Using Crime Script Analysis to Understand the Illegal Harvesting of Live Corals: Case Studies From Indonesia and Fiji

• Author: Gohar A. Petrossian,Judith S. Weis,Monique C. Sosnowski
• Published date: 01 August 2020
• DOI: 10.1177/1043986220910295
• Date: 01 August 2020
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1043986220910295

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

2020, Vol. 36(3) 384 –402

© The Author(s) 2020

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/1043986220910295

journals.sagepub.com/home/ccj

Article

Using Crime Script Analysis

to Understand the Illegal

Harvesting of Live Corals:

Case Studies From Indonesia

and Fiji

Monique C. Sosnowski1, Judith S. Weis2,

and Gohar A. Petrossian1

Abstract

Imported to adorn tanks of marine aquarium hobbyists, the trade in live corals

poses a significant risk to species that concurrently face threats from rising global

temperatures, pollution, and destructive fishing practices. To better understand

the live coral trade, we employed a crime script framework to analyze the process

by which corals are harvested in two of the world’s major exporting countries—

Indonesia and Fiji. We demonstrate that coral harvesting and export are complex

activities that require a specific set of skills and tools. As such, various intervention

strategies are proposed to address illegal coral harvesting at different stages of the

crime script.

Keywords

coral harvesting, crime script analysis, environmental criminology, Indonesia, Fiji

Introduction

Coral reefs are among the most diverse and productive communities on earth, support-

ing millions of species as habitat, feeding, and breeding areas (Hoeksema, 2017).

Coral reefs, however, are under great stress from a variety of environmental factors.

The most widespread stress is that of global climate change. Elevated temperatures

1John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, NY, USA

2Rutgers University–Newark, NJ, USA

Corresponding Author:

Monique C. Sosnowski, Department of Criminal Justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 524 West

59th Street, Haaren Hall - 63107, New York, NY 10019, USA.

Email: msosnowski@jjay.cuny.edu

910295CCJXXX10.1177/1043986220910295Journal of Contemporary Criminal JusticeSosnowski et al.

research-article2020

Sosnowski et al. 385

cause corals to expel their algal partners (“zooxanthellae”). This, in turn, leads to the

loss of an important source of nutrition for corals and results in bleaching and potential

death (Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2007), a phenomenon observed throughout the Great

Barrier Reef of Australia between 2016 and 2017.

Stresses at the more local level on coral reefs include pollution by excess nutrients,

such as nitrogen from sewage fertilizers runoff, which stimulate the growth of algae

over the corals that smother and kill them (Fabricius, 2005). This process was respon-

sible for the degradation of many Caribbean reefs in the late 20th century. The effects

can be reduced if there are sufficient numbers of grazers, such as parrotfish, to eat the

algae, but unfortunately in many areas, these fish have been overharvested. Corals also

suffer from a variety of infectious diseases (Richardson, 1998) that can be exacerbated

by climate change (Bruno et al., 2003) and plastic pollution (Lamb et al., 2018).

Fishers may further utilize destructive methods, such as dynamite and cyanide fishing,

to collect fish from reefs for consumption or the aquarium trade, but kill extensive

areas of corals in the process (Caldwell & Fox, 2006; McManus et al., 1997).

In addition to environmental threats, corals are collected for curios, jewelry, and the

aquarium trade. Marine aquarium hobbyists used to focus on colorful reef fish but

developed a notable demand for live corals. These hobbyists are primarily in the United

States, where over 2 million households have marine aquaria (Thornhill, 2012) with

corals originating primarily from tropical Asian countries. In 1996, the United States

was importing over 80% of all the live coral in trade, representing at least 350,000

pieces. Since then, imports of live coral have dramatically increased. Rhyne et al.

(2012) found that the trade had increased over 8% per year between 1990 and the mid-

2000s, only decreasing thereafter. In 2010, the number of coral pieces imported was

more than 500,000, with most of them in the genera Acropora and Euphyllia. The tim-

ing of the peak and decline varied among species and was considered to be caused by

the rising popularity of mini-reef aquariums, the global financial crisis, and an increase

in the production of Acropora species by aquaculture. This demand for live corals is

also strong in the European Union, where corals are the second most frequently seized

wildlife group following reptiles and preceding mammals (van Uhm, 2016).

The illegal trade in wildlife, including corals, is among the most profitable criminal

enterprises in the world (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2016),

with an estimated value of US$20 billion per year (Wyler & Sheikh, 2008). Ranked

alongside the illegal trades in arms, drugs, and humans, the illegal trade in wildlife

involves millions of plant and animal species (Wyler & Sheikh, 2008). In 2013, the

United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice designated

wildlife crime as a “serious crime” punishable by a minimum of 4 years of liberty

deprivation, placing it among the most serious transnational crimes. Currently, the

United States remains one of the top importers of illegal wildlife (Petrossian et al.,

2016; UNODC, 2016; Wyler & Sheikh, 2008).

Indonesia and Fiji are among the major exporters of live coral to the United States,

coming in at first and fourth, respectively (Petrossian et al., 2019; Rhyne et al., 2012).

Indonesia accounted for 91% of the world’s exports in 2005 (Jones, 2008) and for

nearly 73% of United States live coral seizures from 2003 to 2012 (Petrossian et al.,