this is not something new, it's already the law in Hawaii to prevent introduction of non-native species to their waterways. Used throughout the US, it would decrease the number of places that sell tankbusters and it would decrease the number sold. It will also motivate sellers to be honest and knowledgeable about the fish they sell, rather than just lying outright or being misleading in order to make money. Buyers would still have to responsible in researching the fish's needs and care. Don't think of it as returning clothes when they don't fit - think of it as a Lemon Law for fish.
I don't think enforcement would be a problem. say you are new to the hobby, believe in the old standards "inch per gallon, fish only grow to the size of their tanks, etc" and go to Fish-A-Million and the guy there tells you that the shiny little 2" pacu only gets 8 inches long. well, you love the fish and you take it home. little pacu gets sick, and you search for help online. you find aquaria central, and the nice people there tell you that pacus reach 24+ inches long. now you know you've been lied to. you try to return the fish and fish-a-million won't take it. you call up whatever department is assigned to this area, they look into it, and fish-a-million gets fined or forced to stop selling pacus.
i really don't think people in general are as 'enlightened' about fish as we are, and NONE of us were born that way. we all had to start learning somewhere, and i think for a lot of us it starts when we have our first problems/mistakes.
i didn't know anything when i set up my first fishtanks. in fact, i had 3 of them before i even found AC. i first found this place because i bought a goldfish for a 6g tank. i wanted it to poop a whole lot and 'fertilize' the water so i could return it and grow cool plants. when it got a swimbladder problem i went online to search for help. that's when i learned about everything - goldfish do not stay so small, cycling tanks, water changes, inch per gallon myth, plants need more than goldfish poop, etc. heck, i had a 10g guppy tank for 6 months and before i found AC i would just break it down and rinse everything completely every couple of months. i never did a water change, just topped off the evaporation. when i stirred up the gravel, that water turned black.
so, how could i have three fishtanks, and yet NO ONE in the stores ever told me about any of the stuff i found online? when you are new, you can't know there is more to it. you can't know that you can't always trust the people at the store. i mean, if all you have seen and heard about is basic math (add, subtract, multiply, divide) you're never going to even know there's such a thing as calculus or even algebra unless someone tells you about it, or something forces you to search for higher answers. it's not that people are too stupid to do research, it's that they are unconscious to the idea that research would even have to be done. when you are new and don't have any experience, you trust the people at the store to help you out.
