Caulerpa Ban Update

[MaryHM]

Well guys, WE DID IT!!!!!! They have officially ammended the Caulerpa Ban Bill in California! Instead of the entire genus, there are a few species named. One of those species is C. racemosa (grape)...I fought to not get it banned, but to no avail. Oh well, I still consider this to be a MAJOR victory for 2 reasons:

1. The entire genus of Caulerpa isn't banned.
2. The reefkeeping community proved that it can band together and make a difference!! Do you all know how awesome that is??? I promise you that without such a huge number of hobbyists FROM ALL ACROSS THE US expressing their concern, that this bill would have passed as is. Remember, it passed the Assembly 78-0 and was on the fast track to the Senate before we all stepped in and stopped it. You guys deserve all of the credit!! Way to go!!

Read the amended bill at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/a...ended_sen.html

Remember, there's more trouble brewing in NY. Get involved in the fight against this bill that would leave loopholes to shut down the wild caught AND captive bred fish/coral hobby there! See www.reefsource.com for all of the details.

[saltjunkie]

Mary, you also deserve alot of credit for the work you do on these issues! Thank you. And to all the others that got deeply involved, I want to thank you for saving part of my hobby!
Now I have some grape calurpa, let the bidding begin! lol!
Thanks everybody who got involved in this!

[SPasse]

Hi All,

Here are the species that were banned:

C. taxifolia, cupressoides, mexicana, sertulariodes, floridana, ashmeadii, racemosa, verticillata, and scapelliformis .

Here are some links to see what they look like:

C. taxifolia: http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb9/News/...2_diver_id.jpg

C. cupressoides
http://utweb.utampa.edu/faculty/kbea...s98/sld003.htm

C. mexicana
http://utweb.utampa.edu/faculty/kbea...s99/sld010.htm

C. sertulariodes
http://www.graphic.com.br/reef/sertula.htm

C. floridana
http://www.livingreefimages.com/LRI194.JPG

C. ashmeadii
http://rmocfis.upr.clu.edu/~ballan/caulerp.ashm.html

C. racemosa (An extremely variable species in terms of physical form, form in first picture on the left is most common)
http://utweb.utampa.edu/faculty/kbea...s99/sld003.htm

C. verticillata http://128.171.207.10/ReefAlgae/What...rticillata.htm

C. scapelliformis (Can not locate this species, so far, If anyone can, e-mail me the URL)

Comment:

Of this list, the forms most often seen in the hobby are, in no particular order:

C. taxifolia, C. mexicana, C. sertulariodes, and C. racemosa.

Well, the cup is either half empty or half full – depending on your perspective. But Mary’s comments are well taken, the fact that we were able to amend the legislation was a very good thing.

Regards,

Scott Passe

[Aragorn]

Just got back from our LFS. Keep in mind that the Dept. of Agriculture has been paying several visits to him in the past few months. The "official" told Steve(the owner) not to sell ANY caulerpa in light of the Bill. Anyway, Steve was on the phone shortly thereafter to his Eco-System Representative. This Rep informed Steve that he has information that the actual intent of the Bill is to restrict and/or ban importation of Live Rock into California. He stated that the politicians will be able to "interpret" the Bill to state the Live Rock carries Caulerpa, therefore, no importation of Live Rock. This is what I was told not 1 hour ago. Any ideas folks? If it's true, sounds like a hidden agenda to me.

[Aragorn]

^

[scubadude]

Aragorn

You might want to bring this up to Mary. I can definately see your point here. Here is the thread I would post it in...or if you want I can post it for ya....dont matter 2 me

http://www.reefland.com/cgi-bin/foru...&threadid=2045

[Aragorn]

Scuba,

Thanks. I thought about posting in that thread, but for the moment, the info I have is 2nd hand. Albeit from a reliable source(IMO). I did email Mary and requested she check out this thread. I hope she responds. Thanks buddy.

[scubadude]

Ok guys call me niave but im a little short of understanding exactly what has happnd here.....Does this mean that if we have any of the species above (stated by SPASSE...thanx bud) that we are harboring an illegal substance in our tanks? From what I have gathered (from the amended bill) it is Illegal for only Californians to have the above species in their tank? is this correct?...Not that im worried about the Calerpa police showing up at my door with a search warrant Also I have been sending calerpa to ppl in the past....Now is this illegal to? I would guess so atleast into Calif. but everywhere else is ok?

[Aragorn]

On 2nd thought, I'll post a link to this thread. Thanks.

[Aragorn]

Here's a bit of disturbing news I heard today. Check it out:

http://www.reefland.com/cgi-bin/foru...4499#post14499

[FishKid]

thats horrible! Did I say gov't screws ya over or what? Why are people against reefs? We could always have the rock flown in threw oregon...

time to launch a 2nd campain??

mark

[MaryHM]

I was trying to hold off until Monday when I could speak directly to Dave Weaver, but there is some conflicting information. If you read the bill early on the day I posted it in the "Caulerpa Ban Update" thread, you read one thing. If you read it now, it's been changed back to the entire genus. I'm not sure what's going on, but will find out first thing Monday morning and let everyone know.

[MaryHM]

Read the "Political Agenda" post for an update

[Aragorn]

Thank you Mary for all your efforts.

[coralman]

if they changed it back to the entire genus that is just bull!

[Aragorn]

The motives and agendas behind what politicians do never surprises me. Being in the IT industry, I followed the Microsoft suit closely. The polls during the trial indicated that most were against the breakup. Most of my collegeues were against the breakup. Yet in a correspondence from my Senator(I wrote to them against the breakup) stated the the Attorney General was acting on his own despite public opinion. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. It doesn't surprise me.

[FishKid]

where does it say they changed it back?

Looks like we are going to have to start our own pet-black market...

this is all bull!

mark

[Joaco]

Originally posted by SPASSE
C. scapelliformis (Can not locate this species, so far, If anyone can, e-mail me the URL)

There is a pic on top of page 301, Baensch Marine Atlas. I will scan it tomorrow and post it.

Joaco

[SPasse]

Hi All,

I am going to make these pending legislation threads “sticky”

I have been talking to some of my wholesale and LFS contacts and they are getting rather “scared” lately.

But I don’s want to clutter the board with too many, so I would appreciate it if everyone could post to an existing “sticky” thread whenever possible.

Also, when a law becomes a “non issue” (resolved, passed) I would appreciate an e-mail from the person that started the thread so I can “unstick it”

Regards,

Scott Passe

[SPasse]

MaryHM,

I visited the link to the bill, as amended June 21st. shows it to be limited to the species previously discussed.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/a...ended_sen.html

We are all holding our breath!

Regards,

Scott Passe