Is black coral jewelry legal in Hawaiʻi? What buyers should know

Yes. Black coral jewelry is legal to buy and sell in Hawaiʻi, and black coral has been the state gem since 1987. The coral in it must be harvested under state and federal rules: permits, minimum colony sizes and a quota on the main bed between Maui and Lānaʻi. Carrying it home to the US mainland is a domestic trip, but taking it to another country can need a CITES permit, because every black coral species is listed in CITES Appendix II. Before you buy, check that the piece is real coral and ask the seller where and when it was harvested.

Hawaiʻi’s state gem

Black coral was named the official state gem by Act 9 of the 1987 session laws. It isn’t a mineral but an animal: colonies of tiny polyps that build a stiff, branching skeleton, which is black or dark brown once the living tissue is removed and the skeleton is polished. Bills in 2023 (S.B. 403) and 2024 (S.B. 2480) proposed removing the state gem status, arguing that promoting black coral harms reefs. We found no sign that either became law.

Black coral jewelry has been made in Hawaiʻi for decades. Maui Divers Jewelry, a Honolulu maker in our directory, says its divers found black coral in deep water off the Molokaʻi Channel in 1958 and that it began making black coral jewelry in 1959. That account is the company’s own.

How black coral is harvested

Almost all of Hawaiʻi’s commercial black coral since 1980 has come from one bed in the ʻAuʻau Channel, between Maui and Lānaʻi. Divers there found large beds at roughly 50 to 100 meters, and colonies are known to about 110 meters. That is well beyond recreational diving, which is why harvest is done by specialist divers or submersibles.

The rules overlap:

Rule	What it says	Applies in
Hawaiʻi Administrative Rules §13-91-2	No taking or possessing black coral with a base diameter under ¾ inch	State waters (to 3 nautical miles)
50 CFR part 665 (Magnuson-Stevens Act)	A NOAA permit to harvest or land black coral; logbooks; selective gear only, by hand or submersible	Federal waters
2007 federal rule	Live colonies at least 48 inches tall or 1 inch in stem diameter	ʻAuʻau Channel bed
2008 federal rule (Amendment 7)	The ʻAuʻau Channel bed is an “established bed” with a quota of 5,000 kg every two years	State and federal waters of the bed
Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument	No precious coral harvest	Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

For a buyer, the practical point is this: legal Hawaiian black coral comes from a small, licensed fishery, not from reefs you can snorkel. A seller should be able to say whether a piece is Hawaiian coral and roughly when it was harvested.

Taking black coral home: mainland and abroad

To the mainland. A flight from Hawaiʻi to the US mainland is domestic. CITES governs international trade, so it does not normally apply. Keep the receipt with the piece.

Abroad. The whole order of black corals, Antipatharia, has been on CITES Appendix II since 1981. Appendix II trade is allowed, but generally needs an export permit from the country it leaves. The US Fish and Wildlife Service lists black coral among the wildlife jewelry it regulates. Federal rules give travelers a limited exemption for personal effects and souvenirs, but it does not apply where the other country restricts the item, and some countries limit coral souvenirs tightly. US Customs and Border Protection names coral and jewelry among the items that often contain CITES species, and travelers carrying them without the right papers can be fined.

Before taking black coral out of the country, or bringing black coral bought abroad back to the US, contact the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the destination country’s CITES office. Carry a receipt that names the material as black coral and says where it came from.

How to tell real black coral from plastic or dyed imitations

Black coral is not made of calcium carbonate like red or pink coral; its skeleton is mostly protein. So the vinegar test sometimes suggested for coral tells you nothing about black coral. Use these checks instead:

• Growth rings. Look at a cut end, drilled hole or cross-section with a 10x loupe. Real black coral shows fine concentric layers, like tree rings, around a small core. GIA describes this layered structure and round polyp marks under strong side light.
• Surface texture. Polished black coral often shows a faint pitted or bumpy texture where the polyps sat. Plastic is uniformly smooth or shows flow swirls.
• Treatment. “Golden coral” in jewelry is usually black coral that has been bleached. That is a treatment, and the seller should disclose it, as with any dyed or coated coral.
• Leave the hot needle alone. A hot-point test can tell plastic from coral, but gem references advise leaving it to professionals because it marks the piece. A gem lab can identify black coral without harm.

The ethics debate

Black coral grows slowly. Early studies estimated that the main Hawaiian species grows about 6 cm a year in height and that the largest colonies are more than 75 years old; later radiocarbon work suggested Hawaiian deep-sea corals grow more slowly and live longer than once thought. A different Hawaiian black coral, not used in jewelry, has been dated at more than 4,000 years. A NOAA study found the ʻAuʻau Channel population had dropped by at least 25 percent over 30 years, with an invasive soft coral (Carijoa riisei) overgrowing black coral habitat as well as harvest pressure. A CITES review found little evidence that the Appendix II listing had improved black corals’ conservation status.

On the other side, the Hawaiʻi fishery is small, licensed, limited by quota and minimum size, and harvested selectively by hand rather than dredged.

If you want black coral, ask the seller:

• Is this Hawaiian black coral, and roughly when was it harvested?
• Has it been dyed, bleached or coated?
• Will the receipt say “black coral”, with its origin, for travel?
• Is the setting solid gold or silver, and what karat? Our guide to Hawaiian pendants covers settings, and the price guide explains how to compare.

An older or estate piece avoids new harvest altogether. If you are shipping a piece home rather than carrying it, see shipping jewelry home from Hawaiʻi.