yes there is....especially when involving plants such as nepenthes, which are dioecious....
however, semantics, semantics....
"poaching" depends on context of national/international regulations and local policies, such as tribal lands having their own local laws that supersede national policies, etc etc...
but here are some reasons why one should reconsider CONTINUAL harvesting of nepenthes seed from the wild:
1) flowering cycle is unknown---as far as we know, there are no noticeable triggers that synchronize male and female plants of the same species to flower together. in cultivation, flower stalks tend to form "randomly" and so the chances of a flowering event between two plants of the same species AND complimentary genders is some what of a rare event.
2) small isolated populations--- many of these species are known to grow on mountainsides, cliff faces, as well as the occasional roadside. Plants are somewhat more resilient to inbreeding depression than animals, but nevertheless, it does happen. by removing seeds from the wild, especially in small isolated populations, you are effectively removing a good chunk of the gene pool. keep in mind that it is not only about the kinds of genes that are in the gene pool but also their combinations, by which we gain variance. ICPS advocates only removing a certain percentage of seed from a population only when certain criteria are met.
3) high seed mortality rate---pretty self explanatory---lots of seed sown, but very few make it to adulthood. Removing seed from the wild means even less will make it to adulthood.
the necessary evil (my personal proposal): in a perfect world, there should only be a handful of seed harvesting events in order to introduce the plants into cultivation, especially with the use of TC, and these seed should be given to individuals/businesses with the time, means, and money to propagate them. These individuals should be TC'ing ALL the plants that successfully germinate, resulting in mass production for collectors, but also for conservation efforts. In the mean time, while selling TC'ed plants, these individuals should be growing each individual clone up to adulthood, so that plant breeding programs are able to take place. plus, there's a bonus of introducing seed grown plant sales (WITH LOCATION DATA
) from time to time without adding pressure to wild populations... but who's to say they arent doing that now?
@Sig: have you considered that the response that he gave you might be for legitimate reasons? ""collect from north sumatra mountain" could mean that he is unwilling to release the location of the population, which, if released, would encourage more individuals to poach from the site?