Snakeheads. Available?
- Thread starter Open Water Predator
- Start date
People.....People..why can't we all just settle down...
so the snakehead is illegal, accept it.. so the piranha is in some states, like here in Iowa, yet I still see red bellied piranahas being sold in a lfs.
I will say though, that is does seem that thre is a huge byast against the snakehead, actually, I disagree that they should be illigal, but, really, are we going to all sign and e-mail petition and sent it to the president??? (wait..I'm giving ideas..I'll sign it)But really..how many people are there out there that have a tank large enough form a full grown 3ft snakehead, (no offense to all of you that do), but I think that we (the government) should just assign certain people the right to own a snakehead. I do think they are awesome fish, and maybe, if we revolt and illegally sneek them in, then this might turn out like when they tried to ban alcohol. (
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so the snakehead is illegal, accept it.. so the piranha is in some states, like here in Iowa, yet I still see red bellied piranahas being sold in a lfs.
I will say though, that is does seem that thre is a huge byast against the snakehead, actually, I disagree that they should be illigal, but, really, are we going to all sign and e-mail petition and sent it to the president??? (wait..I'm giving ideas..I'll sign it)But really..how many people are there out there that have a tank large enough form a full grown 3ft snakehead, (no offense to all of you that do), but I think that we (the government) should just assign certain people the right to own a snakehead. I do think they are awesome fish, and maybe, if we revolt and illegally sneek them in, then this might turn out like when they tried to ban alcohol. (
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You can attain a permit to keep one. Though I have no idea how much this permit costs, or what you need to get one.
im not against snakeheads. i feel that they are, ounce for ounce, at the top of the FW species food chain. thats a respectable title to earn, but something that can be catastrophic for our own natural resourses. i dont feel that size would be a very good limiting factor in any type of regulation/registration for these species either. its true that some species do not grow all that large, but a quick look to our own endangered species list will show quite a few fish species, such as darters and chubs, that could easily wiped out by the smaller species. once the smaller species start to disappear, the domino effect starts up the food chain.
OG brought up alot of good points as well. there's no way that state or federal legislation would ever support any type of regulation/registration for what would be, most likely, a very small minority of the people interested in keeping this family. in my state, our legislation is already looking to dip into the DNR funds to help pay for other government programs. the last thing theyre going to do is axe a few state parks programs for the sake of a few aquarists requests. "yes, we realize that by closing our parks to the hundreds of thousands of campers, hikers, anglers, hunters and general outdoors people, both local and tourist, will have a negative economic impact statewide, but we really need to get some programs in place to accomodate this small minority of people interested in keeping species from the snakehead family." would it take that kind of funding? no. of course not. thats taking it to the extreme. but for whats already been proposed here, it will take 10x's the amount of funding that you may think it does. remember, this is the government. additional funding for the writer of such legislation's own pet projects or district would surely be tacked on as it is so often in other areas. and if were proposed to be funded by taxpayers, you can forget about it. ill go out on a limb and say that that will never, EVER happen. our states DNR is already underfunded and ill managed, in my opinion, and the last thing i want to see is our states fisheries and wildlife programs suffer at the cost of keeping a small group of aquarists happy. sorry, and thats not directed at anybody personally, just my opinion. but i garantee you, its an opinion shared by alot of people. how many people out of the general population knew what a snakehead even was before the croften, MD incident? not very many. and there's alot that still dont. do you think there is anything in their lives that they want to sacrifice for the benefit of these fishes? doubtful.
even if there were registration of owners keeping fish, it wouldnt stop the release of them. and once theyre released, the damage is done. two registered fish are capable of creating hundreds of unregistered fish. whats done has been done and doubt that it will change anytime soon, if ever. the numbers of support for it arent there.
the long-term potential impact of this issue is far deeper than simply unethical people releasing exotics. those impacts are environmental, ecologic and economic. its these reasons you will not see the ban lifted anytime soon, if ever, no matter how many letters you write or petitions you sign.
