Precious Corals Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Precious corals (Coralliidae) have been a part of numerous aspects of human life and culture for several millennia. They differ from reef-building corals and primarily inhabit deep waters. Their characteristics of a slow renewal rate and... more
Precious corals (Coralliidae) have been a part of numerous aspects of human life and culture for several millennia. They differ from reef-building corals and primarily inhabit deep waters. Their characteristics of a slow renewal rate and high commercial value make them a frangible resource that is easily overexploited. Proposals to manage the main species with high commercial value through trade controls and listing in Appendix II were submitted to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 2007 and 2010. Two of the main arguments for the northern Pacific precious coral CITES proposal were the more than 60% to 80% decline of Corallium secundum and C. sp. nov. in landings since 1980s and lack of proper management. Although both proposals were rejected, they have sparked debates regarding the benefits of managing coral resources through trade controls and fisheries management. In this study, several arguments related to this topic on northern Pacific precious corals are presented, in the following three dimensions: (1) a reconstructed historical landing series from official FAO data and information on the history of coral fishing have scientifically indicated that the substantial decline in landings in the late 1980s was caused by the abandonment of fishing grounds and a shift in the target species; (2) enhanced management plans, which incorporate effective monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS) measures, have been implemented in the two main countries that fish precious coral; and (3) the influence of socioeconomic factors must be considered when assessing CITES listing applications. Recommendations for achieving sustainable coral resource conservation are also provided.
Sustainability concerns pushed by climate change have put the issue of coral on the agenda of major trade organizations such as CIBJO (the World Jewellery Confederation) where a Coral Commission has been working since 2016 to address... more
Sustainability concerns pushed by climate change have put the issue of coral on the agenda of major trade organizations such as CIBJO (the World Jewellery Confederation) where a Coral Commission has been working since 2016 to address these issues. Much of the information in this article comes from that important work.
During the Central European Iron Age, more specifically between 600 and 100 BC, red precious corals (Corallium rubrum) became very popular in many regions, often associated with the so-called (early) Celts. Red corals are ideally suited... more
During the Central European Iron Age, more specifically between 600 and 100 BC, red precious corals (Corallium rubrum) became very popular in many regions, often associated with the so-called (early) Celts. Red corals are ideally suited to investigate several key questions of Iron Age research, like trade patterns or social and economic structures. While it is fairly easy to distinguish modern C. rubrum from bone, ivory or shells, archaeologists are confronted with ancient, hence altered, artifacts. Due to ageing processes, archaeological corals lose their intensive red color and shiny surface and can easily be confused with these other light colored materials. We propose a non-destructive multi-stage approach to identify archaeological corals amongst other biominerals used as ornament during the central European Iron Age with emphasis on optical examination and mobile Raman spectroscopy. Our investigations suggest that the noticeably high amount of misidentifications or at least uncertain material declarations existing in museums or even in the literature (around 15%) could be overcome by the proposed approach. Furthermore, the range of different materials is higher than previously expected in archaeological research. This finding has implications for contemporary concepts of social structures and distribution networks during the Iron Age.
The limited precious coral (Coralliidae) resources in the Northwestern Pacific have been managed by Taiwan with a comprehensive management plan, by Japan with a strengthened set of management measures, and by China through the listing of... more
The limited precious coral (Coralliidae) resources in the Northwestern Pacific have been managed by Taiwan with a comprehensive management plan, by Japan with a strengthened set of management measures, and by China through the listing of such coral as a Category I national treasures. However, continuous increases in coral consumption and coral prices have stimulated overexploitation and poaching of the resource, and hence have undermined the effectiveness of these management schemes. This paper discusses the current precious corals supply chain and suggests that the rise of China in purchasing substantial amounts of coral products was the underlying cause for overexploitation and poaching. Several gaps in the management schemes are also identified and discussed. The paper finally concludes that there is an urgent need for establishing a cross-disciplinary integrated conservation policy and a regional management platform consisting of the three participating states to address all the relevant social and ecological issues.
Declining fishing yields of the highly valuable Mediterranean red coral indicated overexploitation by the 1980s. In response, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) established management guidelines in the late 1980s, such as... more
Declining fishing yields of the highly valuable Mediterranean red coral indicated overexploitation by the 1980s. In response, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) established management guidelines in the late 1980s, such as daily quotas, minimum size, and most importantly, the ban of dredging for coral in 1994. However, recent data led to new concerns about the sustainability of coral harvest by highlighting previous and ongoing overexploitation. The US and EU reacted in 2007 and 2009 by proposing to include the family Corallidae in CITES Appendix II to regulate trade. However, the proposals were rejected based on the hope and promise that local management would provide a less obtrusive solution. This article argues that limited resources and insufficient interdisciplinarity limit the research needed to improve management guidelines, while a lack of human and financial resources hinder local management and efficient enforcement. In particular, illegal fishing is out of control and threatens the future of the industry. Furthermore, there is no consensus on the concept of sustainability of coral fisheries. The most alarming recent development is an increasing pressure by the industry to be permitted to harvest deep populations using remote operated vehicles, which will risk depletion of the last stocks left that have not been overharvested.► Harvest of ever deeper and smaller corals resulted in stable yields that could have masked the decline of stocks. ► The proposed use of robotic harvesting tools may deplete de facto reserves of deep stocks. ► Illegal fishing by poachers and licensed fishermen is out of control. ► Management organs were unable to advance the state of the art in recent decades.
