Coral Importing
 

What is the process of bringing in corals from the USA.

You want to order LPS or SPS corals from a US vendor? If so, the biggest issue is finding a vendor that will do the CITES permitting for you. Also, CITES permitting is almost impossible on almost all named corals too which is really annoying because they are cultured corals, but that's how the laws work.

Also, if you plan to cross the border in person, don't think you'll get a free pass just because you're bringing over Softies or Anemones (which don't have a CITIES). All it takes is one cautious and/or clueless border guard to put a serious dent in your day. They WILL take your corals and you will have no recourse.

I extensively looked into this recently as well and saw that the fines for getting caught with corals without claiming it was over $10,000, immediately noped.

how do canadian vendors have what seem like u.s corals than? i.e Jason fox signature corals, or bounce mushrooms? Dont these corals originate in the US?

I believe you need to properly fill out CITES and get clearance permitted to import corals.
Big vendors will have "easier" time with these due to their reputation and big volumes but I am not the most educated when it comes to border protocol. This is just the small bits of information I picked up during my short research.

When I ordered my dwarf sea horses I was told the exporter is responsible for all the permits required. And that was by the company I bought them from. All I had to do was wait. But I call the everyone from fish and wildlife to the CBSA. All I had to pay was duty and gay.

Won't let me edit. That should say GST.

Fish are apparently easier to import than corals, not all shippers are willing to do the paperwork either. If you happen to find one that is willing and willing to ship to Canada please let me know!

Soft corals like mushrooms aren't CITES protected, so they are easily brought across the border with limited paperwork.

Signature hard corals like LPS and SPS such as Tyree, Jason Fox, even ORA for the most part can't be legally imported. The rules can be bent though, and they can make it across. In order for a coral to get CITES to Canada from the US, they need a CITES RE-export permit. In order to get a re-export permit you have to have the original import permit from the country that the coral originally came from. For most named corals, these permits are not traced -partly because vendors don't want other vendors to know where the corals came from, partly because the paper trail is not one that is usually kept long.

So technically, very few of these corals can legally make it into Canada. However, they can come to Canada through a couple grey area loopholes. First, a certain number come across via hobbyist who buys in person and ships to himself, or buys in person and brings in his luggage. These corals may or may not be declared properly. If they are declared properly, the border guard may not know any better. If they aren't declared properly, then that is considered smuggling and there are some very hefty fines for smuggling. Second, a Tyree BlahBlah Acro re-export permit could possibly name the coral as say Acropora carduus originally imported from say Australia. Indeed the coral may be Acropora carduus originally imported from Australia, but the original CITES import permit may not actually be the permit used for that exact coral. It is A permit from THE CORRECT COUNTRY for THE CORRECT CORAL SPECIES, just not the right import shipment. Does that makes sense?

Translation: Buy coral from a trusted Canadian vendor, or smuggle nice stuff across the border and be prepared for the consequences.

I'm glad you corrected this typo otherwise that's a big price to pay for a few dwarf seahorses. Just sayin. Not judgin.:wink:

Stupid auto correct.

yeah. This coral business is a shady business.

Mindy hit it on the head 100%.