The world’s reefs are disappearing. Coral trafficking is booming

ArtReef Rocks, a Philippines-based aquarium supply company, built an international following among saltwater hobbyists and exhibited at major U.S. trade shows before U.S. court records tied its founder, Glenn Albert Binoya, to a coral trafficking operation. In 2022, 10 U.S. nationals were indicted in Alaska under the Lacey Act for sourcing corals through Binoya, who discussed evading customs in text messages; between 2015 and 2018 he shipped roughly 3,000 coral pieces to them.

Binoya was arrested in the Philippines in 2018, with authorities seizing more than 1,700 live corals and three giant clams worth an estimated $51,000, and charged under the Philippine Fisheries Code before dying in 2023 while the case was pending, ending criminal liability under Philippine law. A Mongabay analysis of TRAFFIC data found more than 1,300 coral trafficking incidents across 43 countries since 2000, including recent large seizures in China and Hong Kong worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation called the case an illustration of the urgent need to protect the country's marine ecosystems, noting only a fraction of Philippine reefs remain in good condition. Meanwhile, Binoya's successor asked the online community not to post about 'prohibited' corals, suggesting the business model survived its founder.

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