Thoughts on Wild Coral Export!

Hello everyone. For today, let’s talk a little about the serious issue of wild coral export. Obviously seeing tons of corals in my pictures at the suppliers has amplified the serious concern of over harvesting corals from our reefs. “What are we doing to our reefs?” as one reader has put it. So let’s talk about the coral cites process and the quota the government has allocated to be harvested and exported. Then we will discuss the pros and cons of the wild coral trade and how it impacts the industry and you and me. Please take the time to read all of what I have written, as it did take me many days to think it out. Thanks.

I also would like to thank those that responded and helped me to make my pictures look more natural from the last post. The tips really panned out. Check out the same pictures from the last post below with the white balance adjustment to take out the blue hue.

Also the fourth part of my Coral Adventures aquaculture hunting series in Northern Bali has just been posted on www.thereeftank forum. You can go check it out at this link.

Back some decades ago, a survey was done to assess the coral population in Indonesian reefs for the wild coral export trade. CITES , an international watch group that sets guidelines for the trade of wild endangered species of animals and plant life, determined that certain species corals in certain numbers can be harvested and exported from Indonesian reefs. We know now that there were serious flaws in the system that was created many years ago. I’m sure it has changed over the years to suit more of the greedy exporter’s interests than anything else. One obvious problem that I saw when I got here was that the coral species on the CITES document was wrongly misidentified, and thus the exporters were exporting wrong species! The fish and wildlife has wised up to the errors and have been confiscating, causing lots of headaches for both the exporter and the importer. I don’t blame the FW, as they are only doing their jobs.

Here is the allocation. The actual number on the CITES quota is a huge one. I can’t print on my blog, because as usual, I will get repercussions from the other jealous greedy exporters for doing or saying something right. But you can send me a private e-mail and I can tell you. Anyways, so this huge number of CITES quota is shared between 23 exporters. Sorry to say that one big bully controls majority of the quota. And basically if you want to get your own cites company, the quota will have to come from the 23 guys. So yah, you have a better chance at winning lottery than getting your own cites company. Of course you can always buy one, our parent company was up for sale at a cool 3/4 of a million dollars last year!

There has been talk of shutting down the wild coral trade from Indonesia for a long time. The rumor has it that the association (23 exporters) have asked the government and CITES International for another ten year extension. Personally I think the export of wild corals will always be around, as the big boys will make sure of it. Some of these guys make millions, and I’m not talking Indonesian Rupiahs! With that much money at stake, they will do whatever is necessary from loosing their income.

But the pressure is on for the exporters to perform. For example, a few years ago, the aquaculture project was put into the system. The idea was to alleviate some of the pressure of wild collection and build the reefs back up. The problem is that the initial craziness and demand for Indonesian aquaculture has died down over the past few years. So now there are literally zillions of corals (mostly acros and montis) growing on the farmer’s racks, growing to be small tree sizes! The government has caught onto what is happening and have been cutting down the wild acropora and montipora quotas. No use collecting wild pieces and exporting when they have tons of aquaculture standing by. Some of the exporters actually export the aquaculture under the wild cites for these corals, as these are more readily available and cheaper. Eventually I believe the wild quota for the two sps’s species will be cut out.

On a good note, the issue of conservation has been a topic for a while. The government came up with a plan recently requiring all the coral exporters and even suppliers on the islands to start aquaculture projects. This is one way to put back what we have taken. It sounds good but for some it just doesn’t make sense. For the exporters, they will have to start selling aquacultures (if they don’t already). At least they can make money by selling the corals as maintaining the racks and having people to do the work all cost money. But for the poor suppliers on the islands, they have no way of selling. A big flaw that was not well thought of and I’m sure someone will have to change the guidelines.

People (usually newbie hobbyists) ask, “why they don’t do more aquaculturing, that is the way to go and I only buy aquaculture”. Bottom line friends, only a few coral species can be fragged and grown out and sold as aquaculture. The corals must grow fast enough for the parent colony to recover. Only a few of the sps’s and lps’s can qualify. As lame as it sounds, even solitary corals like trachyphyllias were once proposed as part of the aquaculture project. Of course, CITES did not authorize and the idea was shut down. From time to time, authorities come to Indonesia to inspect the projects in the islands.