OG brought up alot of good points as well. there's no way that state or federal legislation would ever support any type of regulation/registration for what would be, most likely, a very small minority of the people interested in keeping this family. in my state, our legislation is already looking to dip into the DNR funds to help pay for other government programs. the last thing theyre going to do is axe a few state parks programs for the sake of a few aquarists requests. "yes, we realize that by closing our parks to the hundreds of thousands of campers, hikers, anglers, hunters and general outdoors people, both local and tourist, will have a negative economic impact statewide, but we really need to get some programs in place to accomodate this small minority of people interested in keeping species from the snakehead family." would it take that kind of funding? no. of course not. thats taking it to the extreme. but for whats already been proposed here, it will take 10x's the amount of funding that you may think it does. remember, this is the government. additional funding for the writer of such legislation's own pet projects or district would surely be tacked on as it is so often in other areas. and if were proposed to be funded by taxpayers, you can forget about it. ill go out on a limb and say that that will never, EVER happen. our states DNR is already underfunded and ill managed, in my opinion, and the last thing i want to see is our states fisheries and wildlife programs suffer at the cost of keeping a small group of aquarists happy. sorry, and thats not directed at anybody personally, just my opinion. but i garantee you, its an opinion shared by alot of people. how many people out of the general population knew what a snakehead even was before the croften, MD incident? not very many. and there's alot that still dont. do you think there is anything in their lives that they want to sacrifice for the benefit of these fishes? doubtful.
even if there were registration of owners keeping fish, it wouldnt stop the release of them. and once theyre released, the damage is done. two registered fish are capable of creating hundreds of unregistered fish. whats done has been done and doubt that it will change anytime soon, if ever. the numbers of support for it arent there.
the long-term potential impact of this issue is far deeper than simply unethical people releasing exotics. those impacts are environmental, ecologic and economic. its these reasons you will not see the ban lifted anytime soon, if ever, no matter how many letters you write or petitions you sign.
HOLY COW! I just noticed you're here in ID, and right here in Moscow! Do you go to the UI by chance?
I live in Lewiston, but drive up for classes...
Anyways, I thought that Piranha were legal here untill just recently - I got my g/f three for her birthday a few years back from a reputable LFS, but they now say they cannot sell Piranha, or take them in (money is tougher since Bush stumbled in, and upgrading their tank will be harder than expected)
I definately think that this should be left up to the individual states. Places like Az and Fl would jump to ban it, but places here along the Canadian border might not see the need (I guess some of southern ID is warm enough for Channidae?)
I didn't know they were importing these fish as eggs, either. But, then again for shipping costs, it makers sense.
Of course, that makes you wonder - how hard/easy is it to tell a Snakehead egg from, say, a trout, salmon, bass, or [insert other legal fish name here] egg?
Yes, there's a law, but is it an enforcable one? It seems like the existing laws already have enough ways to skirt them, or just blatantly defy them. Probably because of lack of enforcement - I doubt the FWS has the resources to send a biologist by every LFS to check up!
No, I'm not advocating breaking any laws, but maybe we should think of a better way to achieve the same goals.
Yes, microchipping and registering the fish wouldn't actually stop someone from dumping them, but if you knew that IF you dumped the fish into a river/lake while it was still alive that you would get a hefty fine ($10,000 enough?, $100,000? Fine+10% of the cleanup operation?) that might provide some deterrent.
Having to go through a liscencing/registration process would likely also deterr the people who want the fish as a macho thing (hey, it's the right shape
) or status symbol, or just to show off "heh, heh, look at my mean fish...". I think these are the kinds of people who would be more likely to dump when the fish gets big (if it is a species that does get large) anyways, not the dedicated fishkeeper who wants to keep the fish because they like the species, and would be willing to go through a bit of paperwork.
Oh, and you could regulate as well that you cannot own more than one of a species, or even more than one snakehead.
stik6shift98
I HAVE A HOME FOR YOUR FISH!!!
I just saw some Snakeheads up here in Canada at Big Al's I don't recall which ones they were but they were there.
(guess you could move up here
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(guess you could move up here
)