777 Greeny Green (1/2)

Due to El Niño and global warming, the world's wild, hard corals were facing an extinction crisis. There were even some people who joked about buying some hard corals now, and 40 years later they would be worth more than gold…

Corals were strong, yet also fragile, creatures.

They were strong because they were constantly replicating and splitting, so they could survive for more than thousands of years. After they perished, the coral reefs formed from the accumulated remains would gradually rise out of the surface of the sea, forming a string of pearl-like reefs and even islands in the vast sea. For example, the Spratly Islands and Paracel Islands were both composed of coral reefs.

If there were no corals, China's territorial waters would be much smaller than what they were today.

They were said to be fragile because, although most of them lived in tropical seas, they were unable to withstand water temperatures that were above 30 degrees for a long period of time. Otherwise, they would expel the Zooxanthellae that lived in symbiosis with them and they would quickly meet their death.

However, the intensification of the greenhouse effect had caused seawater around the world to slowly rise in temperature, and corals were not like fish; they were unable to swim to cool waters. It might not even be 40 years––it could just be 20 years before wild hard corals ceased to exist in the world.

Aside from the rising temperatures, the acidification and eutrophication of seawater were also important causes of the collapse of hard corals, which were entirely attributable to the discharge of human's domestic sewage and industrial wastewater.

The seabed of Mirs Bay in Dapeng was a water-rich paradise with rich coral species more than a decade ago. Now, it was just a large stretch of underwater desert.

With the situation being as such, the country had decided to crack down on the aquarium market and ban the exploitation and trade of wild, hard corals, especially in the South China Sea. Currently, the hard corals circulating in the aquarium market were mostly cultivated in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Australia—theoretically, it was as such; however, because of the profitability of coral mining, in addition to cultivating them in Indonesia, fishermen would also mine for corals to increase their production. Because they were mixed and sold, it was difficult to distinguish whether they were cultivated or were from the wild.

Soft corals, on the other hand, did not have that many prohibitions, because soft corals were more tolerant to temperature and there was no risk of extinction. The species of soft corals in the store were significantly more than those of the hard corals.

The female customer from earlier had browsed through the store, but it seemed like she didn't find a coral that was to her liking. She couldn't help but have a disappointed look on her face as she shook her head turned around to leave.

The owner of the coral specialty shop seemed to have the intention to keep her at the shop. He raised his chin and pointed at the Coral Importation Permit on the wall and proudly said, ”I'm running a certified business here and I went through a great deal of trouble to get my hands on that permit. Those colleagues of mine that laughed at me in the past are now all having their meal in jail. You all came at the right time. You may wish to stay a little longer since there is a new batch of corals arriving shortly.”

”Oh?” The female customer was suddenly interested. ”How long does it usually take before you bring in a new batch of corals?”

”It's never fixed, but probably about three months or so,” the boss answered. ”Usually we'll bring in new ones when the corals are about to be sold out. We'll bring in more of those that are popular while also a small number of new corals as a trial.”

The female customer frowned. ”You are too conservative in running your business. There are too few types and colors, it's hard to get customers interested, you know? Like this Cup Coral that's only in gold and the Brain Corals which are all basically green… Whether it's the Open Brain Coral or the Aussie Doughnut Coral, it's all in green—deep green, light green, dark green… Do you just like putting green on your head?”

Pu!

Snowy couldn't help but laugh from listening to her. Even the netizens in the broadcast channel had their stomachs hurting from laughing too much. They only hated the fact that there was nothing to look at.

The female customer sounded like an experienced aquatic hobbyist. Her words were so sharp she got the boss looking all embarrassed. The boss tried to explain with a bitter smile on his face, ”I do want to bring in more varieties, but corals are really too delicate… There are also many of them that I'm not able to raise myself, such as those that have to be sold immediately after they're brought it or they'll just perish in my hands.”

Since the shop owner had the courage to run a coral specialty shop, he definitely had to be an expert in coral raising, too, and his standard of raising was most definitely higher than that of the female customer. There was just such a wide variety of corals that he had to care for, and each of the corals had different requirements for their water temperature, lighting, and raising environment. After some time, he would definitely be exhausted, and, if he was not careful, he would be making big losses.