While on the topic of aquaculture, let’s have a look at the false notion that keeping frags and promoting frags, even captive grown frags are deterring wild coral collection. The idea is good but again is flawed. Here is a typical example. A nice wild echino soon to be the “new watermelon chalice” is collected from the wild. It is sent to a wholesaler in the US. The coral gets picked up by a smart guy that specializes in fragging. He knows the value of this coral. I don’t blame the guy, to make money, I would do the same. So he cuts up the precious colony into many parts. Even glues them on a plug and let’s them heal. Then he smartly calls it a special name and starts to market it. The demand skyrockets. He is finally left with one piece to grow out. But he is still getting huge demand. The price starts to climb on this precious little thing. The frags become from an inch to three quarters, to half of an inch! The guy feeds the coral everyday and keeps it under pristine conditions hoping that it grows faster. The other guys who have bought the coral are doing the same thing. If the coral can grow fast enough to supply the demand, yes it can be kept internal. Unfortunately coral do not grow as fast we would like, so the pressure eventually mounts to the collector side – me! The lucky guy who found the precious piece originally goes back to the wholesaler and waits for the “wild coral” shipment to arrive every week. Heck, he even camps out and helps open up the boxes in hoping to find another piece or perhaps a new morph or coral that he can market again and make 100,000% profit! Of course this is not to mention his famous name that is being developed because of the precious chalice. Pictures are sent to overseas for that coral to be found, to me. Of course I say you and hundred other people are looking for this coral from the wild! They will pay whatever for it and will go any lengths to get it. The fishermen don’t really know so they will get whatever they find. If you are lucky one will be there and it could be a 15 inch monster. I’ve sent out such pieces (not the watermelon but another killer piece) and of course it got fragged. And for course I sent it for that such purpose because my customer had requested it, because his customer had requested it. And the demand eventually came from the hobbyists, trying to collect all the nicest pieces. Are you guys getting my point? The demand for zoos and palys are even worse. With all the crazy names out there being marketed under, and the demand skyrocketing, right now I export on the average of 150-200 of these at a time on a shipment.

I get pictures all the time from potential customers looking for the LE or the very unique pieces. They all know that all of the highly sought after pieces come from the wild originally. They may look a little different, but can still tell. Another example is my Montipora undata (true undata) that Steve Tyree made famous. After my undata (from the wild) got released, more undatas like it started to appear on the market as wild colonies! Of course it got fragged right away so no one really knew. When it was sitting in my tank, there was no demand. It just gave me and my customers lots of pleasure looking at it. Once it was released to the public in frags (smart marketing by Steve), the demand skyrocketed.

Even about four years ago, when I went to Tonga, corals like echinophyllia chalice were not that high in demand. I used to send out beautiful large broken pieces because that is all I can find. So basically I was shipping out extra large frags of the chalice. One of these ended up being named “bubble gum” by an online guy. But my customers used to complain to me about the broken pieces of chalice, saying his customers are wanting complete wild pieces, not broken up pieces. Now days, it doesn’t matter, as it will get fragged up anyway. The demand for this coral is so high right now, that it is my number one request. Why, again because of smart marketing through fragging, the demand for this coral has skyrocketed. It is not just me getting the demand, every other exporter and their mother is looking for the same thing! So again the pressure is on for wild specimens. Another interesting thing has happened because of the frag craze is the demand for larger pieces from the wild. Before in my Tonga days, small to medium sized pieces were hot, large ones nobody wanted. Now days, it is different, I have more demand for larger pieces than ever.

The only way that coral can sustain itself in the hobby through captive breeding, (and put less stress on wild specimens) is for the demand to die down so the coral has a chance to catch up. One example of this is the Cali tort. Years ago, this was one of the holy grails in sps. Through the fragging process, it ended up in the hands of many hobbyists. We grew them out and traded them and sold them and gave them away. I still see them online and the price is still quite high. But I don’t get requests about wild colonies anymore, like I used to when I went to Tonga. Things have died down for this coral, but I guarantee you if I have a nice colony to send, for sure it would get chopped up still. Even the precious watermelon chalice can catch up to the demand eventually, but for now, it is putting a pressure on wild pieces. The only way it can be done is to aquaculture in the wild where the corals can grow at a much faster rate. Even then, it would still take a long time. The problem is the cites process and of course the real threat of getting those precious pieces stolen by greedy competitors!

