Creating a Demand for Coral Conservation

by Jackie Marks of SeaWeb (November 2011)
Addressing international trade of precious corals

When thinking of coral, one might conjure up images of branching aquatic architecture anchored on a reef complete with swaying sea fans and patterned fish, not a couture necklace in a display case. Yet precious corals are being extracted for international jewelry trade at an alarming rate. This is especially true for the deep-sea precious coral family of Coralliidae, which includes more than 30 species of red and pink corals.

Red and pink corals are called precious corals because they are collected and their hard skeletons are used for jewelry, a significant global trade. Their story provides a striking example of the unsustainable nature of coral extraction for trade. Red and pink corals are vibrantly hued coral species found throughout the world's oceans at depths ranging from shallow to thousands of feet. They are a slow-growing species (less than 1cm per year) with a long life span and late reproductive maturity; they are permanently affixed to a substrate. Smaller colonies have higher mortality rates and lower reproductive success. All of these factors make this species particularly vulnerable to overfishing.

Red and pink coral colonies are designated as habitat-forming corals since they provide protection from strong currents and predators and are known for being areas of increased biodiversity. The spaces and gaps between coral branches serve as shelter and refuge for the eggs, larvae and juvenile animals such as shrimp, crabs and fish. They provide crucial services to the ecosystem providing structures suited for feeding, spawning and resting.

Many species of coral are valued for their aesthetic appeal, which has led to their ecological decline over the past decade. Extraction of coral for use in the aquaria and curio trades as well as the jewelry industry has been practiced around the world for centuries, but combined with increasing impacts from other human-induced threats such as pollution, habitat destruction, climate change and ocean acidification, corals are under more pressure than ever. Occurrences of temperature extremes related to climate change, increased nutrient enrichment and sedimentation, fisheries extraction and disease have rendered a dramatic impact on global coral health and abundance. Addressing the international trade, and by extension extraction of coral, is one way to alleviate one of the cumulative pressures on these delicate species.

Red and pink corals have been fished from the Pacific Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea for more than 5,000 years. Traditionally they were destructively extracted by bottom trawls and dredges, which not only extracted coral species but also degraded the remaining habitat; now, as many of the shallow reefs have been depleted, they are harvested by divers primarily with the use of submersibles that descend to great depths to collect these precious corals. The commercial demand for red and pink coral has permanently changed these coral populations reducing average colony size and replacing large colonies with small, immature ones unable to reach sexual maturity. In order to allow these populations to continue to be productive indefinitely, the optimal extraction age for Corallium has been estimated at 98 years; the current practice is to take colonies from the ocean that are less than 14 years old. Serious signs of their decline have appeared in just the past two decades, with landings (total catch brought ashore) decreasing as much as 80 percent since the 1980s. According to the Fisheries and Aquaculture Information and Statistics Service, 43 metric tons of red and pink corals were extracted globally in 2009.

• Support jewelers who have taken a pledge not to use coral in their designs or sell coral in their jewelry stores. Click here for a full list.



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• Support legislation to protect corals.