Sea Coral. Yields of the darker coloured varieties from the traditional grounds have continued to decline. This has resulted in rapidly escalating prices which are primarily responsible for beds remaining viable in spite of declining production. The trend can be expected to continue unless significant new coral beds are discovered. If the Midway grounds are also depleted, the industry's major sources of raw material will be jeopardized and the economic consequences will be incurred by Taiwan and Japan as well as countries such as Italy and the U.S.A. which now depend on their exports (12). Studies in the Mediterranean have indicated that C. rubrum is very susceptible to silt and pollution and along the coast of Provence it is only found in unpolluted areas (28). CONSERVATION MEASURES TAKEN Attempts have been made to prohibit coral fishing in several places but invariably these have been unsuccessful. When recovery of the beds has occurred it has usually been accidental, for example, as a result of interruption of fishing by war (15). Between 1879 and 1890 grounds off the north coast of Africa were fished on a nine or ten year rotation but lack of enforcement eventually led to severe depletion of the beds. The selection of this length of time for recovery was based on observations by fishermen and early research (5,15,25). In Spain there is a permit system for divers and the Meda Islands have been proposed as a marine conservation area in order to preserve and possibly reintroduce C. rubrum and gorgonians (If). Before 1868 coral fishing in Japan was managed inadvertently, since the Shoguns confiscated any coral collected by fishermen, but after this date no management was attempted. In 1963 the government of Okinawa attempted to regulate the newly discovered beds south of Okinawa by limiting entry into the fishery by a permit system. However, too many permits were issued and the beds were rapidly depleted (15,23). In the Philippines, Presidential Decree 1219 of 1977 bans the export of unprocessed precious coral (6). Extensive research on the Hawaiian precious coral stocks (16,24) has led to the formulation of a Fishery Management Plan for the Precious Coral Fisheries of the Western Pacific Region (IMP). This establishes a set of conservation and management measures designed to achieve a balance between protecting coral resources and allowing a harvest on a sustainable yield basis for the Fishery Conservation Zone (FEZ) of Hawaii, Guam and American Samoa. Four categories of management areas have been designated: 'Established Beds' for which estimates of maximum sustainable yield (MSY) are reasonably precise and where selective gear would be used; 'Conditional Beds' for which the MSYS could be estimated by comparing their size relative to the established beds; 'Refugia' where coral harvesting would be prohibited and which would serve as baseline study areas and possible reproductive reserves; and 'Exploratory Permit Areas' in which coral beds almost certainly exist but have not yet been located. Only one of the Hawaiian beds, Makapuu, has been studied enough to be classified as an Established Bed. Five other beds off the Hawaiian islands are classified as Conditional, and the Wes Pac bed, situated between Nihoa and Neckar islands, has been proposed as a Refugium. As new beds are discovered and more accurate MSYS are determined, the categorization of the beds may be upgraded. Quotas and size limits have also been set for different species (the plan covers gold and bamboo, as well as pink, corals) in different beds. The MSY for C. secundum in the Makapuu bed has been calculated at 1000 kgyear (15). In the U.S.A. corals are now listed under the Lacey Act which means that the import of corals obtained illegally in the country of origin is prohibited. CONSERVATION MEASURES PROPOSED Unless some form of management is instituted, supplies of precious coral may become even more unpredictable. Precious coral can be managed by limiting harvest levels, areas or gear but a 39