I like frags, don’t get me wrong, and I would sell lots of it if I ever get back into retailing. Frags will survive much better than wild colonies. The profit margin is astronomical and good for the reef keeping business. It also assures that your precious piece will still be out there and get it back if your original piece dies. I am happy to see my undata pieces still floating out there. I don’t have my piece anymore but feel good that one day I can get it back. I love the concept that Tyree and his partner has put together. These farmer’s market shows, where people can buy, trade, and sell small frags and such is a perfect example of how the hobby is evolving.

Because us hobbyists don’t really know what goes on behind the scenes, we make these false assumptions. In the years to come, more and more of these “watermelon” types will be discovered and marketed, thus again putting more pressure on wild specimens. I hate to say it but, without the wild pieces coming in, no new discoveries will be made – taking out the future “wow” factor. There is nothing negative about fragging and is mostly all positive. My only “beef” is for those people that talk trash about wild collection and claim “that is why I only keep frags and should only buy or trade from fellow reefers”. If you are a tree hugger, then you should not be doing the reef thing!

So let’s have a look at the pros and cons of wild coral export.

Pros

Here are some positive things about the wild coral trade. The trade gives the very poor fishermen something to make a living. It would also affect the exporters, as many of them solely rely on coral export for a living. Only some bigger players actually do fish as well. Our parent company would certainly shut down and all the employees would be out of work – something to think about considering almost all of them have been with the company for nearly 20 years. I would also be out of work, which means my customers with the great corals would also be out of business. Which translates to hobbyists to never see any choice wild corals again. Wild coral export also keeps the airlines happy and of course the employees that work for them in Indonesia. I’ve read that International airlines make their margin on cargo. The passengers pay operating costs but it is cargo that makes the profits. I read that in a magazine once while traveling back to the US. Also wild corals give wholesalers and distributors something else to sell besides fish. Bottom line, there is a whole chain of people that rely on the wild coral trade for a living.

Cons

What would happen if wild coral trade was to shut down? Here is what I foresee. First, the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of poor fishermen that rely on the trade to make a living would be out of a job. These people make enough to feed their kids and families on a daily basis by collecting coral. From fishermen to exporter, it would have a huge impact by the loss of jobs. It is easy for us to sit in our big offices in the US sipping $5 Starbucks coffee and pass judgment onto the people who are dealing with corals on the supply end. It is easy to say “what are we doing to our reefs”? The fact of the matter is, it is not our reefs, well it is and it isn’t. It is our reefs because as we as whole is responsible for preserving our environment, yes. But it is not our reefs, because we don’t live there, it is the poor fishermen’s reefs. It is their home that they make a living from. If I got lost on the island with my family and all I could do was to collect coral so we can eat, heck I would be taking everything before somebody else does. Save the reefs or save your family? Conservation or starvation?, take your pick.

Traveling and working with the locals really have opened up my eyes to the reality of things. My only game plan is to train the fishermen what coral is sellable and leave the rest behind. But this concept is really hard to implement as the fishermen are not under my control. In Tonga, it was easy. Follow my rules or you are out. It took a long time in training the divers what good coral was, but it all paid off. Instead of the norm 10 bins of junk coral with only 10% good, we were coming back with 100% good with only 5 bins. In a reef, typically only a small percentage of the corals are really nice, the rest being too big or too brown or too green or something. The system is set in place in Indonesia and it is really hard to change things. I did however manage to isolate some really cool corals and now have become popular. I also have managed to discourage a few species as un sellable and see a huge reduction after collection

Besides a bunch of people would be out of jobs, the halt of wild coral export would have a huge negative impact on the industry. Here are some of my thoughts. First, we have to look at what drives the reef keeping hobby. When I had my retail shop, I knew the key to selling new setups to new customers was beautiful display tanks. Without these, there would be no enthusiasm, no motivation, no wanting to spend money. Many newbies (new reefers) coming into the hobby are impulse buyers. They don’t plan on spending $10,000 on a new reef setup but can’t help it when they see the beautiful display. The trick is to get them to visualize how it would look in their homes. Of course, my tanks were filled with big beautiful WILD corals. Long polyp stony corals waving against the current under beautiful lighting was the ticket. Of course the fish also helped too. My point here is that newbies aren’t interested in little one inch frags. That comes later when they have advanced. These new comers are looking for instant gratification. Can you imagine without wild corals, how are you going to convince the customer to buy a setup?

