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Location
Brooklyn, NY
Rating - 97.4%
74   2   0
I just found this on Reefs.org. Weird. Randy

NEWS RELEASE: U.S. Department of Justice United States Attorney Southern
District of Florida 99 N.E. 4 Street Miami, FL 33132 (305) 961-9001
November 7, 2006

FORT PIERCE COMPANY AND PRESIDENT PLEAD GUILTY
AND ARE SENTENCED FOR ILLEGALLY IMPORTING
CORAL ROCK INTO THE UNITED STATES

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern
District of Florida, Eddie McKissick, Resident Agent in Charge, U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service, Hal Robbins, Special Agent in Charge, NOAA
Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement, Southeast Division, and Jesus
Torres, Special Agent in Charge, Immigration & Customs Enforcement,
announced today that Carib Sea, Inc., a Fort Pierce based aquarium
supply company, and Richard Greenfield, 46, of Fort Pierce, pled guilty
and were sentenced in Miami federal District Court in connection with
the illegal importation of more than 42,000 pounds of protected coral
rock from Haiti to the United States. Both defendants were charged in
connection with a shipment that arrived in March 2006, contrary to the
laws of the United States and an international treaty intended to
protect threatened and endangered species of wildlife, all in violation
of the federal Lacey Act, Title 16, United States Code, Sections 3372
and 3373.

United States District Court Judge Marcia G. Cooke accepted the
guilty pleas of the two defendants and proceeded to immediate
sentencing. Carib Sea, Inc. was sentenced to a three year period of
court-supervised probation and ordered to make a $25,000 community
service payment to the South Florida National Park Trust to assist in
funding and enhancing the existing Coral Nursery Program in Biscayne
National Park; a program operating to increase scientific understanding
of coral growth with specific application to restoration and
enhancement
of coral reefs degraded by human activity and other causes by culturing
a supply of hard and soft corals for translocation into damaged sites.

Richard Greenfield was also placed on three years probation, and
ordered to pay a criminal fine in the amount of $25,000. Additionally,
the defendants were held jointly liable for storage and transportation
costs exceeding $10,000 which related to the March 2006 seizure and
approximately 40,000 pounds of coral rock found and seized by the
government at the company?s business location. The coral rock involved
in this matter, with a market value of approximately $75,000, is being
transferred to a non-profit research institution, Harbor Branch
Oceanographic Institute to avoid its being entered into commercial
commerce. The defendants are also obligated to publish a notice in
three
publications related to the aquarium trade, explaining their violation
of law and the applicable requirements of CITES and U.S. regulations.

According to the Information filed in this matter and a statement
of facts presented in Court, in March 2006, the defendants were
involved
in the importation of a cargo-container load of coral rock from Haiti.
Under a convention known as ?CITES? - the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, more than 150
countries have banded together to provide protection to a variety of
species in danger of imminent extinction, or which may become so, if
trade in their specimens is not carefully regulated. That protection
extends to all coral rock, which is an invertebrate within the phylum
coelenterate. To legally import such specimens into the United States,
the importer must, among other requirements, obtain and present to the
Fish & Wildlife Service a valid foreign export permit from the country
of origin, or if the country of origin is not a CITES member, such as
Haiti, a corresponding document described in U.S. regulations. Neither
of the defendants, or their Haitian supplier, possessed or presented
the
appropriate documentation for the coral in this case at the time of
importation

Coral reef destruction has been the subject of intense debate at
the meetings of the parties to CITES. Loss of reef habitat, which is
one
of the most productive and diverse ecosystems, is a world-wide concern.
As nurseries for marine species of commercial value, as well as a
source
of income from recreational fishing and eco-tourists, and a protective
barrier for coastlines, a significant effort is underway to preserve
the
existing reef structures and reverse their decline.

Mr. Acosta commended the coordinated investigative efforts of the
U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and
Immigration & Customs Enforcement, which brought the matter to a
successful conclusion. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant
United
States Attorneys Thomas Watts-FitzGerald.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the
United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at
www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be
found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of
Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.go
 
C

Chiefmcfuz

Guest
Rating - 100%
39   0   0
For a corp. those penalties are nothing but the reputation they will have after this will hurt them more.
 

meschaefer

One to Ignore
Location
Astoria
Rating - 100%
30   0   0
I think they udervalued the 40,000 pounds of "coral rock", at $75,000. If it was dry base rock it would have a street value of $120,000. If it was live rock it would have a street value of close to $200,000.

The other thing that entered my mind, is that there are people who read that notice in the law journal thinking to themselves... Who would buy this stuff?
 

jhale

ReefsMagazine!
Location
G.V NYC
Rating - 100%
52   0   0
randy I would think that's what they had in mind for the rocks.

all that crushed coral has to come from somewhere.
 

Alfredo De La Fe

Senior Member
Location
Upper West Side
Rating - 100%
30   0   0
I think it is a sign of a broken system with silly rules.

"Live rock" and "base rock" eventually turn into sand in the ocean. More rock is removed from the ocean during costal construction, etc. Even 1 million pounds of rock would barely scratch the surface. You could probably pull up a million pounds of RUBBLE rock (What WE call large pieces of live rock are pebbles in the ocean) from one square mile of ocean floor without even noticing much of a difference.

Now if we were talking about live carribean corals, that would be an entirely different story. SPS corals from the carib are in serious danger of extinction.

-Alfred
 

Alfredo De La Fe

Senior Member
Location
Upper West Side
Rating - 100%
30   0   0
"live rock" is continually being "made" in the ocean and ground into sand. The pieces we get for our tanks are too small to be of use for coral, they are too small and light and get thrown around in the current.

-Alfred
 

Alfredo De La Fe

Senior Member
Location
Upper West Side
Rating - 100%
30   0   0
Collection of liverock is almost insignificant compared to the real problems. Coastal errosion due to construction and destruction of mangroves, etc. are top on the list. I would imagine that if ALL harvesting of liverock and corals for the aquarium and curio trade stopped tomorrow it would have a zero impact.

-Alfred
 

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