The Mediterranean red coral, Corallium rubrum, is one of the most precious corals worldwide. Below 50 m depth, C. rubrum populations are generally characterised by large and sparse colonies, whereas shallow populations (above 50 m depth)... more
The Mediterranean red coral, Corallium rubrum, is one of the most precious corals worldwide. Below 50 m depth, C. rubrum populations are generally characterised by large and sparse colonies, whereas shallow populations (above 50 m depth) show high densities of small colonies. We show here instead that populations dwelling between 80 and 170 m depth exhibited a continuous range of population density (from 2 to 75 colonies per 0.25 m 2), with less than 1% of variance explained by water depth. An inverse relationship between maximum population density and mean colony height was found, suggesting that self-thinning processes may shape population structure. Moreover, demographically young populations composed of small and dense colonies dominated along rocky vertical walls, whereas mature populations characterised by large and sparsely distributed colonies were found only in horizontal beds not covered by sediment. We hypothesise that, in the long term, shallow protected populations should resemble to present deep populations, with sparsely distributed large colonies. Since the density of red coral colonies can decay as a result of self-thinning mechanisms, we advise that future protection strategies should be based also on a measure of red coral spatial coverage instead of population density.
This research seeks to quantify recruitment, early survival and early colony growth in different populations of the precious Mediterranean red coral. Although basic to our understanding of red coral ecology and population dynamics, these... more
This research seeks to quantify recruitment, early survival and early colony growth in different populations of the precious Mediterranean red coral. Although basic to our understanding of red coral ecology and population dynamics, these early life-history descriptors are still poorly understood. To fill this lack of knowledge, marble settlement tiles were placed at 35±1 m depth within 3 populations of Corallium rubrum dwelling in the coralligenous habitat of different geographic areas of the north western Mediterranean: Calafuria and Elba Island (Italy), and Medes Islands MPA (Spain), following a multifactorial ANOVA model and sampled photographically for four years (2003–2006). Overall, 517 red coral recruits settled on the tiles during the experiment, 189 of which (126 at Calafuria and 63 at Elba) were still surviving, in 2007, when the tiles were removed. The recruitment density at Medes was only one tenth of that at Calafuria and Elba (0.56±0.21 vs. 6.06±1.75 and 4.66±1.01 recruits dm−2, mean±SE). No colony survived after four years at Medes, where the lowest recruitment rate was also found. As the age of each new settled colony was known, it was possible to measure the early growth rates of individual colonies. The growth rates thus obtained were twoto three times higher than that measured in older colonies and differed significantly between the geographic areas (the growth of colony basal diameter was 0.68±0.02 and 0.59±0.19 mm/year at Calafuria and Elba), while no significant difference was found between the actual colony growth and that previously measured in the former area. A test for secondary substrate selectivity, carried out inone area, showed that red coral preferentially settles on tubes of Serpulida than on other encrusting organisms. However, since recruitment density at Medes was lower despite the four-fold higher cover of Serpulida found there, other factors, intrinsic to the populations, such as different size–age structures or densities, leading to different larval output, may likely have determined red coral recruitment rates in the studied areas.
The Mediterranean red coral, Corallium rubrum, is one of the most precious corals worldwide. Below 50 m depth, C. rubrum populations are generally characterised by large and sparse colonies, whereas shallow populations (above 50 m depth)... more
The Mediterranean red coral, Corallium rubrum, is one of the most precious corals worldwide. Below 50 m depth, C. rubrum populations are generally characterised by large and sparse colonies, whereas shallow populations (above 50 m depth) show high densities of small colonies. We show here instead that populations dwelling between 80 and 170 m depth exhibited a continuous range of population density (from 2 to 75 colonies per 0.25 m(2)), with less than 1% of variance explained by water depth. An inverse relationship between maximum population density and mean colony height was found, suggesting that self-thinning processes may shape population structure. Moreover, demographically young populations composed of small and dense colonies dominated along rocky vertical walls, whereas mature populations characterised by large and sparsely distributed colonies were found only in horizontal beds not covered by sediment. We hypothesise that, in the long term, shallow protected populations sho...
The Mediterranean red coral, Corallium rubrum, is one of the most precious corals worldwide. Below 50 m depth, C. rubrum populations are generally characterised by large and sparse colonies, whereas shallow populations (above 50 m depth)... more
The Mediterranean red coral, Corallium rubrum, is one of the most precious corals worldwide. Below 50 m depth, C. rubrum populations are generally characterised by large and sparse colonies, whereas shallow populations (above 50 m depth) show high densities of small colonies. We show here instead that populations dwelling between 80 and 170 m depth exhibited a continuous range of population density (from 2 to 75 colonies per 0.25 m(2)), with less than 1% of variance explained by water depth. An inverse relationship between maximum population density and mean colony height was found, suggesting that self-thinning processes may shape population structure. Moreover, demographically young populations composed of small and dense colonies dominated along rocky vertical walls, whereas mature populations characterised by large and sparsely distributed colonies were found only in horizontal beds not covered by sediment. We hypothesise that, in the long term, shallow protected populations sho...
... which affects 90–97% of larval output (eg [Grigg, 1988] , [Lasker et al., 1998] and [Santangelo et al., 2007] ), as well as post-settlement processes, which may profoundly influence recruitment rates ( [Caley et al., 1996] ,... more
... which affects 90–97% of larval output (eg [Grigg, 1988] , [Lasker et al., 1998] and [Santangelo et al., 2007] ), as well as post-settlement processes, which may profoundly influence recruitment rates ( [Caley et al., 1996] , [Perkol-Finkel and Benayahu, 2008] and [Todd, 1998] ). ...