- AMCS welcomes world-first coral traceability system, but calls for it to be expanded to include wild-harvested coral.
- Up to 190 tonnes of coral can be taken from the Great Barrier Reef each year and sold into the global aquarium trade.
- Australian and Queensland Governments urged to support a rapid transition to coral aquaculture, protecting the Reef and securing regional Queensland jobs.
The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) has welcomed the Australian Government’s new coral traceability system, but says it must be expanded to include corals taken directly from the Great Barrier Reef.
The Australian Wildlife Traceability System will track corals grown in aquaculture facilities through to export, helping improve transparency and accountability in the global aquarium trade.
AMCS is calling on the Australian and Queensland Governments to support the Queensland Coral Fishery to rapidly transition from wild harvest to tank-grown coral aquaculture.
AMCS Great Barrier Reef Fisheries Campaign Manager Simon Miller said the new system was an important step towards greater transparency in the coral trade.
“The introduction of coral traceability is an important step to help consumers understand whether the coral in their tanks has been taken directly from a Reef suffering the impacts of climate change, or sustainably grown in an aquaculture facility.
“We hope the traceability system will be expanded to all Australian corals, including those taken from our coral reefs, not just those grown in aquaculture, to help ensure corals being sold have been legally taken.
“Most Australians would be shocked to know that the Great Barrier Reef is home to Australia’s largest coral fishery. Up to 190 tonnes of precious corals, some found nowhere else in the world, can be taken from the Reef each year and sold into the global aquarium trade.
“With a strong El Niño underway, and increasingly frequent and destructive mass coral bleaching events, we need to do everything we can to protect the corals that are the backbone of the Great Barrier Reef.
“Aquacultured coral is the future for the aquarium trade. Transitioning away from wild harvest will protect our precious corals from being chipped off the Reef and sold overseas, while helping secure the long-term future of jobs and the coral trade in regional Queensland.”
