Black Coral Art in Roatan???

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Midge907

Contributor
Messages
427
Reaction score
108
Location
Hot Springs, South Dakota
# of dives
200 - 499
Im just looking for some insight here, not trying to start a popcorn section of whats right and whats wrong without facts. My understanding is that you can buy Black Coral artifacts in Roatan from the local vendors, but my other understanding is that black coral harvesting is illegal. Am I right in that understanding? Is it harvested by artificial means? Im guessing that going through customs must not be any problem, since it seems to be sold on a open market? Please chime in, especially RoatanMan. Im just looking for insight, and to see if the thoughts in my head are validated in any way.
 
Black Coral is protected under appendix II of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species, or CITES, the same convention that protects Rhino and tigers and elephants. Roatan is signatory to the convention, and specifically mentions corals on their website, but only has protections in place for Sea Turtles, Parrots, Crocodiles, and deer. Black Corals are regulated thus:
EXECUTIVE DECREE 002-2004: RULES FOR THE CONTROL OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE BAY ISLANDS

Article 29.

It is forbidden to hunt and/or trade any flora or fauna species that are endangered, especially black coral and sea turtles; this includes every sub-product or handcraft made out of them.

However, this is only for the Bay Islands, and permitted harvest is allowed. That means that Black Coral may be harvested in places other than the Bay Islands, and Black Coral may not be traded (taken across borders of countries signatory to the convention) unless permitted. Don't buy black coral, and don't get caught bringing it into the USA.

There is lots of stuff that looks like black coral that isn't. Looking into a piece of black coral is like looking into a pearl or opal, it is very "deep". Because of the regulations on black coral, it is valued on the black market very highly. A black coral bracelet will set you back $3-500, and a necklace over $1000. It's highly unlikely that your street vendor is selling you black coral. I've seen it growing in many places, and it's common in the Dry Tortugas, but I haven't seen any real jewelry in 20 years or so, and that was in Hawaii.
 
I would prefer to buy a lionfish skin handbag for my wife
 
From what I understand, there seems to be an exception for material acquired through "fishing by-catch". I believe this not only applies to selling in the Bay Islands but to importation into the US as well.

That sounds like a fairly bull$#α excuse to me. Since most of this unintentional harvesting, as well as major reef degradation, is caused by the net dragging for Shrimp~ that's another thing we won't eat. Years ago, I bought some chunks of Black Coral right out of the Shrimper's nets, standing next to Oscar, the major Black Coral artist in Honduras. It occurred to me that I was influencing the fishermen to "accidentally" cause even more by-catch.

Shells, notably the Queen Conch are prohibited, but a quick look at eBay with the search using "Roatan" and you will se a lot of things coming out of the Bay Islands. One itinerant vendor, who has since passed, used to sell Turtle shell products and dried Sea Horses at various locations.

Check the laws, understand what is meant by "by-catch", and how that applies. The Bay Islands have a lot of nice carved wooden items, a nice alternative.
 
Easilly available, I know a taxi driver whose uncles brothers wife's nephew can get you black coral, true mayan artifacts, actual wood timbers from blackbeards pirate ship, winning lottery tickets, pharmaceuticals, and cheap beachfront property all while on Roatan even if just there for a few hours on a cruise, he is quite poor so he needs the money up front of course so he can go get the products from his source but he is very trustworthy and will return with your purchase along with any change owed to you
 
Personally I would prefer not to buy any of it, whether it was from by-catch or not. I wouldnt buy dolphin on purpose, just because it was a by-catch from the Tuna net. Interesting info so far, I figured there had to be a gray area there.
 
I wouldnt buy dolphin on purpose...

"I wouldn't buy dolphin on Porpoise, either" ~Groucho Marx

@Midge: You left the door widen open for that, and being
the way I am, I just had to toss that one out. They
haven't been around yet this morning with the Medication Cart
so I'm liable to post just about anything. It's really
your fault, you made me do this. Have a nice trip
to Roatan and CCV, please post a complete report when
you get home.
 
CITIES is perhaps the best we have for restricting trade in endangered or threatened species. As RoatanMan points out "by-catch" is plainly a BS excuse and purchase of by-catch can simply encourage "accidental" by-catch. I don't know what CITIES has to say about by-catch but seeing as CITIES agreements can cause species (dead or alive) to be siezed from you when exit a country or enter a country I don't think claiming by-catch would make any difference. It would seem that it is perhaps a way not to criminalize the fishing industry for accidental catches of non-target species? I'm sure someone can comment on that.

Black Coral is listed under App. II of CITIES which is not necessarily threatened with extinction but may become so unless trade is restricted. Queen Conch is also listed under Appendix II. According to Wikipedia "In the UK conch shells are the ninth most seized import."

The CITIES convention is voluntary but only a handful of countries are not signed up "parties" to the agreement. That means that both export and import of listed species are restricted. Honduras does not have the resource to effectively implement it's own conservation laws let alone CITIES so you almost certainly wouldn't have any problems taking black coral or queen conch shells, etc out of the country but bringing it into your own country you may well have it seized from you by customs.

There is one simple rule to live by if you don't know any better and want to make a difference - don't buy anything that came from the sea. If you want to (even if it's a plate of fried fish) do your research first and find out what you are buying.

The CITIES database is available on line CITES-listed species database and you can search by common name.

For food at least the Bay Islands Responsible Sea Food Guide is a start http://www.coral.org/files/pdf/Bay-Islands-Seafood-Guide.pdf

Even an empty shell can be home to something else :)
 
Im just looking for some insight here, not trying to start a popcorn section of whats right and whats wrong .

I gotta call a bullsh!t on this, why else bring it up?


Personally I would prefer not to buy any of it,

AGAIN, Why even bring it up??

You would
not to buy any of it??? Is someone forcing you to? are you into debt with some black coral dealer that we will see an episode on Law and Order made after??

Face it, the only reason you posted was to start something, your kidding no one
 
I'm not so sure I'd be so quick to judge-
I've been in Fish and Wildlife law enforcement for 21 years, and an unfortunate side affect of the job, if you will, is that I've developed a very strong skepticism about the moral/ethical standards of humanity. Hopefully because the OP did "bring it up" folks (including the OP) that read these posts will be more educated about things like CITES, WEMS, and trade in ES wildlife. Unfortunately, penalties associated with the illegal trade of wildlife don't typically fit the level of potential long lasting, or permanent, results of the unlawful act. We all know that if there is a demand there is a market. We may not be able to significantly influence things such as penalties or levels of enforcement in these developing countries, but we can sure influence demand.
 

Back
Top Bottom