Ricordea bust in the Keys part 2

[bobimport]

Well I guess we now know who had the story right

Bob

Keynoter.com :twisted:

A Miami man pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges he illegally harvested and sold coral taken from the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

When sentenced June 1 in U.S. District Court in Miami, Alexandre Alvarenga-Freire, 40, faces up to five years in prison, a fine up to $250,000, three years of supervised release, and an order of restitution.

Additionally, his 1969, 34-foot fiberglass Morgan sailing vessel, the Pippin, which was used in the harvesting, will be forfeited to the United States.


According to prosecutors, Freire was taking Ricordia florida, a mushroom are prized by aquarists for their varied color and ability to impart a natural look to tank displays, from off Cudjoe Key.

Here's what happened, according to prosecutors:

In November, two German nationals were intercepted at Miami International Airport attempting to export 500 specimens of Ricordia florida, with live rock attached to the polyps, for sale through their business in Dusseldorf, Germany. They admitted to investigators they were involved with Freire in harvesting the marine life while aboard the Pippin east of Cudjoe Key.




Investigators placed a Global Positioning System tracking device on the boat and monitored its location through Jan. 25, when Freire was arrested at the Cudjoe Key Marina returning with a load of 400 specimens of Ricordia florida.

The GPC placed the harvesting location within the sanctuary, confirming the information from the German nationals. Further confirmation was acquired by having a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement aircraft conduct an overflight of the vessel during the three-day harvesting trip prior to Freire's arrest.

According to statements in Court, a team from the National Marine Sanctuary Program has evaluated the possibility of restoring the Ricordia seized from Freire at the time of his arrest to its natural habitat. That would remediate some of the damage caused by his chiseling the polyps and live rock from the seabed. The cost associated with the effort is expected to exceed $78,000.

 

[dizzy]

Keep up the good work Bob.

 

[swsaltwater]

I hope he gets all the max punishments. What a jerk. I wonder what they did to the germans

 

[Jaime Baquero]

How should we react by knowing that thousands of pieces of coral are collected weekly from the wild in developing countries such as Indonesia?

 

[Anonymous]

Add in legally and permitted collections under CITES and the government of said country Jaime Definitely not the same thing as what this thread is about (unpermitted poaching)

 

[Jaime Baquero]

GreshamH,

It is a good thing that the US government protects the natural resources from actions as the one described. It is illegal to do what these guys did in Fl waters and have to pay for it.

My point is that regulations and enforcement in the states are key to protect natural resources.

We know that collection of corals is "allowed" in Indonesia, we also know that collectors of corals in Indonesia are worse than the poachers caught in Fl. The "legal coral collectors" in Indonesia have been destroying coral reefs within Indonesia's waters for almost two decades... most of those corals are exported to the U.S....where collection of corals is illegal.

:?

 

[Anonymous]

Jaime how can you compair the coral coverage of the indo pacific, to that of the Keys? FAR more hard corals per square inch in the Indo Pac, then in the Keys. The Keys are in a far more dire straights then the Indo Pac as far a "reef health" is concerned. There are localized spots thru out the Indo Pac that are not doing well, but there's only a few isolated spots in the US where the reefs are in decent shape

It's more then allowed, it's sanctioned by multiple governments and CITES as well. There's a permit process that needs to be followed, and science has to back up the process.

Just how much coral is grown in US waters anyways Jaime? I dive most of the west coast and I have yet to see any corals that are in this trade, except Tubastrea :lol: Never seen an acro, monti, bubble coral, etc in my waters That leaves a few states in the gulf on the east coast. Not much coral here in the states, nor in your neck of the North American Continent Land mass to coral is unquestionably a large ratio here in the states, and rather small in the Indo Pac.

 

[bobimport]

$78,000 to put the stuff back?? Boy that will buy a lot of crazy glue!!!!!!!!

 

[Anonymous]

$78,000 to put the stuff back?? Boy that will buy a lot of crazy glue!!!!!!!!

Seems about right to me Government employees aint cheap.

 

[bobimport]

$700 hammer
$$3000 toilet seat
$78,000 for replcaeing ricordea

 

[Anonymous]

i owed the irs about 10 grand....



so i sent 'em a black and decker tool kit :lol:

 

[nanocat]

$700 hammer
$$3000 toilet seat
$78,000 for replcaeing ricordea

Don't blame the contractor...I'm a buyer who's purchased a few of those mega-dollar toilet seats. If the Guv wouldn't spec stuff like Nuclear Hardened silk lamp shades for Air Force One...we wouldn't be buying them :wink:

 

[Jaime Baquero]

Jaime how can you compair the coral coverage of the indo pacific, to that of the Keys? FAR more hard corals per square inch in the Indo Pac, then in the Keys. The Keys are in a far more dire straights then the Indo Pac as far a "reef health" is concerned. There are localized spots thru out the Indo Pac that are not doing well, but there's only a few isolated spots in the US where the reefs are in decent shape

GreshamH, I am not compairing any coral coverage. I know first hand how is the coral coverage in both regions. I am just saying that the collection of corals is illegal in the U.S...but is legal to import corals from other countries ...mostly developing countries. :? Please leave it there. Is matter for another thread.

 

[spawner]

You can legally collector some corals in the US, you just can't take a bunch of rock (no one is sure exactly what 1" of substrate really means) and you surely can't be dumb enough to think you can put a website up, blow your horn, tell everyone thanks for helping me collect them correctly, under cut people's living, collect without a permit, ship them across state or international boarders without the proper permits, and finally be so stupid that you offer collecting trips for something your not doing legally. The German's are just as guilty as the defendant is.

 

[corallimorph]

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls/PressRele ... 23-02.html

Here is the U.S.Attorny's report .