Regulation of Aquarium/Pet Trade.. I'm fed up!

Samala

Samala

mmm RNA..
Jan 17, 2003
95
0
0
Outer-Philly (n. DE)
home.comcast.net
Hi all, In the line of Gambusia's thread on illegalized fish in North Carolina, I wanted to put a question out to the community here and see what kind of information I can get back.

I'm wondering, besides state Departments of Natural Resources or Fish and Wildlife.. does anyone, any agency or specific group, monitor and regulate the aquarium trade? And, more importantly, are there any watchdog or government groups that inspect and regulate pet shops/fish stores?

I'm absolutely fed up with walking into fish shops and seeing species that are outside the scope of hobby aquarists for size or any other reason, are illegal, are invasive species, etc. I am, of course, likewise aggravated by seeing fish corpses floating around and obviously diseased fish going without treatment (I ask the employees) - but I think I would be more able to press this issue with the local government if I stress the invasive species issues, and the issue of offering fish for sale that are endangered (some freshwater, but mainly a saltwater issue). I wont even get into the availability of invasive plant species..

In the same vein, but slightly off topic, does anyone know who I should contact about kittens/puppies/rodents being offered for sale that are being abused while in the shops (no food, no clean water, sleeping in their litter boxes because they have no bed.. sigh!!!...) and are also obviously sick?

So, if anyone has a good set of links, some thoughts or information about who regulates the pet trade in general, not just fish, or knows of similar 'campaigns' that have or have not been successful.. please feel free to get in touch with me. You can always post here, but I like getting email ;) - samalaud@yahoo.com .

Thanks for lettin me vent too!
>Sarah
 
For the fish trade:

USFWS

United States Fish And Wildlife Service.

And the chances of a tiger shovelnose catfish survivng year around in Vermont is pretty slim.

So most regulation is left up to the states.
 
Last edited:
it started with irresponsible keepers. its true some of their rules are pretty strick but nature is something we cant easily fix if someone screws it up.

california is a lot worse than most of the other states and its pretty hard to get the govt. to budge, theres been a long fight for ferrets here and its not getting anywhere.
 
I can understand bans on certain species in certain areas. Like with ferrets: they're illegal in a lot of northern states because of the North American Black Footed Ferret (which isn't actually a real ferret, but it's close enough). It's endangered, and if domesticated ferrets got loose and actually survived, they could outcompete the Black Footed Ferret for food and homes, thus further endangering them or even making them go extinct. Same goes with fish and plants. If a foreign specie got loose in a waterway and survived, it could outgrow and outeat the local species and kill them off, or upset the balance of nature in that particular place. Look at cane toads in Australia! There is one ugly, warty, poisonous example of why foreign species should never be introduced into strange places! :eek:
 
then shouldnt neutered ferrets be allowed.

the only thing i really care about is asian arowanas.
 
I may be the unpopular one here, but the last thing I think we need is someone further regulating the hobby. It will not stop people from owning what they want, and unfortunately it will not prevent folks from releasing dangerous species into the wild, but it will hurt our hobby economically, as well as limit responsible hobbyists on their choices. There are folks who understand how to house animals such as a TSN or a northern snakehead, and some of those folks would like to own them, and IMO they have just as much right to own them as the next guy has to own a guppy. Irresponsible hobbyists are a different story altogether, but there isn't much we can do about it without hurting ourselves in the process. U.S. customs and the respective fish and game departments are enough if not too much as far as I'm concerned.
JMO and I realize many dis-agree with it.
dave
 
What I found troublesome is that NC completely banned snakeheads so if you already owned it you either had to kill it or turn it over to the state to be killed.

:mad:
 
Gambusia - That's sad - I understand the motivation behind it, but when you look at it from the owner's perspective, how unfair it is to have a beautiful, intelligent fish like a snakehead and have to destroy it.
Dave - I think you've got an interesting point - banning a thing isn't always the best way to deal with something.
There's a lot of debate in Ontario right now over the new pitbull dog ban, and my husband and I agree that whether or not they ban a breed won't prevent owners from having dangerous dogs or stop dogs from attacking people - in short, it won't solve the problem and a lot of people and animals are going to suffer for it.
Samala - sadly, I think that the mistreatment of animals (especially fish) in pet stores is far down on the government's list of things to worry about. I wish it wasn't so, but it's very seldom I see anything significant being done - even in animal cruelty cases bad enough to be on the evening news, those responsible are rarely punished beyond a fine.
 
Fish in the US

Check out this site.

http://nas.er.usgs.gov/

This is the official site of what is and what is not allowed to be bought or sold in each state of the US.

You will have to do a bit of searching to find that exact page but it is well worth the look.

If you have a problem with something that a store is selling and you can find that it is illegal in your particular state you can then report the store.
They should then send out an offical to verify the complaint.

Assuming that they are on the ball and the government hasn't cut their funding.

You also could always print out the page for your state and always confront the store owner with it. Explain how you will report him if he doesn't smarten up.

Keep in mind though. If it isn't on the illegal list. You will have no reason to complain and will also have nothing to back you up.
 
Banning pitbulls?

What about other dogs that bite??

That is stupid.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom