Corral the Coral Trade

Beneath ocean surfaces across the globe lives a vibrant world of coral reef ecosystems, perhaps the most colorful, biologically diverse wildlife areas in the world. The reefs are home to thousands of tropical fish, invertebrates, and other species.

Coral reefs and their myriad denizens, however, are overexploited globally. According to Reefs at Risk¸ published by the World Resources Institute (WRI), over half of the world's reefs are threatened by coastal development, inland and marine pollution, and destructive fishing practices, including cyanide fishing. Cyanide is squirted at fish near reefs, temporarily stunning them for easy collection but killing the coral. Divers must sometimes hammer reefs apart to get to the fish in their crevices. Cyanide fishing has been used for decades to capture fish for the global aquaria trade and, increasingly, for restaurant markets in Asia. WRI estimates that "Selected and plucked live from a restaurant tank, some species can fetch up to $300 per plate, and are an essential status symbol for major celebrations and business occasions."

Another major contributing factor to the reefs' demise is international trade. The United States Department of the Interior contends, "Coral reef resources [coral, reef fish, live rock, etc.] traded internationally supply a wide number of markets and industries, including the seafood industry, live food fish markets, the aquarium trade, and the pharmaceutical and research industries." The trade is enormously lucrative. In one 2001 case, a California man pled guilty to conspiring to traffic in one hundred tons of coral and live rock from reefs off Hawaii with a reported value of over one million dollars.

A coordinated global effort is essential to protect coral reefs long-term. In the United States, President Clinton signed an Executive Order in 1998 "to preserve and protect the biodiversity, health, heritage, and social and economic value of US coral reef ecosystems and the marine environment." The Order established a Coral Reef Task Force to map and monitor US coral reefs, research the causes of their degradation, and develop coherent recommendations to prevent this destruction.

A similar effort is underway in East Africa, where reefs around Kenya, the Seychelles, and Madagascar are at risk from coastal development, dynamite fishing, sewage, and the souvenir trade. One goal of the African strategy is to fund the training of local people in skills to allow them to benefit financially from a reef-based ecotourism industry without harming the reefs themselves.

Through tourism (for snorkelers and scuba divers, for instance) and other uses, coral reefs may bring local communities revenues that climb into the hundreds of billions of dollars annually.