Off topic diving question for those in Florida or other tropical areas.

[Twisted One]

I am just curious as to how many of you people diving in these areas have also bought permits for collecting corals, fish, etc... for aquarium purposes.

I keep reef aquariums..well a reef aquarium right now, but getting ready to put my other one back up soon. I was curious as to how many of you might be making extra money off of these collections to pay for your hobby, and if any of you deal with the public, and shipping, or only deal with business. I also used to work at a local reef store, and know the owner was looking for some better suppliers too.

Sorry for the off topic, just felt it would be a good place to ask, and maybe give those that don't already do this, something to think about.

Good hunting everyone!

Brian

 

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[stevemc]

I used to have a commercial fishing license here in Florida, and did collect tropical fish and sold them. Maybe 15 years ago, they changed all the commercial fishing in Florida. Impossible to get a tropical fish lic, and you can only lease it from someone else, they are not selling any more. Same with lobster diver, there are about 12 lobster divers left, and are not selling any more. I know someone with a tropical fish lic, he is a friend, and offered it for me to use, at a good deal. I might. In 1976 I moved to Hawaii, and started collecting and shipping tropical fish back to Florida. Back then there was no commercial lic in Hawaii. But here in FL, you can collect a recreational limit of tropical fish, with a saltwater fishing lic, and for your own tank. I have done that. You can also collect soft corals and zoanthids, hard corals are off limits.

 

[Twisted One]

Zoanthids, Ricodias, etc... are probably my primary interest right now. I used to collect hard corals, but mostly they were captive raised ones, well originally they were wild, but the ones I had were usually like third or fourth generation aquarium pieces.

In the part of California I am in I am about 3.5 hours north of the bay area which is the closest port. So unless we are willing to travel it is very hard, and very expensive to decent corals up here. Usually what we get is left overs after the bay area stores, and hobbyist have picked through all of the good stuff.

So I would love to find an independent person to collect and ship but I have the feeling it would be fairly unreasonable to do, when the company that do it in bulk, have the equipment and connections to pack it and ship it overnight at a reasonable price. Maybe in small quantities it wouldn't be too bad though.

 

[stevemc]

I used to have a large 2 car garage turned into a fish/coral room. I bred several types of marine fish and fragged all kinds of coral. Well over 1000 gallons of salt water going in several different sumps, probably 50 large aquariums just in that room. I live on the coast and getting good saltwater was easy. I never made any up from crystals. I would suggest, if you havent already, go to www.reefcentral.com and go to clubs section, and find your area, and go to and join a club or clubs near you. You can find many others that are doing this and always wanting to frag off parts of coral and zoas and stuff for trade or cheap.

 

[psdiver]

Duo charged with harvesting coral
BY ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff
alinhardt@keysnews.com

A Tennessee father and son accused of harvesting live coral with a hammer and chisels in a protected area in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary were arrested Friday after snorkelers from a charter boat reported them to authorities.

"I'm not sure if this was out of ignorance or arrogance," said Bobby Dube, a state wildlife officer. "Most people know you're not supposed to touch coral, much less take a hammer and chisel to it."

Ronald Wayne Fitzgerald, 64, and his son, Joseph Benjamin Fitzgerald, 33, both of Nashville were arrested after Coast Guard and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) officers found a cooler filled with hard and stony corals, as well as two chisels and a hammer on their private vessel, according to wildlife officials.

FWC officers also found a bag of coral still in the water when they arrived at the sanctuary Special Protected Area (SPA) near the Alligator Reef Lighthouse at 4:30 p.m. It is illegal to take anything from an SPA without special permits.

The men told investigators they wanted the coral for their home aquarium, said Dube, adding that there is a big demand in the black market for live coral to be used in aquariums.

A sanctuary biologist who was called to the scene to assess the damage and take video for prosecution purposes reportedly found another hammer lying on the ocean floor, Dube said.

The people who reported their suspicions to wildlife officials reportedly were on a snorkel boat out of Robbie's Marina in Islamorada.

"When you see guys in the water with a hammer and chisel, they're probably up to no good," Dube said.

The junior Fitzgerald was charged with possession of hard and stony corals, possession of marine life without a circulating live well and possession or over the recreational bag limit of marine life. His father was charged with possession of hard and stony coral. All charges are second-degree misdemeanors.

