Cactus smugglers busted

[peterb]

An article from Atlantic magazine Feb 22 2016.

http://www.theatlantic.com/science/arch ... es/470070/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[george76904]

Alright!

[Vipassana]

I read this article. Not a bad read at all.

I did find it interesting how much time/money/resources were wrapped up in this, only to result in a minor fine. I'm not saying we shouldn't be doing these types of investigations, but I am surprised how light the punishment is.


Also, the picture of the Echinocactus grusonii, with the description:
https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/medi ... aa3189.jpg

"Confiscated cacti are typically boxed and sent to researchers and botanical gardens around the country. In Washington, D.C., at an offsite, two-acre building, the United States Botanic Garden keeps its confiscated cacti in a temperature-controlled greenhouse. Bill McLaughlin is the curator there, and one recent day he walked the rows of metal tables and pointed at the potted and tagged cacti. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands. There were the white, golfball-like mammillaria herrerae, the one poachers have nearly stolen to extinction. There were astrophytum asterias, listed as vulnerable. And from a box that arrived a few months ago were several echinocactus grusonii, the cacti Mexico nearly drowned to extinction––their illicit price tags still affixed."

I don't know much about some of the other species mentions, but Echinocactus grusonii? Why is this one confiscation worthy? Those look like soft, nursery grown plants that can be purchased at any Lowes or HomeDepot store for $10. Do all species need permits/permissions to be moved out of the country? I am not versed in these things...

[C And D]

The author contacted me and asked some questions about collecting cactus

He may have thought I was a illegal collector because he found me by goggling the words "Cactus Collector"

I told him that illegal collection is very frowned upon by growers that are collectors

Collecting Cactus is used in the sense of having a collection of cactus plants

[peterb]

Vipassana, grusonii was almost entirely removed from its natural habitat by a dam building project, so, believe it or not, it is endangered in habitat. It is illegal to bring any cacti out of Mexico. Also, it is illegal to engage in international trade of many cacti that are CITES I and there are restrictions on CITES II plants as well.

[DaveW]

Whilst in theory it is possible to legally import or export cactus plants from one sovereign country to another the difficulty or impossibility of obtaining the licences and cost of the paperwork from both the exporting and importing country for non botanical institutions, or amateur orders make it not worthwhile for most nurserymen to provide such a service, therefore most restrict sales to within their own country. The only exception is the European Union because it is a single free internal trading block it is treated as a single country for CITES. Therefore plants can be sent without CITES certification from one EU member country to another. Cactus seed, apart from plants on Appendix I, can be exported freely around the world:-

http://www.cactus-art.biz/note-book/Dic ... _cites.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.kew.org/sites/default/files/ ... ck.pdf.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Parts of dead cacti like "rainstick's used to be banned too (saw quite a few in souvenir shops in Chile), but you can evidently now import a limited number:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainstick" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.npws.ie/legislation/cites/ex ... rtificates" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Vipassana]

Vipassana, grusonii was almost entirely removed from its natural habitat by a dam building project, so, believe it or not, it is endangered in habitat. It is illegal to bring any cacti out of Mexico. Also, it is illegal to engage in international trade of many cacti that are CITES I and there are restrictions on CITES II plants as well.

Interesting. I just assumed these were run of the mill grusonii like I can literally buy at the grocery store for $5-10. I guess I didn't think about them being taken from Mexico habitat.

[DaveW]

I don't think anybody has taken Echinocactus grusonii from the wild for decades, at least smuggled them out of Mexico. There are now too many plants of all sizes available in commerce and probably in better condition than wild ones. Also you could only really smuggle small plants since they could not get a full sized one in their suitcases, therefore what would be the point seeing so many pristine small cultivated ones are available?

As Peter says the main threat to E. grusonii in habitat was the dam project that virtually wiped out it's habitat. Some plants were moved to another site, but it would be interesting to know what was the survival rate when transplanting such large plants? As usual the so called international conservation authorities keep quite when member governments are killing cacti by the tens of thousands and use the comparatively lesser threat of illegal collection as a "smokescreen" to divert attention from this.

"A well known species of cactus, and is endemic to east-central Mexico. It is rare and endangered in the wild, where it is found near Mesa de Léon in the state of Querétaro, and in the state of Hidalgo. The population was critically reduced in the 1990s, by the creation of the Zimapán Dam and reservoir in Hidalgo. The cactus grows in volcanic rock on slopes, at altitudes around 1,400 metres (4,600 ft)."

