Don Pierre the Baird Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 i just went to my lfs today and found out that it is illegal to have certain types of macro algae if you live in California. Has this always been a law? The fish store guy said that if you are caught with the stuff you can face a $500 to $10000 fine. And i thought that this hobby was allready too expensive! Link to comment
Lebowski Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 yep. Caulerpa algae. Grap Caulerpa i think. Anyways, i beleive I read that it grows like crazy in the ocean, and I guess they ban it because someone will dump it into the ocean or somethng. Correct me someone if I'm worng. Probably all wrong: Link to comment
Foogoo Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 I know for sure Caulerpa taxifolia (spelling?) is banned in California. Although I'm not sure about the other species, I still see all kinds of Caulerpa for sale at the LFS. Link to comment
jojopus Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 Yep....its caulerpa taxifolia thats banned. Thats because it is like a scourge when released into the wild. Its effects have already been felt in the Mediterrenean sea where it was first (accidentally) introduced into the wild right below the marine research center in Monte Carlo which is where it was originally bred (it is NOT a naturally occuring species). It is spread all throughout the Med. sea and nothing can be done to desroy it because it is too widespread now. The bad thing about it is that is grows like wildfire and is extremely tolerant of very cold temperatures unlike most algeas that we have in our reefs. Oh yeah....and its toxic to fish and other marine life when they attempt to eat it so i cant be controlled by natural means. There is only one species of sea slug that eats the stuff but introducing them just to control the algea could have just as much of an adverse effect on the environment as the algea itself. I believe a few patches of it have shown up on the California coast but were discovered early enough to be dealt with before they got out of hand. Link to comment
lizbeth Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 Yep that's old news. Here the bill as chaptered. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/01-02/bill/a..._chaptered.html Pretty stupid if you ask me, like closing the barn door after the horse is out. Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 there's actually a nova special about caulerpa tax., sawed it last week...check out this link fer a lil more info http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&highlight=nova tg Link to comment
zizmans Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 I saw that Nova episode. If it's the same one. Didn't they show underwater footage of the area below the marine research facility, and it was just totally barren for vast distances. Scarry stuff. Link to comment
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