40 tons of coral smuggled from the Philippines

[Izel]

Have you seen or heard this news? It's just sad it was not even detected by the local authorities OR at the very least, made it to the local papers. :depressed:

My dive buddy forwarded this to me and I would like to share this to as many divers and non-divers as possible. If you know of people from the DENR, please forward the link so they can shed light on this matter. GMA is a diver herself, so she should care! Please forward this to her, too. :depressed:

Smuggler's greed: 40 tons of coral - Environment- msnbc.com

40 Tons?! 40000 kilograms?! How did that happen? Unbelievable!!!! :shocked2:

There should be a tick box in the Income tax Form that ask you "Where do you want your hard-earned money to go?". I want it to go to people who will sincerely guard our precious resource... and to build a gas chamber for these criminals!!!

 

[pakman]

I hope it was a nasty variation of fire coral...

I can think of a good punishment to fit the crime...

 

[Gen San Chris]

It happened here just outside Sarangani Bay a few years ago when a group of Koreans blew up a reef and loaded a ship with the coral! The unfortunate thing about this was that I unwittingly supplied the dive gear to them, well not to them really as I rented my gear to the head of the Maritime Police in Gen San! On the TV he stated that he would not rest until the culprits were found! What chance of that when a Police Colonel was in charge of the opperation!
My gear was in a horrible state when he returned it! He never got anything else from me, the ********!

 

[jigo]

next time flll the tanks with carbon monoxide.

 

[djtimmy77]

Part of the reason I'll never have a salt water fish tank

 

[World Wide Diver]

Does anybody know where he got the coral from?

Interesting that Cora Pet's website in Germany is under construction at the moment. Maybe they were waiting for the coral shipment to complete constructing it!

Anyhow, if he is guilty, then I hope that the US authorities jail him for a long time. Also hope that they trace the shipment back to the PI's and jail the ones who he got it from.

 

[Izel]

It happened here just outside Sarangani Bay a few years ago when a group of Koreans blew up a reef and loaded a ship with the coral! The unfortunate thing about this was that I unwittingly supplied the dive gear to them, well not to them really as I rented my gear to the head of the Maritime Police in Gen San! On the TV he stated that he would not rest until the culprits were found! What chance of that when a Police Colonel was in charge of the opperation!
My gear was in a horrible state when he returned it! He never got anything else from me, the ********!

It must've been painful when you first heard what they did. Nakaka-inis! Grrr!!! And the head of the DENR have this new TV add preaching about protection of the environment :depressed:.... Gearing up for the 2010 elections? He'll never get my vote! Not in the national elections nor in the baranggay elections... Hell, not even in the PTA!

 

[Izel]

next time flll the tanks with carbon monoxide.

I'm partial with the carbon monoxide but that can still be traced sa CSI . Sabagay, if they didn't notice 800 sacks of corals slipping in their own backyard, the CO might just do the job .

 

[bubble_charm]

This is really upsetting news! I can't even imagine the magnitude of the damage.
It's just too selfish! =(

 

[HomelessDiver]

I'm more of the idea.... how do you harvest 40 tons of coral and keep it alive to be freight shipped to the US where it will sit long enough to get a customs inspection, then across the US to Oregon.... an still be alive? (or worth anything)