Former Owner of Aquarium Business Sentenced for Trafficking Reef Creatures

According to a Department of Justice (DOJ) press release from February 22, 2021, a Puerto Rican man was sentenced to one year in federal prison for violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits the trafficking and false labeling of protected coral reef organisms.

Aristides Sanchez, who owned the business Wonders of the Reef Aquarium, was illegally selling native Puerto Rican marine species to the mainland U.S. and foreign countries for use in saltwater aquariums. One of the reef organisms was from the Ricordea genus, also known as polyps, which stick to the reef and glow under UV light, making them popular in high-end saltwater aquariums.

In Puerto Rico, it is illegal to harvest these organisms to send off-island or sell commercially. Sanchez would use a hammer and chisel to break these organisms off of the reef. Furthermore, when he was not personally harvesting them, he purchased them online from suspected illegal sources.

In order to subvert the attention of the government, Sanchez falsely labeled packages with living marine organisms as “pet supplies” or “LED lights.” He also used a fake name at times. He conducted these crimes from 2013 to 2016, and the retail value of the marine invertebrates he shipped during this time was at least $800,000.

In addition to his prison sentence, Sanchez is banned from snorkeling or scuba diving in Puerto Rico and procuring or collecting marine life. View pictures of the seized coral here.

This case was investigated as part of Operation Rock Bottom and Operation Borinquen Chisel by Special Agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with support from the USFWS Inspectors. The case is being prosecuted by Christopher L. Hale of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Carmen Marquez of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico.