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*********************************
* September 14, 2004
* R E E F D I S P A T C H
* _________________________
* ReefGuardian Petition
* Seeks End to
* Fiji Live Rock Collection
*
* -- sign on at --
*http://www.reefguardian.org/rgipetition.html
**********************************
A Periodic Inside Look at a Coral Reef Issue from
Alexander Stone, ReefGuardian International Director
____________________________________________________
Dear Friend of Coral Reefs,
NOW is the time for you to stand up for Fiji's coral habitats. Please
take action by signing onto ReefGuardian's Petition to Stop Live Rock
Collection in Fiji, at http://www.reefguardian.org/rgipetition.html.
Support a ban on the collection of hard coral and live rock.
Right now, there's nothing to stop crowbars and chisels from ripping
corals off the reefs in Fiji.
Never mind that we spent 10 years in a successful series of regional
campaigns to outlaw live rock collection on all coral reefs under U.S
jurisdiction, from Guam in the far Pacific to Puerto Rico in the
Caribbean. Now, market demand is making it feasible -- profitable --
for coral reefs in Fiji to be systematically chiseled away and shipped
in pieces clear across the world so that pet shops in Maryland can sell
live rock for aquariums. And the poor villagers in Fiji probably don't
realize that they are not only hurting their reefs, but also hurting the
future capacity of those reefs to create and maintain jobs in
sportdiving and in fishing.
This is wrong! We didn't spend a decade getting live rock collection
banned throughout the U.S., just so that this terrible practice would be
inflicted instead on Fiji's coral reefs.
We need you to actively stand up for coral habitats by signing onto
ReefGuardian's Petition to Stop Live Rock Collection in Fiji, at
http://www.reefguardian.org/rgipetition.html.
Add you voice to the growing chorus demanding a stop to destructive
coral and live rock collection in Fiji!
WHY CORALS AND LIVE ROCK NEED PROTECTION
It takes decades for countless generations of fragile dime-sized
filter-feeding colonial coral polyps to build a single coral head -- and
centuries to build coral reefs.
Live rock is coral rubble or reef outcroppings with attached marine
life.
Live rock started to be used in marine aquariums 15 years ago at the
rate of 2 pounds per gallon of water. A modest 60-gallon aquarium
requires 120 pounds of this coral substrate to establish a reef profile
on the bottom and rear of the aquarium.
But collected live rock cannot be replenished on a biological time
scale, as can all other fishery resources. At best geologically
renewable over very long periods of time, live rock is a resource that
should be preserved from all harvest because its replenishment is not
manageable or possible under standard fisheries management.
Coral and live rock formations provide essential habitat to countless
marine creatures. Taking coral and live rock reduces the quality and
quantity of habitat available to reef organisms. Continued collection
seriously disrupts -- and even destroys -- entire reef microcommunities.
Coral and live rock are often collected with hammer and chisel. The
physical integrity and ecological balance of sensitive coral reefs and
hardbottoms is being disrupted more and more each time another chunk is
torn away.
TAKE ACTION NOW
For all these reasons, hard coral and live rock collection in Fiji MUST
BE STOPPED! We need your help to see that it does stop.
Take action by signing onto ReefGuardian's Petition to Stop Live Rock
Collection in Fiji, at http://www.reefguardian.org/rgipetition.html.
Insist on a complete stop to the collection of reefbuilding corals and
liverock in that country.
Thanks so much for caring!
Alexander Stone
Director
ReefGuardian International
***************************
http://www.reefguardian.org
***************************
* September 14, 2004
* R E E F D I S P A T C H
* _________________________
* ReefGuardian Petition
* Seeks End to
* Fiji Live Rock Collection
*
* -- sign on at --
*http://www.reefguardian.org/rgipetition.html
**********************************
A Periodic Inside Look at a Coral Reef Issue from
Alexander Stone, ReefGuardian International Director
____________________________________________________
Dear Friend of Coral Reefs,
NOW is the time for you to stand up for Fiji's coral habitats. Please
take action by signing onto ReefGuardian's Petition to Stop Live Rock
Collection in Fiji, at http://www.reefguardian.org/rgipetition.html.
Support a ban on the collection of hard coral and live rock.
Right now, there's nothing to stop crowbars and chisels from ripping
corals off the reefs in Fiji.
Never mind that we spent 10 years in a successful series of regional
campaigns to outlaw live rock collection on all coral reefs under U.S
jurisdiction, from Guam in the far Pacific to Puerto Rico in the
Caribbean. Now, market demand is making it feasible -- profitable --
for coral reefs in Fiji to be systematically chiseled away and shipped
in pieces clear across the world so that pet shops in Maryland can sell
live rock for aquariums. And the poor villagers in Fiji probably don't
realize that they are not only hurting their reefs, but also hurting the
future capacity of those reefs to create and maintain jobs in
sportdiving and in fishing.
This is wrong! We didn't spend a decade getting live rock collection
banned throughout the U.S., just so that this terrible practice would be
inflicted instead on Fiji's coral reefs.
We need you to actively stand up for coral habitats by signing onto
ReefGuardian's Petition to Stop Live Rock Collection in Fiji, at
http://www.reefguardian.org/rgipetition.html.
Add you voice to the growing chorus demanding a stop to destructive
coral and live rock collection in Fiji!
WHY CORALS AND LIVE ROCK NEED PROTECTION
It takes decades for countless generations of fragile dime-sized
filter-feeding colonial coral polyps to build a single coral head -- and
centuries to build coral reefs.
Live rock is coral rubble or reef outcroppings with attached marine
life.
Live rock started to be used in marine aquariums 15 years ago at the
rate of 2 pounds per gallon of water. A modest 60-gallon aquarium
requires 120 pounds of this coral substrate to establish a reef profile
on the bottom and rear of the aquarium.
But collected live rock cannot be replenished on a biological time
scale, as can all other fishery resources. At best geologically
renewable over very long periods of time, live rock is a resource that
should be preserved from all harvest because its replenishment is not
manageable or possible under standard fisheries management.
Coral and live rock formations provide essential habitat to countless
marine creatures. Taking coral and live rock reduces the quality and
quantity of habitat available to reef organisms. Continued collection
seriously disrupts -- and even destroys -- entire reef microcommunities.
Coral and live rock are often collected with hammer and chisel. The
physical integrity and ecological balance of sensitive coral reefs and
hardbottoms is being disrupted more and more each time another chunk is
torn away.
TAKE ACTION NOW
For all these reasons, hard coral and live rock collection in Fiji MUST
BE STOPPED! We need your help to see that it does stop.
Take action by signing onto ReefGuardian's Petition to Stop Live Rock
Collection in Fiji, at http://www.reefguardian.org/rgipetition.html.
Insist on a complete stop to the collection of reefbuilding corals and
liverock in that country.
Thanks so much for caring!
Alexander Stone
Director
ReefGuardian International
***************************
http://www.reefguardian.org
***************************
