Jewellery made of red coral is shown on this undated photo provided by SeaWeb 2007/Marine Photobank, Friday, June 8, 2007.

Red coral decorates pockets of the world's seas and oceans from the Mediterranean to the Pacific. It also adorns the necks and arms of the rich and fashion conscious.

The harvest and trade are now so widespread and the coral so slow-growing that there are fears for its survival.

The United States is leading a push to have the coral, whose scientific name is corallium, protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), a global conservation body meeting until June 15 in The Hague, the Netherlands.