Rise in red coral smuggling threatening marine ecology
Print Edition
CHINA Coast Guard is warning of a rise in the poaching of wild coral, saying yesterday that it has detained 80 suspects and confiscated red coral worth over 100 million yuan (US$16 million) since March last year.
Red coral, highly valued as jewelry, grows only three to four centimeters in 20 years. It was listed as a protected species by China in 1988, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora limits its trade.
“Red coral products have been increasingly sought after in recent years, and cases of poaching are on the rise in coastal provinces such as Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong, severely harming the marine environment,” the CCG said.
The price of red coral has been increasing by 30 percent a year over the past 10 years and top-class specimens can fetch more than 10,000 yuan a gram.
The CCG has set up checkpoints targeting vessels without names, numbers, certificates or home ports and has impounded 140 vessels used in the red coral trade since March.
In the single biggest case since the CCG was founded two years ago, Guangdong coast guards detained 22 suspects and seized coral worth 5.4 million yuan on April 19 after a three-month investigation.
One suspect spent 890,000 yuan on a fishing vessel and another 50,000 yuan refitting it for coral poaching. He hired 11 sailors on monthly salaries from 7,000 to 10,000 yuan, the CCG said.
Huang Hui, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said nets made for coral poaching sweep up everything in their way.
Describing poached areas as “underwater deserts,” Huang said that such poaching was leaving nothing behind and was “disastrous” for the marine ecology.
Zheng Junnan, of Jilin University, said: “Although the law has specific stipulations on illegal hunting, many law enforcers on the frontline are not fully aware of the issue and have been giving criminal offenses administrative punishments, and that’s far from enough.
“There would be no poaching without trade. The law is the bottom line, and raising public awareness should be key,” Zheng said.
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