Carib-Sea in trouble!

[reefbaby]

Hej allihoppa,

I wasn't quite sure which section to put this in, but I thought you might all be interested in this piece of information that's come out about Carib-Sea.

From: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls/PressReleases/061108-04.html

FORT PIERCE COMPANY AND ITS PRESIDENT PLEAD GUILTY AND ARE SENTENCED FOR ILLEGALLY IMPORTING CORAL ROCK INTO THE UNITED STATES

November 8, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Eddie McKissick, Resident Agent in Charge, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Hal Robbins, Special Agent in Charge, NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement, Southeast Division, and Jesus Torres, Special Agent in Charge, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, announced that Carib Sea, Inc., a Fort Pierce-based aquarium supply company, and Richard Greenfield, 46, of Fort Pierce, pled guilty and were sentenced in federal District Court on November 7, 2006, in connection with the illegal importation of more than 42,000 pounds of protected coral rock from Haiti to the United States. Both defendants were charged in connection with a shipment that arrived in March 2006, contrary to the laws of the United States and an international treaty intended to protect threatened and endangered species of wildlife, all in violation of the federal Lacey Act, Title 16, United States Code, Sections 3372 and 3373.

United States District Court Judge Marcia G. Cooke accepted the guilty pleas of the two defendants and proceeded to immediate sentencing. Carib Sea, Inc. was sentenced to a three year period of court-supervised probation and ordered to make a $25,000 community service payment to the South Florida National Park Trust to assist in funding and enhancing the existing Coral Nursery Program in Biscayne National Park.

Richard Greenfield was also placed on three years probation, and ordered to pay a criminal fine in the amount of $25,000. Additionally, the defendants were held jointly liable for storage and transportation costs exceeding $10,000 which related to the March 2006 seizure and approximately 40,000 pounds of coral rock found and seized by the government at the company’s business location. The defendants are also obligated to publish a notice in three publications related to the aquarium trade, explaining their violation of law and the applicable requirements of CITES and U.S. regulations.

The coral rock involved in this matter, with a market value of approximately $75,000, is being transferred to a non-profit research institution, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, to avoid its use in commerce.

According to the Information filed in this matter and a statement of facts presented in Court, in March 2006, the defendants were involved in the importation of a cargo-container load of coral rock from Haiti. Under a convention known as “CITES,” the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, more than 150 countries have banded together to provide protection to a variety of species in danger of imminent extinction, or which may become so, if trade in their specimens is not carefully regulated. That protection extends to all coral rock, which is an invertebrate within the phylum coelenterate. To legally import such specimens into the United States, the importer must, among other requirements, obtain and present to the Fish & Wildlife Service a valid foreign export permit from the country of origin, or if the country of origin is not a CITES member, such as Haiti, a corresponding document described in U.S. regulations. Neither of the defendants, or their Haitian supplier, possessed or presented the appropriate documentation for the coral in this case at the time of importation

Coral reef destruction has been the subject of intense debate at the meetings of the parties to CITES. Loss of reef habitat, which is one of the most productive and diverse ecosystems, is a world-wide concern. As nurseries for marine species of commercial value, as well as a source of income from recreational fishing and eco-tourists, and a protective barrier for coastlines, a significant effort is underway to preserve the existing reef structures and reverse their decline.

Mr. Acosta commended the coordinated investigative efforts of the Fish & Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and Immigration & Customs Enforcement, which brought the matter to a successful conclusion. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Thomas Watts-FitzGerald.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.

Technical comments about this website can be e-mailed to the Webmaster. PLEASE NOTE: The United States Attorney's Office does not respond to non-technical inquiries made to this website. If you wish to make a request for information, you may contact our office at 305-961-9001, or you may send a written inquiry to the United States Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida, 99 NE 4th Street, Miami, Fl. 33132.

[GustavF]

What was the intended use for the liverock? Crush it for their substrates?

[stigigemla]

Det står ju nästan här. Fort Pierce-based aquarium supply company. Och sedan får man gissa.

Men det var låga böter för fridlyst sten. 50 000 dollar för 42000 pound (ungefär 20 000 kg)

[reefbaby]

okay...just read this...I'm copying it over from TalkingReef:

Looks like this was just dry base rock that they import all the time, they just neglected to obtain the correct permit for that particular shipment.

From a story in the TCPalm:

...Betsey Moore, vice president of the company, said Wednesday the material, often used in construction in Haiti, was mined from the land, not the ocean, and no living coral was harmed. Coral rock is typically used in aquariums for decoration, she said.

CaribSea Inc. did not have the proper permits to bring the material into the country, but has since obtained the necessary documents, Moore said.

"Plain and simple, we made a mistake," she said. "It was never intentional." ...

From a Palm Beach Post article:

...Betsey Moore, vice president of Carib Sea, on Wednesday stressed the rock the company tried to import was mined from land and not the ocean. She said it's used in construction and decorative material for aquariums.

She said the company is very "ecologically minded," and it made a mistake by not having the correct permit to import the coral rock.

"I want to stress this was coral rock and not coral. There's a huge difference," Moore said. "It's perfectly legal with a simple permit, which we've obtained since."...

[stigigemla]

Jag tvivlar. Tahiti är västindiens laglösaste land och jag har nyss läst en uppmaning från Eric Borneman att de som visste något om smugglingen av koraller och LS från Tahiti skulle vända sig till polis eller tull.

Och så kommer detta bara någon vecka efteråt...

[Beppe]

Jag tvivlar. Tahiti är västindiens laglösaste land och jag har nyss läst en uppmaning från Eric Borneman att de som visste något om smugglingen av koraller och LS från Tahiti skulle vända sig till polis eller tull.

Och så kommer detta bara någon vecka efteråt...

Du menar väl Haiti? ;-)

[stigigemla]

Japp.