Eric Borneman coral controversy

[Anonymous]

http://www.opportunitylost.org/


This has been popping up all over the reef sites I am on lately. What do you think?

 

[Len]

Wow. I heard passing comments about this but never really delved into it. Very interesting read. I'm gonna digest it and look more elsewhere before making any conclusions, but thanks for the link!

 

[Anonymous]

What is this about?

 

[Anonymous]

Is there a reader's digest pocket summary version available?

 

[Len]

The collection and handling of Florida stoney corals. Read the PDFs in the link. It's very interesting, if not disconcerting and depressing. It seems this was very poorly managed by "one of our own" and reflects poorly on our hobby as a whole.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to avoid the pdfs, my work computer tends to choke on them. Salient points?

 

[Len]

Read the PDFs. they aren't very long and I promise you they're interesting

 

[Anonymous]

Just read this one:

email from FKNMS staff member explaining the problem

Glad this is coming up - the rumors have been pretty accurate.

 

[Anonymous]

Looks like Eric had some shady dealings going on.

 

[Len]

I don't know if some of the conclusions that NOAA and CDHC staff arrived at are accurate (that Eric was trying to profit from farming these normally illegal corals). Intentions aside, his handling of the corals is suspect.

 

[raddogz]

Wow, my first response is he's been caught red-handed in the cookie jar, but upon the emails that have been furnished it's a little hard to tell what his "real" intentions are or where.

The fact that he ignored the request in collection seems a little odd and certainly casts him into the bad light.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm with Len about the conclusions. The issues about handling the corals seem pretty well documented.

 

[Anonymous]

Does anyone else besides me remember 'A Practical Guide to Corals, Volume I' (1996) by Borneman and Ed Puterbaugh? Just curious - there was a scandal there, too, but I never did get anyone to give me the dirt on it.

 

[raddogz]

Was that the one where Eric claims he never receives a red cent from that book?

 

[Anonymous]

Dunno. Is it? Eric ever say why?

The book did cause a bit of a stir in 1997 with AMDA because of a statement it contained that wasn't true, but that's only a side issue so far as I know.

 

[raddogz]

I can't recall what the deal was (I thought it had something to do with the publisher blah blah stuff).

He seemed pretty bitter about it when he spoke last year at a conference.

 

[Anonymous]

It is hard to make an accurate statement about it since we only get half the story here, but it is a pretty damning half. Little disconcerting to say the least.

 

[bleedingthought]

When his tank crashed recently, I read that he listed one of these 'research corals' to have been lost with his home reef. :?

 

[Anonymous]

Wowzer, reading through a bunch of it, and not really understanding the gist of most, it doesn't seem to paint a favorable light on Mr Borneman.

 

[Anonymous]

It would be nice to hear his side of the story. I wonder if he will respond to it?