Coral reefs provide invaluable support to human livelihoods around the globe. One of the commodities from coral reefs is ornamental corals, where corals are harvested and traded as aquarium species. This is problematic since corals are the building blocks of coral reefs. Coral harvesting for ornamental purposes has been going on in Indonesia since the 70s, and become one of the biggest exporters of ornamental corals since. 

The quota system issued by the Indonesia Institute of Sciences (LIPI) since 1996 become the main management system to ensure the sustainability of the trade. Out of 590 coral species in Indonesia, only 81 species are being traded, where each species’ export quota is divided to 11 provinces only. Along with the improvement of research and the willingness to reduce wild coral dependency, coral propagation techniques were developed. At first, only high growth small polyp corals were cultured, now, 51 species of corals can be cultured. International coral trade is regulated using CITES, where corals are listed in Appendix II. Permit is only given if the commodities fulfill the traceability, legality, and sustainability criteria. Due to the system in place, Indonesia’s coral trade governance has been given an A Grade by CITES since 2004.

Read more ...