珊瑚是全球交易最多的Cites上市海洋动物。食品和农业组织的一项2021年的研究发现，从1990年到2016年，出口国报告了160万个海洋动物的直接出口交易，其中97％是在珊瑚中。从环境的角度来看，实时珊瑚的收集是一种局部压力，相对于其他活动（例如珊瑚采矿和炸药捕捞），在长期的长期影响中具有很高的选择性和低影响，同时还可以激励珊瑚礁生态系统的当地管理。
印度尼西亚is the世界上最大的Cites上市珊瑚出口国accounting for an estimated 90% of the market, and they are also paving the way to finding more sustainable alternatives to harvesting wild corals. Farming corals is a primary alternative, and over the past two decades, Indonesia has increased the proportion of farmed coral exports significantly. However, it is not always easy to tell the difference between a wild-collected and a farmed coral, even for those people tasked with the management of trade along the supply chain.
In Indonesia, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry acts as the Management Authority, and the Ministry of Marine and Fisheries Affairs acts as the final point of inspection before international transport. It is during these inspections that CITES staff experience challenges identifying corals and differentiating between wild collected corals and farmed corals.
Over 440 types of coral traded
有超过440种不同类型的珊瑚类型，可能会有可能难以耕种或可能受到进口悬挂的风险，可能会被错误地标记为其他东西，因此将其归类为非法贸易。
In response to this coral identification challenge, UK scientists from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) are working with the Indonesian Coral Reef Foundation (TERANGI) and the Indonesian Nature Foundation (Yayasan Alam Indonesia Lestari – LINI) on a Defra funded project. They aim to build a shared understanding of the coral trade between Indonesia and the UK, and to develop a practical identification guide for traded corals which can help regulators quickly identify if a species is what it says it is on the box, and spot mis-declared farmed coral.
Their first task was to bring together project partners, collaborators, and stakeholders, including governmental bodies from Indonesia and the UK, scientific experts, regulatory bodies, regional NGOs, and industry members. They then held four virtual knowledge exchange workshops with the aim of developing a visual guide for those working on the borders.
印度尼西亚is one of the UK’s key coral trading partners, importing thousands of small, live fragments of coral每年来自当地拥有的珊瑚农场。为了确保这项贸易是可持续的，英国的科学管理局必须对野外珊瑚物种种群的可用信息进行审查，以及收获，贸易和其他威胁的影响。此信息编译在称为“非目的发现”的文档中。
该项目的研讨会为英国提供了重要的信息，以更新其有关印尼耕种珊瑚进口的非境界发现。
开发视觉指南
有了清楚地了解珊瑚贸易经理面临的实际挑战，并引用了执法团队在识别运输中的实时珊瑚时，他们的下一步是设计和开发视觉指南，可以快速轻松地使用，以便在旅途中轻松改善珊瑚检查从礁石到零售。
A technical staff member from the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries in Indonesia who inspects shipments of coral prior to export said: “Through the workshop, Marine and Fisheries Affairs can review the current status of coral trade, its management scheme, and future prognosis. We are currently encountering several obstacles in ensuring that the trade can be sustainable, such as difficulties in differentiating between海水养殖and wild-collected corals. Since we are responsible for managing corals as a taxa and coral reefs as an ecosystem which is currently degrading due to global and anthropogenic threats, it is crucial for MMAF to ensure that the trade is sustainable.”
项目合作伙伴将与英国和印度尼西亚的贸易检查员和行业合作，优先考虑该指南应重点关注的物种，并确定错误地标记为野生收集的珊瑚的关键信号。一旦指南在该领域完成并进行了测试，他们计划向所有引用珊瑚交易的人提供，以最终确保珊瑚贸易是合法，可追溯和可持续的。超过200万人拥有全球海洋水族馆。