“Yes the equipment will cost you $10,000 but you can’t have the corals, because those are wild and no more wild corals are available”. “But instead you can have these one inch frags and grow them up and maybe in five years, they will grow to that size”. But of course you can’t have any of those stony corals swaying in the current because the aquaculture rate is just too slow and there are not enough to go around”. “But if you get on a waiting list, I’m sure I can get you a starter piece”. Yah, that is really going to fly! The new potential reefer will be discouraged and go spend the money on a new set of golf clubs! Are you guys getting my point?

So without the new reefers coming into the hobby, the industry will suffer greatly. From lighting companies to tank manufactures to coral food makers, you name it, business will tank like a rock. And remember most advanced hobbyists started as newcomers. A particular area of the industry that will suffer is the service business. Maintaining aquariums have been my backbone for many years. For ten years, I ran the largest custom design and maintenance company in the SF area. Can you imagine me bringing a little frag for their monster tank and telling the customer there are no more wild corals. But in a few years, the corals will grow and look nice. Folks, these are professional people that are not really hobbyists, they couldn’t care less about a one inch “watermelon” chalice. What they want is big beautiful corals that makes their $30,000 investment worth while. But heck I can always try convincing them to keep only fish.

If you are involved or have been involved in the service sector, you will understand what I’m talking about.

So without the new reefers coming into the hobby, the industry will suffer greatly. From lighting companies to tank manufactures to coral food makers, you name it, business will tank like a rock. And remember most advanced hobbyists started as newcomers. A particular area of the industry that will suffer is the service business. Maintaining aquariums have been my backbone for many years. For ten years, I ran the largest custom design and maintenance company in the SF area. Can you imagine me bringing a little frag for their monster tank and telling the customer there are no more wild corals. But in a few years, the corals will grow and look nice. Folks, these are professional people that are not really hobbyists, they couldn’t care less about a one inch “watermelon” chalice. What they want is big beautiful corals that makes their $30,000 investment worth while. But heck I can always try convincing them to keep only fish.

If you are involved or have been involved in the service sector, you will understand what I’m talking about.

Finally, the halt of the wild coral export would hurt the wholesalers and distributors. These businesses rely on corals to leverage out their fish. Corals are a specialty item compare to the bread and butter fish. The corals bring in the customers and at the same time, they buy fish. If the wholesaler doesn’t have coral, it is a disadvantage. Of course this will reflect onto the retailers as well. No wild corals, one less product that they have to make money. And of course, the price of coral in general would skyrocket. That means, the “watermelon” chalice type of corals (or better yet frags), would go up the roof. Even simple green mushrooms would be worth tons of money.

Conclusion and Solution

So let’s sum up what we just talked about. Many simple lives depend on the wild coral trade to make a living. The notion that fragging corals and sharing is helping to deter wild coral collection is not true. In fact, just the opposite is happening because the demand has increased. Majority of the frags offered online are coming from chopped up wild corals. Without wild corals, there will be far less new reefers coming into the hobby, which means lot less tanks, coral food, fish, lights, etc.. being sold. All sectors of the industry will be negatively affected.

So what is the solution? I don’t have a definite one but I do have some suggestions. First we cannot ignore the poverty and circumstances surrounding the fishermen and suppliers. The government here has neither the funding or man power to do training that is necessary to preserve our reefs. My suggestion is that the big aquarium related companies (lighting, tank, skimmer manufacturers and others) join together and start a non profit organization to help educate the locals overseas. With funding and man power, the organization can provide training and material to start aquaculture projects. Give money to the locals to plant corals back into the sea where once they have taken. For every coral taken, one is put back, heck put two back instead. But this is not easy as said, even with lots of money and manpower. There needs to be constant supervision and ongoing training. At the same time, also train the fishermen how to use nets instead of cyanide. This is a big problem here in Indo, more so than the Philippines. This is another topic and quite inspiring as I have an example of a fishing village that came together and stopped the use of cyanide and turned to net catching. I have a video to go with this. I will be doing a write up sometime soon.

