carib sea

[i have crabs]

i found this posted on another site. seems like thier might be a shortage of reef rock and reef bones.




NEWS RELEASE: U.S. Department of Justice United States Attorney Southern
District of Florida 99 N.E. 4 Street Miami, FL 33132 (305) 961-9001
November 7, 2006

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

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 & Customs Enforcement, announced today that Carib Sea, Inc., a Fort Pierce based aquarium supply company, and Richard Greenfield, 46, of Fort Pierce, pled guilty and were sentenced in Miami federal District Court 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; a program operating to increase scientific understanding of coral growth with specific application to restoration and enhancement of coral reefs degraded by human activity and other causes by culturing a supply of hard and soft corals for translocation into damaged sites.

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 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 being entered into commercial commerce. 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.

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 U.S. 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
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 www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.go.

[Joe Reefer]

Thats way to much reading.
Can someone give me summary.

[Pan]

Originally Posted by Joe Reefer

Thats way to much reading.
Can someone give me summary.

something happened which led to things going on, er..they got fined for violating CITES

[fkshiu]

Synopsis:
CaribSea got busted for illegally importing 42,000 lbs. of LR from Haiti contrary to CITES (an entire container load).

They were fined a total of about $35,000 and put on probation. The rock went to some research institute.

Makes you wonder where they get all that nice sand the company packages up and sell for a ransom from . . .

[Delphinus]

Don't mess with CITES! Every couple of years it seems I hear of someone trying to get away with circumventing the rules.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

A whole container load of LR eh. Wow, that would have filled a few tanks. Stupid to risk their reputation, their company's rep. and getting a criminal record for something that would have only brought them less than $2/lb gross. After expenses, that's probably under $1/lb profit they would have made. I guess someone thought it was worth the risk, but now their rep is trashed.

Anthony

[zulu_principle]

I would think there is a little more to this story.

Haiti is not a member country for CITES, unless im missing something.


Wendell

[fkshiu]

Originally Posted by zulu_principle

I would think there is a little more to this story.

Haiti is not a member country for CITES, unless im missing something.


Wendell

"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."

[zulu_principle]

Sorry didnt get that far in the document.

[Veng68]

Originally Posted by fkshiu

Synopsis:
CaribSea got busted for illegally importing 42,000 lbs. of LR from Haiti contrary to CITES (an entire container load).

They were fined a total of about $35,000 and put on probation. The rock went to some research institute.

Makes you wonder where they get all that nice sand the company packages up and sell for a ransom from . . .

They get it mostly from the aragonite mine in the Bahamas:
http://www.dredge.com/casestudies/dred2-08.htm

Cheers,
Vic [Veng68]