp to "legal" size.
Anyway, hope some of this information helps to shed some light on what the laws are like in Florida for ricordea collection. I don't much see this as a moral issue, if people are appalled about ricordea rocks from Florida, they ought to be just as concerned about ricordea rock from any other location. It is a legal issue, and I do believe that we as aquarists and professionals have a duty to uphold the laws that govern us, even if we don't agree with them. We need to be as professional as possible to avoid even more scrutiny from the powers that be.
Also, having collected myself, I believe that the heavy demand for orange ricordea over the past couple of years is definately going to reach a point where local overcollection is definately a problem. I don't think that ricordea divide fast enough to keep up demand. My collector friend sells about 10 times more orange ricordea now than he did 3 years ago. He is very good about leaving 2 or 3 ricordea behind when collecting from a large patch. But when multiple collectors are working the same spot, it becomes hard to not want to collect "single" polyps that were left behind by another collector who originally worked it as a larger patch. Collectors are now taking multiday trips out west of Key West towards the Dry Tortugas and collecting thousands at a time. The bounty is good for now, but I doubt it can last more than a few years at that rate.
Florida probably has the most comprehensive management and laws governing ornamental collection of anywhere in the world. (Not necessarily saying that they are good, just more explicit AND enforced than all the rest). I think that buying ricordea from Haiti is probably much more unsustainable than buying from Florida. It may be legal to collect whole rocks, yes, but having seen the thickness of many of these rocks, where you get 3 or 4 inches of pure white broken edges, it is obvious that collectors have to be using cro-bars to pry apart huge patches found on flat rocks. Haiti can probably claim the title of the worst environmental management of any country in the Western Hemisphere. It is certainly the poorest. I don't know if there is any truth to it, but I have heard that fish collectors are using cyanide there now too. If this is true, I highly doubt that these uneducated collectors figured out this convenient little chemical trick on their own. Someone, most likely the exporter (if past experience from the Pacific is any guide) was the one that told them about it, if not outright supplied them with it. I am curious what other people know about the collection situation in Haiti, if they can confirm or deny all this.
In my opinion we shouldn't be labelling anyone a hyprocritical criminal until all the facts come to light, and have been proven guilty in a court of law. This is a very slippery and tricky area right now for collectors in the Keys. The 1" square rule only applies (as written explicitly on paper) as far as I know only to gorgonians. It had been assumed that this rule must also apply to ricordea. 1" square. If no one asks for clarification, I guess people would prefer to plead ignorance as the law is just not clear. Another issue is that a while back several collectors demanded that the FWC allow the use of chisels and hammers as collecting equipment for gorgonian and ricordea collection. They probably should have just not said anything about it. FWC was appalled that hammers and chisels were being used, so instead they explicitly banned their use outright. So you are allowed to collect gorgonians with a 1" square base, but apparently you are supposed to use very strong fingernails to pry it with 1" of rock from the sea floor. Not likely. Unless FWC catches you with a hammer in your hand underwater, it is nearly impossible to prosecute, so many collectors take the chance. 1" square of rock is 1" square of rock as far as I'm concerned no matter how it is collected. But FWC doesn't share that opinion. My own opinion is that if there is, say, a cluster of 4 ricordea such that they take up a total of 4" inches square of rock, is there any difference whether the collector takes each one individually with 1" square, or whether all 4 are taken at once? The amount of rock removed from the seafloor is identical in either scenario. Sometimes when trying to remove a polyp a larger piece of rock than is allowed breaks off, so the diver just "cleans it up" underwater to whittle down the rock attached to the polyp to "legal" size.
Anyway, hope some of this information helps to shed some light on what the laws are like in Florida for ricordea collection. I don't much see this as a moral issue, if people are appalled about ricordea rocks from Florida, they ought to be just as concerned about ricordea rock from any other location. It is a legal issue, and I do believe that we as aquarists and professionals have a duty to uphold the laws that govern us, even if we don't agree with them. We need to be as professional as possible to avoid even more scrutiny from the powers that be.
Also, having collected myself, I believe that the heavy demand for orange ricordea over the past couple of years is definately going to reach a point where local overcollection is definately a problem. I don't think that ricordea divide fast enough to keep up demand. My collector friend sells about 10 times more orange ricordea now than he did 3 years ago. He is very good about leaving 2 or 3 ricordea behind when collecting from a large patch. But when multiple collectors are working the same spot, it becomes hard to not want to collect "single" polyps that were left behind by another collector who originally worked it as a larger patch. Collectors are now taking multiday trips out west of Key West towards the Dry Tortugas and collecting thousands at a time. The bounty is good for now, but I doubt it can last more than a few years at that rate.
Florida probably has the most comprehensive management and laws governing ornamental collection of anywhere in the world. (Not necessarily saying that they are good, just more explicit AND enforced than all the rest). I think that buying ricordea from Haiti is probably much more unsustainable than buying from Florida. It may be legal to collect whole rocks, yes, but having seen the thickness of many of these rocks, where you get 3 or 4 inches of pure white broken edges, it is obvious that collectors have to be using cro-bars to pry apart huge patches found on flat rocks. Haiti can probably claim the title of the worst environmental management of any country in the Western Hemisphere. It is certainly the poorest. I don't know if there is any truth to it, but I have heard that fish collectors are using cyanide there now too. If this is true, I highly doubt that these uneducated collectors figured out this convenient little chemical trick on their own. Someone, most likely the exporter (if past experience from the Pacific is any guide) was the one that told them about it, if not outright supplied them with it. I am curious what other people know about the collection situation in Haiti, if they can confirm or deny all this.