There is so much to talk about on this important subject, but I think I will quit now. I welcome any comments or suggestions you have, positive or negative. And please keep in mind that I’m not an analysts or anything, just telling you how I feel about these issues, based on my experiences. Thanks for taking time to read all of my gibberish!

Cheers,

Eddie

Cool Coral Pics!

Hello everyone. So I have a new camera that can take pictures underwater! After months of being scared to actually putting it in water, I took the big step and stuck the little gizmo into our holding tank. Below are some corals that I have prepared to ship when cites becomes available. Taking pictures underwater is a lot easier to do than from the top. No glares, but still the same problem - all the pictures come out looking too blue. Use the flash and it all becomes too pale. Although we only have old washed out 150 watt double ended halides (14k's), the pictures are coming out real blue. The corals don't look really natural under the halides (in pictures) but can't seem to capture the real look. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Beautiful Cynarina donut that happened to be just under the bulb. This will explain why this picture is so much bluer than others.

The donut actually has more colors than the picture shows.

This green metallic donut wants to eat!

Ok guys, seriously this thing is insane! The colors are not metallic red or anything but has all sorts of colors. The real deal sitting in the tank is much better than this picture, but you get the idea.

This cool little Cynarina lacrymalis is actually orange. The too much blue drowns out the orange -and orange cynarinas are not common!

Another gorgeous Cynarina desheysiana donut (sometimes called Scolymia).

Killer Japanese ultra colored Bali brains (also known as Wellsophyllias) are breathtaking!

A young Bali brain starting to develop the folds that defines it differently from the regular trachyphyllias. If the brain coral has a flat base, rather than the cone shaped base, it is referred to as a Bali brain. If it has the cone shaped conical base, it is known as a trachyphyllia. Actually they are the same species, but because of different water conditions, the coral morphs differently in skeletal form. Interestingly, here in Indonesia, the trachyphyllias are known as Jakarta brains. And, the green Bali brains are known as Java brains! Only the red ones are referred to as Bali brains.

Another stunning Bali brain in making!

This metallic red Bali brain actually has a little daughter that has split off. You can see it at the top of the coral - very unique and unusual!

Killer metallic peach, again the real deal looks better than this!

Blastomussa wellsi are always high in demand!

Small, but sporting rainbow edges, this young Bali brain will grow up to be a show piece!

Some pink palys, looking too blue - got to figure out how to get the blue out!

Strange chalice species looking like a favid. The base color is brown but the eyes are bright pink!

Metallic red and green favia are always nice. It is quite plentiful here in Indo. I remember desperately trying to find this morph in Tonga, but couldn't find any.

This picture was taken under our T'5s. The high output whites actually drown out the blues. But the picture is not bad, considering the actual donut looks pale under the T5 combo. Take it to the halide side, and wow the donut looks killer. So in this picture, we have the opposite problem, not enough blue's to hilight the true colors!

But these zoos look very close to the real thing - under T5's!

Some blue zoos under T5's as well.

Cute little chalice under metal halides. The actual coral is much more orange than it appears.

Conclusion

Ok guys that is it for today. I think 10k metal halides would work out pretty good for taking underwater pictures. I will try to get hold of one and see what I come up with. If you have any tips, let me know. You can e-mail me at joylucktp2000@yahoo.com.

Cheers from Bali,
Eddie

Sorry guys!

Have been extremely busy collecting coral for the past week and haven't had time to post. I will be updating very soon. Meanwhile, go check out the continuing " my coral adventures" - aquaculture hunting in Northern Bali on "thereeftank" forum.

Cheers,
Eddie

Bali Bird Market!

Hello everyone. Let's take a break from corals for a minute and have a look at some wildlife that I discovered at the Bali Bird Market located in Denpasar (capital of Bali).

But first, lets have a look at that aquacultured liverock that I was talking about on the last post. Unfortunately I can't divulge too much information at this time about this great man made eco-friendly aquarium rock. All I can say is that it is four months old and full of coraline algae. It is a bit heavy, but we are working on making it more porous and light. We hope to bring this great product available to our customers very soon. I will update on the progress.

