Fiji Government Holding Permits

[mrok12]

I called my importer today to order some Live Rock from Fiji to find out that the Government of Fiji has put a hold on all collection and may ban collection from Fiji all together. This was a shock to me. I will keep the board updated as the Government is supposed to decide next week on this issue.


MROK12

[scubadude]

wouldnt surprise me one bit! Back in Feb. they banned trades between EU, UK, and Canada

http://www.fiji.gov.fj/press/2002_02...02_18-05.shtml

It sure doesnt appear to be public domain either! I will do some reasearch too.

[mrok12]

I just got a pricelist from PAF and they are one of the main exporters in FIJI. I am going to call them today and see what is going on over there.

MROK12

[mrok12]

Scuba,

Just went to reefcentral. This is TRUE. These are the people who supply distributors with their stock. These are the people before SDC, ERI, ect. If they say the permits are held up I beleive them. I tried to order 10 boxes of Rock yesterday and was told that the government has it all on hold and may ban everthing or put steep collection restrictions in place. Not that I can blame them. I think they should have thought about that in the early 90's though. I agree that this needs to be regulated and more effort put into aquaculture. That needs to be the focus over there. I will call today and see what is going on. I am actually getting tired of the boards all together though. People meet most things with an offensive sarcasm or out right rudeness. If people do not have anything constructive to write than do not type chatter. I have to little time for it. This is not in reference to SCUBADUDE. It pertains to two individuals at reefcentral.


MROK12

[scubadude]

MROK, My Man!

Easy there cowboy First off Im totally on your side, and I know there are some childish remarks on ALL the boards...thats life! Im getting to the point where I go my way and ignore the rest. Now back on topic here, I called Walt Smith yesterday and was gonna place an order and they were expecting an order in last night, I was gonna be ordering LR, and SPS and they said nothing to me about this matter....however I didnt place my order because they hadnt got the complete list of items that are getting shipped yet. I will be calling there today at around 1pm my time and I will talk w/some ppl and see what I can find out. I surely would think that if it was effective though that the Fijian government would post it on their site which I posted a link to above. It also would not surprise me if Walt Smiths permit has not been suspended but the others have been. Walt Smith actually has contracts w/ the Fijian government from what I have heard.

[Ninong]

Originally posted by scubadude
wouldnt surprise me one bit! Back in Feb. they banned trades between EU, UK, and Canada

http://www.fiji.gov.fj/press/2002_02...02_18-05.shtml

It sure doesnt appear to be public domain either! I will do some reasearch too.

Scubadude,

Did the Government of Fiji ban trades? I thought it was the EU, UK and Canada that initiated the ban in compliance with CITES, or maybe I should say in compliance with their interpretation of CITES.

Fiji signed CITES back in 1997 and I believe they are just now in the process of enacting legislation to implement it. I assume this is what the poster from Greenpeace was referring to in her thread. It is my understanding that the Goverment of Fiji intends to continue exporting live rock, wild collected hard corals and even wild collected Tridacnid clams -- all species of which I believe are restricted by CITES.

Is it possible that if there is a hold at the moment it is because they are very close to passing the required legislation that would implement new regulations? And isn't it possible that the Goverment of Fiji intends to exempt most of the things that we are concerned about? I don't believe a representative of Greenpeace would be alarmed if she expected the Fijiian government was about to implement a ban but she might be alarmed if she expected them to pass legislation permitting the export of most of the things that they have been exporting all along.

I would be interested in reading what Walt Smith has to say in that thread. Evidently he will be posting there shortly. (P.S. -- Hmmm. I didn't realize I was reading a thread that was three years old. )

Let us know what you find out but I suspect that any hold on exports is only temporary. I would be truly shocked to see the government of Fiji ban the shipment of live rock.

[scubadude]

Hey Ninong,

I dont believe Fiji intiated it. I used the wrong verbage, sorry.


I just got off the phone with Walt Smith himself! There apparently have been some recent papers passing through some authoritive figures, however there has been no enactment and I doubt there will be any from Walts response. Walt has been here from the beginning and will be here to the end im sure and he knows more so than anyone! They just received a large shipment in last nite. You gotta realize that Fiji is not the most wealthiest country in the world and they rely on trading for survival, and the U.S. does not want to take one of their mainstay trades away from them, it could devastate that country, and we are lucky enough that Walt Smith is culturing corals over there!

[Ninong]

In browsing through the Fiji goverment site that you linked in your thread I came across mention that they intended to take up legislation in the May 2002 session of parliament dealing with implementation of CITES. My take on what I read is that they need to pass legislation regulating their compliance with CITES and exempting species (marine products?) that they intend to continue exporting.

They also stated that it is government "Policy and Strategy 2002 - 2004: To promote and expand sustainable competitive exports of living marine products..."

[scubadude]

LOL you kinda lost me there buddy....can you give me that in laymens terminology? :P Who are you referring to when you say they? Fiji government?

[Ninong]

Originally posted by scubadude
Who are you referring to when you say they? Fiji government?

Yes, specifically Mr. Solomoni Naivalu, Minister for Fisheries and Forests.

[mrok12]

I guess Walt Smiths aquacultured stuff is not effected because I got a full list today Rocky. I am following up on this Monday. I am not Angry at people on this board at all it is a few other folks that kill me. I deal daily with snide remarks and comments and most of the time it rolls off. This has been an unusually bad week for me and it was the last straw. Oh well. I am going to relax, drink some suds, get the fire pit going and chill under the stars tonight. Tommorow I am building a kalk reactor. This is what weekends are for fella's.


MROK12

[scubadude]

Originally posted by mrok12
I guess Walt Smiths aquacultured stuff .........Tommorow I am building a kalk reactor. This is what weekends are for fella's.

MROK12

Dude you gonna show us yer plans for the Reac? Are you doin a Geo?
You got the right idea ;-) You could go look at that thread now but I just did....haha its a warzone now! See wat you started MROK! Hey bud...everyone is still selling/importing....not just Walt....SDC is rockin still!

[mrok12]

Scuba,

Fiji is issuing permits again. Turns out they held them up for just a week. They are considering the CITES legislation right now. Someone was right. My supplier called them flakes, said they can never make up their minds over there. Anyway, I was supposed to get in an order of all cultured SPS tommorow but it got bumped so I will get it next week. I ordered a lot of them to. I am really trying to support the cultured stuff as opposed to harvesting the full head.


MROK12