Coral scheme gets man year in prison
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
A Honolulu man was sentenced to a year in federal prison yesterday for his part in the largest coral poaching and trafficking scheme in Hawai'i history.
King Wong, 55, also was fined $35,000 by a Los Angeles federal judge and ordered to pay $77,740 in restitution to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. Wong is described by federal prosecutors as the owner of a seafood business in Honolulu.
Wong pleaded guilty on Sept. 12, 2000, to one count of conspiring to traffic 100 tons of coral and live rock that was taken illegally from Kane'ohe Bay. Two California men also pleaded guilty for their part in the case.
Bill Devick, administrator for DLNR's Aquatic Resources Division, said the scheme is the largest case of coral poaching from Hawaiian waters ever prosecuted.
"There are a number of violations of people who deliberately break coral, but there's never been anything of this magnitude," Devick said.
State laws prohibit the taking or injuring of coral and live rocks, and federal laws prohibit the interstate trafficking of wildlife that was taken illegally. Hawai'i has nearly 80 percent of the coral reefs in the United States.
American Samoa is the only place in the world where coral can be harvested legally for commercial purposes
Devick said the impact on the Kane'ohe Bay coral reef system was "huge."
"Coral takes a long time to grow, depending on what kind it is," Devick said. "You damage the habitat and it has a boomerang effect and harms everything, including, ultimately, the fish."
Federal prosecutors said that from 1996 to 1998, members of the conspiracy swam to coral reefs in Kane'ohe Bay and used hammers to break off chunks of the reefs. Working primarily at night, the poachers also collected coral rubble from the sea floor, prosecutors said.
The coral was delivered to Wong, who packed the live rock in boxes marked seafood or ceramics and shipped them to the Mainland, prosecutors said. Wong's co-conspirators would then sell and distribute the live rock to aquarium supply businesses nationwide, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors estimate thatt 100 tons of coral and live rock were shipped to the Mainland with a wholesale value of more than $1 million.
Devick said the scheme unraveled when a shipping crate broke open at Honolulu International Airport.
Wong collapsed as the federal judge sentenced him and was taken away by paramedics about 10 minutes later. He was conscious when he left the courtroom, but there was no immediate word on his condition.
Wong had faced a maximum five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The case was investigated by DLNR, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Game.
Reach Curtis Lum at 525-8025 or culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
