Collecting Coral

The standards outlined below were determined by consensus among attendee businesses to mitigate risk to species identified in the fishery Ecological Risk Assessment.
Participants chose to apply industry standards to all 17 species with a risk profile of ‘moderate’. In addition, 14 of the species with a risk profile of ‘low’ were chosen, mostly on the basis of international concern, taxonomic misidentification or lack of adequate scientific knowledge regarding genetics, distribution and abundance.
Participants reviewed the rationale for the allocation of ‘low’ and ‘moderate’ risk profiles at the Ecological Risk Assessment and found that the species fell into six broad categories:

• Susceptibility to natural disturbance
• Taxonomic issues
• Lack of scientific knowledge or verification
• Sustainable harvest concern
• Low biological resilience
• Rarity

It was agreed that the industry standards would be broken into two categories. Collection standards will apply to some species, particularly those for which there is sustainable harvest concern, susceptibility to natural disturbance and low biological resilience. The risk associated with some of these species related to specific geographical areas and this reflected in the standards allocated to them.

For all coral species chosen, businesses would commit to supply samples to a research partner in order to fill knowledge gaps and to guide risk assessment and mitigation. The species and the specific knowledge gap to be filled will form part of a Research Plan, which will occur in parallel to the collection standards. As knowledge gaps are filled, Stewardship Action Plan 2013: Mitigating Ecological Risk in a Changing Climate will be updated via the Pro-vision Reef Inc. website.

For each species identified through Ecological Risk Assessment to which a minimum size limit is applied as an industry collection standard, the Research Plan will seek to understand the reproductive size and growth rate. Minimum size limits will be adjusted if research finds that the reproductive size is greater than the minimum size applied to the industry collection standard.

Concern was raised by a fishery practitioner at the Ecological Risk Assessment about localised concentration of effort in the Arlington/Vlassof Complex in the Cairns Coral Collection Area. Consequently, industry collection standards have been allocated that apply specifically to that area.

Workshop participants allocated collection standards to 10 of the 17 species with a ‘moderate’ risk profile. The remaining seven species with a ‘moderate’ risk profile have been added to the Research Plan to understand more about their reproductive biology and correct taxonomic identification and classification.

Catalaphyllia jardinei was chosen from the ‘low’ risk profile results and was allocated a collection standard due to international concern for the species. The species had also been singled out for mention in the CITES Non-detriment Finding in the Arlington/Vlassof Complex in the Cairns Coral Collection Area.