So my coral adventures takes me to the Bali Bird Market. It is called a bird market, but it is more of a pet market - just happens that there are many birds for sale. The first thing that caught my eye as we entered the market was this local guy handling this cool looking snake!

My guess is that this is a reticulated python, the world's second largest snake, as it is known. I don't know what the world record is, but I just saw on Animal Planet Channel not too long ago that a 50 foot monster lives in a zoo in Java (the main big island of Indonesia, nothing to do with coffee). Evidently it was being taken care of by local village people on some island and was brought to the big island for display. I heard it eats four dogs a month (can probably eat an anaconda for lunch!). One day I will track down the zoo and go get some pictures to show.

This guy ended up being a charlatan, using the snake to get people's attention first. Then acting like a palm reader and pushing to sell little bottles of "cure all" medicine!

I was like, this is totally wrong! I thought coloring corals were bad, and these cute little chicks definitely deserve better.

Here is a close up of the colored baby chickens. Poor guys, even their feets are colored!

Nothing like the Jakarta Bird Market, but I was still excited to see what I would find!

Ok, this is a big no no in Bali. The Balinese are Hindus and respect all wildlife, especially baby monkeys! I guess the world is not perfect.

These turtles were surprisingly pricey. I suspect they were imported in from other islands.

Ok couldn't tell if this was a baby flying fox or just another bat.

This strange four legged fellow looked like a cross between an opossum and a dog. I think this is a weasel (the ricki - ticki - tavy that killed the cobra).

Ok for sure this a flying fox. Looks just like a vampire from the old horror flicks, hiding his face with its cape!

"Look into my eyes, I want to suck your blood"!!

Actually, this modern day vampire is a fruit eater. Here is one eating papayas!

Check out this strange lizard. It looks like an iguana but is actually a water dragon, a close cousin of the iguana.

Black scorpions anyone?

Of course one of my favorite lizards, the tokay gecko. They say that if you have a tokay gecko in your house, it brings good luck. I believe it if you can put up with its super loud singing at night!

Here's what the underside of the tokay gecko looks like.

Ok these are iguanas for sure!

I don't know the name of this large pheasant - turkey looking bird. But I do know that it comes from Papua (Irian Jaya)! If there is a Thanksgiving in Papua, for sure this is the bird to eat!

Ok so this must be the best looking male chicken I've ever seen!

This gorgeous Blondie bird comes from China and even has a name "Gold Vision", and you can have him for a cool $500 US. By the way, AYAM means chicken in Bahasa (Indonesian language).

Cute little finches.

A pair of gorgeous parrots from the very cool Indonesian island of Ambon! (between Sulawessi and Papua)

Conclusion

Ok guys that is it for today. I hope you enjoyed our little trip to the Bali Bird Market. Stayed tuned for exciting new corals coming your way!

Cheers,
Eddie

More Cool Corals!

Hello everyone. Let's continue on to more "cool corals"!

Check out this metallic green Cynarina lacrymalis - it is splitting into two!

A basket of very cool acans, favias, and zoanthids!

Charming little symphyllia!

Check out the unusual color on this Acanthastrea echinata - orange with cobalt blue-green!

Very nice Indo Acanthastrea lordhowensis!

Two tone colored blastos are always high in demand!

Strange dark green chalices are not common!

Single headed Acanthastrea maximas! Note the strange single headed unidentified coral on the right corner.

One of my specialties, multicolored yumas!

A duo of fantastic red/pink yumas! I remember back in my retail Tropical Paradise days, I would be lucky to see one in a year.

My Makassar special orange zoanthids!

Some nice trachyphyllias - including one Japanese ultra color!

Customers are always looking for nice zoanthids!

A rare four headed Acanthastrea maxima!

Strange colors on favias are not common. This one is exceptionally nice!

Looks brown, but actually is orange! Hammer corals are one of the bread and butter staples in the hobby - unfortunately, wall types like this ship poorly.

Very nice metallic green wall hammer!

Very cool bullseye mushroom rock!

Here is one not so common coral - a diploastrea!

Peach colored symphyllias are very delicate - tends to loose tissue on the edges easily during shipping.

So this killer liverock was aqacultured! We will discuss this awesome man made rock in more detail on the next post.

Conclusion

Ok guys that is for today. I will post again in a few days.

Cheers,
Eddie