Let me ask you about the coral above: Would you consider this to be Acropora pulchra? Aspera? Formosa? What about the Porites below: is it P. stellata? P. hirsuta? P. pukoensis? The exact identity of these corals doesnt matter but what does matter is that if a single species of a genus of relatively common aquarium coral is listed as endangered from the proposal by the center for biological diversity (CBD), the burden of proof will be on us to demonstrate that common aquarium corals are not a federally protected species. We only have until April 12th to submit public comments before NOAA begins their review of the proposal from the CBD. If NOAA comes back with a proposal to list any of the corals there will be another opportunity to challenge it but at that point the chances of succeeding are much less likely. We need to rally the troops on this one and put as much pressure as possible on the big industry players to step up and say something. The last thing we need is for a bunch of angry hobbyist to start sending angry, hate mail to their legislators. Hold your horses just a little bit because Collin Foord and Julian Sprung will be working on a form letter for hobbyist to submit to NOAA which we will post up sometime midweek. If this thing passes it will be devastating for the aquarium industry. If we can come together to voice a common, concerted concern about the endangered species proposal we will stand a much better chance of canning this potentially devastating legislation. Stay Tuned.
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