Tongan Rock Ban

[SubRosa]

If you haven't heard elsewhere there will be a permanent ban on the export of live rock from Tonga effective Aug 4.No more Branch, Fusion, Kaelini, etc.Get it while you can!

John

[nickf06gli]

Tonga live rock, im new to the saltwater liverock, which is the best? Also what make it the best?

[Frankie]

It's all about tast. I prefer Fiji personally for reef building. Bummer about the Branch. I have a few nice pieces of it. I guess i'll need to hit the lfs and stock up my sump for the future big tank.

[SubRosa]

Personally I think we as aquarists can do something about the ban.Exports for the ornamental trade are Tonga's #2 revenue producer.A boycott of all live stock from Tonga would go a long way towards convincing the govt of Tonga that a ban on exports is not in their best interests.

John

[Triggerjay]

Its not the Tonga govt... Its CITES...

Jason

[Varga]

would like to know WHY they want to ban it? maybe its being devoured by retailers.

I honestly believe retailer should not promote their agenda on this forum.

[Wolfgang8810]

I have a few pieces of tonga branch and tonga shelf but i prefer fiji much better mostly because tonga is 5.50 a lb and fiji is 3.5o a lb.

[SubRosa]

This ban is most definitely not initiated by CITES, although Tonga's strained relationship with CITES is well known.This is allegedly about collection practices of live rock, but there are alot of implications that don't bode well for anyone from what I can see.And as far as promoting my agenda I was a hobbyist before I entered the trade, was a hobbyist during periods that I worked outside the trade,am currently a hobbyist and will be a hobbyist as long as I can flip a switch.I want the maximum amount of diversity available to me as a consumer.If that's in agreement with my business needs GREAT!How many people complain about how their work and personal lives are at odds with each other?You are of course entitled to your beliefs.

John

[Frankie]

Hmm, I was not going to look further into this but now that the arguments have started i am curious now just why the ban has started and are the reefs in Tonga being exploited that harshly to ban like this. Personally i don't care if they ban this rock. It's not my first pick. But by doing so it could have negative impact on the rock harvesting trade all over. Think Fiji has troubles now, imagine whats going to happen if they end up the only rock avalible.

[lcstorc]

Guess I can make a fortune off of selling mine. I have a ton of branch in that I bought for the seahorse tank. Not my favorite to work with at all but makes great hitching posts.
I am like Frankie and would want to investigate why the ban is being placed. If it is to protect the natural reefs them I say good move. If another reason then not so much.
Meanwhile we are becoming much better at cultivating base rock and making it live. Obviously that is the way of the future since we can't take rock out of the ocean forever.

[fatman]

There will be maricultured rock from there still. Which of course will mean that a lot of (illegal) natural wild rock will be shipped along with the maricultured rock. There have been agencies working to set up mariculture operations up just about every where. There has been maricultured rock shipped from there already, and there has been maricultured rock coming from Fiji for years, it is cultured lava rock (pumice stone).

That entire area of the world is pretty much over run with organizations trying to stop the reef plundering without stopping the industry completely because the livelihood of too many people over there depend on the money they are making from coral, rock and ornamental fish and lesser invertebrates.

Things will change but they are not going to stop anything completely. The products we get however will change for the most part.

Then there are organizations (.org) that grow corals and sell aqua cultured rocks and such that will not be cut off, such as GARF as they are a research institution not a for profit organization so they will not be cut off. Panic will however shoot the prices up.

There are still corals coming from Australia, Japan and Hawaii where their harvest is illegal, so laws are not always completely effective. But look at the prices of those Corals from Japan, Hawaii and Australia.

Of course there are also probably a few thousand Blue Tort corals out there being called Tyree limiteds that are selling for huge sums, and we all know there can not be that many descendants from just one coral that quickly.

[lcstorc]

I read an article a while back talking about the effort to save the reef while continuing to support the economy.
I don't remember where it was but they had a large area full of corals and a large aquaculture facility. Basically they went out and fragged the mother colonies every so often and grew out the frags to sell and bring in income. The locals were working by either gathering or supporting and shipping the frags and the mother colonies are still there to continue to grow and provide frags for the future.
I remember thinking at the time that it was a great idea.

[fatman]

lcstorc,
Please go to this site and register. You can use a ficticous name and title or whatever but you need to provide a legitimate email to log on the first time. You must log on o download documents and articles, other wise you can only review abstracts of the articles. The poaters are some of the most noted rsearchers in the world in the fields of marine biology, ichtiology, biology,chemistry etc. It is a professional posting sit, but quite afew of the write up are presented in very understandable laymens terms. There are many reports on the progressetting up mariculture facilities over seas, and loads of dat that is almost incomprehensible. Wait until you see the numbers on how many tons of live rock we import every year, or the number of corals or number of fish etc. Very, very, very shocking numbers. Even more shocking is how little the people are paid for them, versus what we pay for them here. There are also hundreds of sad facts and photos of death and destruction.

Better yet, I will PM you the link.

[Frankie]

Shoot that link to me also please.

[Octoman]

Posted yesterday by Walt Smith on RC...

Reef Central Online Community - Tonga Ban