corals brought back from japan

[duec22]

Well someone has to try the first time, to let the rest of us know how it goes... I've been thinking about a vaction over in Japan, and if this can be done all the more reason to go...

[GreshamH]

Originally posted by pdimarco
You'll be fine don't listen to GreshamH.

Shall I dig up the local cases for you that have been busted here in SF for doing just this? The corals where held at my friends facility for US F&W S. Guess who busted them? joint effort between Customs and US F&WS. Why? They didn't have docs. No fines, no jail, but the gave up the shipments, and are now flagged by Customs, plus, they can never apply for an import licence from US F&W S.

Your more then welcome to try though. I'm only speaking from being an importer for a decade with a vast understanging of the rules/regs.

[Anthony Calfo]

Gresham is correct.

"Personal use"/"pets" only applies to legal or unregulated animals. Protected (regulated) animals such as stony corals from a CITES (charter no less) nation are not fair game

Please don't smuggle protected animals They are protected for good reason.

Are we truly emapthetic reef lovers here with care for the welfare of the organisms we study and keep, or do you admit to these organisms being merely a consumable commodity? If the latter, I cannot even wish you good luck. Rather, I wish you enlightenment.

[Creetin]

Well i am not even going to attemt it, I talked to a officer and she did say it was protected under cites 2 and 3 i believe.

[bkiba]

You could try swallowing it inside the plastic bag and then "passing" it after you land. Works for the drug mules from Columbia.

This sounds like a hairy situation, unless you get written, notarized, official clearnace to try this I wouldn't give it another thought. I get harassed for brining choclates back from Germany when I go.

Just hope that one day we will be able to get a better system globally for trading livestock, until then, stick with your florida rics and brains

[yardboy]

I completely agree with Calfo and Gresham and actually everybody else but don't quite understand why, if the corals are legally collected, imported into Japan, and sold in a store to me, why I can't bring them back into the States with me. I understand if I found a pretty coral while diving in Japan, collected it and snuck it into the U.S. in my underwear that I would likely get my butt busted, and deservedly so, but not the other. I know, because I've seen, some of the unbelievably beautiful corals for sale in for instance Hong Kong. I would have grabbed some then if I'd been going straight home as they were exporting them to other countries from there.
It already irks me that people in California have better access to corals than I do in Flordia!

[duec22]

Originally posted by yardboy

It already irks me that people in California have better access to corals than I do in Flordia!

It is nice living in Cali....there are a lot of farmers out here though that are propigating a lot of really nice corals....I don't think I've gotten a wild coral in over a year and a half...

[pdimarco]

Unless you plan on selling the corals like GRESHAMH's friend you'll be fine. As long as you don't try to sneak corals in without declaring them. Fish and corals are brought into FL all the time.

obviously it is illegal to bring in protected anything.

[sfsuphysics]

I thought corals (atleast the really nice ones) were quite expensive in Japan, why bother with buying over there?

[Anthony Calfo]

fair question indeed yardboy... a simplified explanation will hopfully work/help here:

countries like Australia and Japan/early CITES charter members, got smart early and clamped down on the collection and/or export of their corals. A primary focus is preventing sovereign national resources/treasures from leaving the country. Furthermore, the hobby trade in corals in these two example countries is insignificant compared to the US demand for corals. So... an aquarist in-country (Japan/Australia) can enjoy this small market privelege of keeping corals... there are only so many pieces that can/will be demanded. But if they allowed the export these pieces (by carriage in underwear or proper cargo containers ) the proverbial floodgates would be opened to global demand for their protected resources from much larger markets that could put serious if not irreparable pressures on various species.

Bottom line is... if you are not living in Japan, you will not be (legally) enjoying the keeping of Japanese corals

[yardboy]

Originally posted by duec22
It is nice living in Cali....there are a lot of farmers out here though that are propigating a lot of really nice corals....I don't think I've gotten a wild coral in over a year and a half...

Well, that's good news to hear, but I'm sure that there's still plenty of wild stuff coming into the country through California, where there's a hoard of propagators waiting to snap it up!

Maybe I won't feel so inferior to Japanese reefers when I suspect there's a likelihood those big tables I see living in their tanks are likely wild caught and not grown from frags.
Must be nice to be able to reserve the corals in your country for your people and still purchase stuff from the South Pacific too!
But wait Calfo, in your example it sounds like the real stopper is export from Japan, not import into the U.S.? So wouldn't your biggest risk be confiscation when leaving Japan?

As a sideline question, since that's what I was misunderstanding anyway(I wasn't really aware that any corals were collected in Japan), If I went to Hong Kong and bought a bunch of stuff (beautiful and cheap) that had come from Fiji, would it be very easy to bring it back into the U.S?

[milkshake]

That's what I call a true obsession....swallow and pass corals.
bkiba

[GreshamH]

Originally posted by pdimarco
Unless you plan on selling the corals like GRESHAMH's friend you'll be fine. As long as you don't try to sneak corals in without declaring them. Fish and corals are brought into FL all the time.

obviously it is illegal to bring in protected anything.

Assumptions

Sorry, he was not a friend of mine. The wholesale facility that US F & W S asked to tend to the corals until they could be shipped to a public aquarium in Los Angeles is owned by friends of mine.

Besides the fact I never said the dude was going to sell them. I actually highly doubt it, as it was only 3 corals and the cost of bringing them in like that would negate any profit the dude would have made.