They are now grown on a large scale commercially in many countries around the world:-

http://gardenofeaden.blogspot.co.uk/201 ... -from.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I gather they are even growing them on a similar commercial scale in China now.

http://meume.en.alibaba.com/product/600 ... lants.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[graffiti]

How does one collect legally? Going through, for example, Mesa's list, there's a lot of SB collection numbers, meaning, I can only assume, that Mr Brack collected them himself. Is it a permitting process or something?

[DaveW]

A lot of Brack's original collections were pre CITES and later US regulations. He has then kept these mother plants to produce seed from to sell and probably set to raise plants for sale at his nursery. Authorised collectors can get collection permits but they will usually be restricted to botanical institutions and the number of each species they may collect:-

http://www.desertusa.com/dusablog/cactus-wrangling.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

However the US does allow some of the cactus societies to collect and sell plants from areas threatened by development. These are only available to collectors within the USA since it is too difficult and expensive to get the bureaucratic paperwork to export them to other countries due to CITES regulations.

http://www.tucsoncactus.org/html/cactus_rescue.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.centralarizonacactus.org/rescue.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[graffiti]

Interesting, thanks so much for the explanation.

[peterb]

Collecting legally in Mexico is a very difficult business. The permitting process there was recently changed and the federal government abolished general collecting permits. There are two separate Mexican agencies (Semarnat and Conafur) that one now has to go through to try to get permits. There are only two types of permits: one where you list every plant taxon you are planning to collect and another where you are collecting for a specific research project. If you are not a Mexican scientist on a pre-approved collection list, you have to pay $900 to apply for a permit and there is no guarantee your request will be approved. The aplication fee is not refundable. If you apply under the aegis of a Mexican botanist, it is no cost. But there are very few Mexican botanists on the official list of researchers, and as you can imagine, they are extremely busy and get many, many requests. The single greatest and most reputable American authority on Baja California botany is currently living for a year in La Paz and he and his Mexican associate, who is on the list and works for CIBNOR, have been unable to get collection permits. Of course a sad irony of this kind of strict rule is that it favors two classes of people who do not care about the long term viability of species in habitat: smugglers and land developers. There is virtually NO process in Mexico for the protection of rare plants that exist on land slated for development. There is little to no funding for enforcement. It's even tempting for me to collect illegally, but the catch there is that one needs permits to publish research derived from specimens. I have a completely non-destructive protocol ready to go for the collection of Cochemiea tissue for phylogeographic studies and have been fortunate to get help from a Mexican botanist in order to do so, finally, after a 2 year delay.

Peter Breslin

[DaveW]

"but the catch there is that one needs permits to publish research derived from specimens. I have a completely non-destructive protocol ready to go for the collection of Cochemiea tissue for phylogeographic studies and have been fortunate to get help from a Mexican botanist in order to do so, finally, after a 2 year delay."

Are such permits needed anymore to publish Peter, surely that is an objectionable restriction on freedom of the press and scientific evidence in a free country? I suppose it depends what journals you wish to publish in since there are now so many online botanical or cactus journals with different acceptance criteria. Therefore the traditional former paper based journals no longer have the strangle hold on publication they did in the past and once published such research is in the public domain anyway? The online cactus journals now probably reach more people researching cacti than the old printed catch-all traditional botanical journals ever did. If the old paper based journals try and restrict publication in such an arbitrary manner, since everything is now going online, I think they will gradually whither away and die.

[keith]

The trial was quick. Safronov plead guilty. The multi-state surveillance investigation that pooled the investigative powers of four federal agencies and at least a dozen agents in five states would end in a fine. Safronov admitted to attempting to smuggle an object contrary to law, a misdemeanor, as well as to a civil import/export penalty. The judge ordered him to pay $525.

525 bucks seems trivial after all that work. They should sell a hunting permit for taking cactus seed pods for hard core cactus tourists.

Plants nope keep em in the ground.

[george76904]

Wow $525... It seems like a waste of resources to arrest him put him on trial and it's only a misdemeanor. Sad, people should just leave them in the ground where they belong. I can better accept seed collection, but I think it would require a case by case thing.