I stopped buying or selling coral after I learned to SCUBA dive in 2002 and found out that beautiful live reefs were being harvested for use in the gemstone and jewellery arts.
I’m curious about other people’s thoughts/experiences?
**Note: I think that coral it is a stunningly beautiful gemstone, I just feel that there are enough other beautiful gems to work with.
In my personal experience, it’s pretty much impossible to find coral (especially red coral) that has for sure been ethically sourced. That’s why I stopped buying it, anyway.
My Wife and I are scuba divers and we don’t buy any products sourced from the sea unless, like abalone shell, they are by-products of other activities like food production. Some corals take many years to get to a worthwhile size and they are an important part of the eco system, providing shelter for small fish.
I fully support your stance and hope many others will take the same view!
So this got me thinking, is there farmed coral?
Apparently there is!
Coral is an important gem in South Asian cultures, particularly in astrology, but conservation of nature is also a very important part of those cultures, so it would be pretty amazing if we were to see cultured coral become a replacement for wild coral.