"Some people say it's just a little and not that much," Dube said of the illegally harvested coral, "but we have a million people coming down here every year. Obviously, with that many people, we wouldn't have a reef if we allowed this behavior."

alinhardt@keysnews.com

 

[Twisted One]

I used to have a large 2 car garage turned into a fish/coral room. I bred several types of marine fish and fragged all kinds of coral. Well over 1000 gallons of salt water going in several different sumps, probably 50 large aquariums just in that room. I live on the coast and getting good saltwater was easy. I never made any up from crystals. I would suggest, if you havent already, go to www.reefcentral.com and go to clubs section, and find your area, and go to and join a club or clubs near you. You can find many others that are doing this and always wanting to frag off parts of coral and zoas and stuff for trade or cheap.

To have a system like that would be a dream, yet a nightmare for maintenance at the same time. I belong to three local clubs up here, and never had a hard time getting some really grade A frags from a lot of the members, it is nice to have connections.

I guess I was been a little too ADD while typing, but what I am really trying to do, is find a little more low key, and higher grade supplier for the store. Like I said mostly getting left over from the current suppliers due to our location.
I talked to him yesterday and he actually has two businesses and is thinking of selling the other one so that he can make weekly trips down south to hand select corals from the incoming shipments, which might boost the quality of what he is getting.

 

[Twisted One]

Duo charged with harvesting coral
BY ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff
alinhardt@keysnews.com

A Tennessee father and son accused of harvesting live coral with a hammer and chisels in a protected area in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary were arrested Friday after snorkelers from a charter boat reported them to authorities.

"I'm not sure if this was out of ignorance or arrogance," said Bobby Dube, a state wildlife officer. "Most people know you're not supposed to touch coral, much less take a hammer and chisel to it."

Ronald Wayne Fitzgerald, 64, and his son, Joseph Benjamin Fitzgerald, 33, both of Nashville were arrested after Coast Guard and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) officers found a cooler filled with hard and stony corals, as well as two chisels and a hammer on their private vessel, according to wildlife officials.

FWC officers also found a bag of coral still in the water when they arrived at the sanctuary Special Protected Area (SPA) near the Alligator Reef Lighthouse at 4:30 p.m. It is illegal to take anything from an SPA without special permits.

The men told investigators they wanted the coral for their home aquarium, said Dube, adding that there is a big demand in the black market for live coral to be used in aquariums.

A sanctuary biologist who was called to the scene to assess the damage and take video for prosecution purposes reportedly found another hammer lying on the ocean floor, Dube said.

The people who reported their suspicions to wildlife officials reportedly were on a snorkel boat out of Robbie's Marina in Islamorada.

"When you see guys in the water with a hammer and chisel, they're probably up to no good," Dube said.

The junior Fitzgerald was charged with possession of hard and stony corals, possession of marine life without a circulating live well and possession or over the recreational bag limit of marine life. His father was charged with possession of hard and stony coral. All charges are second-degree misdemeanors.

"Some people say it's just a little and not that much," Dube said of the illegally harvested coral, "but we have a million people coming down here every year. Obviously, with that many people, we wouldn't have a reef if we allowed this behavior."

alinhardt@keysnews.com

I am not sure why you were pointing this out, but it is amazing what some people will do, anyone that has been in this hobby for any amount of time, know that harvesting coral is a sensitive thing, a lot of controlled areas, off limits areas, and just diving in and grabbing corals without knowing this is plain ignorant.

This is part of the beauty of a lot of the reef clubs, most of the more "prestigious" members will not buy and wild caught corals, too much risk of getting tank crashing, coral killing pest.
Stores how ever will mostly buy wild caught, hoping to get that next prize piece, making sure that it is clean before they sell it. So the hobbyist will then buy it.

A lot of the premium coral collectors actually only select a few corals at a time from the ocean, and do so in small amounts, usually by just clipping a small piece off the coral, allowing the wild coral to continue to grow, and taking the "frags" back to their home systems to grow out before they sell "frags" of it.

Of course some of those frags go for hundreds of dollars in auctions, which of course makes other people think it is a gold mine.

 

[psdiver]

Nothing more then timing of the thread and the news story.