There’s Gold in Them Thar Deeps
Coral has been used in jewelry for at least 25,000 years – and has likely been traded internationally for nearly that long. And, of course, coral jewelry is an important trade item for Hawaii, which has significant reserves of black, gold and pink coral in deep water. Hawaiian corals are harvested under fairly strict rules in accord with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). That’s not the case everywhere.
Mediterranean Red Coral: Over-Harvested
The coral jewelry trade has to be distinguished from trade in live corals for use in aquariums or other “decorative” ventures. Much of this coral is taken from shallow-water reefs with total disregard for CITES or even common-sense sustainability principles.
And trade in black, gold or pink coral jewelry needs to be distinguished from the far larger red coral trade. Red corals are the traditional corals found in Mediterranean jewelry, and is harvested at fairly shallow depths (meaning that barriers to entry are low). Much of the Med has been decimated by red coral harvesting, though many of the more legitimate companies are using more sustainable practices today. The basic issue is that red coral is very slow growing, only about a 1/4 inch of growth each year. By contrast, Hawaii’s gold coral grows more quickly at 3 inches a year, making it feasible to harvest at a sustainable rate. Gold coral is also found about 1200 feet down, a significant barrier to entry.
Though my wedding ring features Hawaiian gold coral, I have been thinking more about the trade since spotting a recent New York Times article about the coral jewelry trade. Due to the over-harvesting of red coral, the trade is very controversial and has led companies like Tiffany’s to stop selling coral jewelry. The article highlights the “Too Precious to Wear” campaign launched in 2008 by a non-profit called SeaWeb, but also features the opposing views of red coral harvesters in Italy and Hawaii’s largest jewelry company, Maui Divers. Worth a read, though it misses the point that different corals grow at different rates and that the deeper corals create natural barriers to entry into the industry. Seems to me that we need tighter controls on harvesting and trading red corals, perhaps some control on pink, and lesser controls on black and gold. But that’s simply a layman’s opinion.
Full disclosure: Maui Divers was a client many years ago.
