Red Coral Pros And Cons

The extinction of the red coral will have a huge impact on economic of certain countries that dependent upon the Corallium rubrum. Besides that, tourism of countries that counting on the beauty of Corallium rubrum to attract tourist would also be affected by the declining rate in Corallium rubrum population. However, the most saddening impact is the loss of habitat towards organisms that depend upon Corallium rubrum as its shelter. Thus, this will eventually affect the balance in aquatic ecosystem which leads to many declining populations of certain organisms in the aquatic ecosystem.

3.1 Impact on Economic

From the economic aspects, the extinction of the Red Coral has the pros and cons. The pros are that it the red coral provide the economic values for the countries. The red and pink coral species (Corallium rubrum) found in the Mediterranean has been used as such for centuries. Of all the deep sea species, red coral represents the largest and most valuable market, with an estimated global trade of 30-50 metric tons per year.

Most of the countries harvest C. Rubrum for economic benefits and traded worldwide as jewellery, home décor objects as well as the curio and aquarium trade (Patty Debenham, Coral In Red). The United States is the largest documented consumer of precious red coral, with 26 million pieces imported between 2001 and 2006 (Patty Debenhem, Coral In Red).

Major exporters of worked precious coral for curios and jewelry include Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan (The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL), Mining & Harvesting). Many livelihoods and industries in Italy as well as in Asian countries such as Taiwan and Japan depend on red coral (SeaWeb, Coral Conservation). The countries with the largest catches were Spain (6.9 t...

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...itors know nothing of harvesting methods, distribution, and traditional cultural uses of red coral. Hence, an interpretative museum devoted to Mediterranean red coral could be designed to lead the tourist/visitor on their own road of discovery. So, there is a plan by Linda Joyce Forristal to make Mediterranean red coral as an object of marine eco-tourism and cultural heritage with special emphasis on Croatia. To be specific to build a Red Coral Museum. This proposal has been presented during conference organized by Reinventing a Tourism Destination International Conference/ Institute for Tourism on Oct 19, 2002.

The museum of red coral could be an exciting and centre of attraction for the tourist destination that tells the story of Mediterranean red coral, place to centralize Croatian scientific efforts to preserve Corallium rubrum as a viable commercial species.