Here is a rough transcript of the events today. I am primarily a reptile and exotics person, but I do keep a lot of fish too. You should notice as I did the number of times they bring up various fish species and inverts that we DO keep in our aquariums.
http://www.pethobbyist.com/sitenews...gging-Congressional-hearing-on-H.-R.-669.html
If I am reading this correctly, the proposal according to its subcommittee and the reccomendations proposed today would create automatically a limited white list. Folks-- the only aquarium fish that would be on that list to start out would be the common goldfish (which is a terrible inasive in many areas! Again! The lies!)
In order to add more tiger barbs, cichlids, catfish, and any other non-native species in our tanks, that species would have to be added to the approved list. The USFWS currently takes about 4 years to add an animal to the injurious list under the Lacey Act, in order to prohibit a species. With a much larger pool of basically every non-native to go through, how long do you think it will take for them to add even harmless fish onto the "approved list?" What will your LFS do for money in the meantime, when all they can sell legally for years is goldfish?? Think about it folks!
The guy from Israel said the way to fund this is to make the person who wants to import the non-native species pay for the study out of their own pocket. That means you and I would be paying somehow to fund the study that would "prove" that our aquarium fish will cause no harm anywhere in the country. Now given that Florida and a few other regions are sub-tropical and provide the optimum environment for many aquarium fish, this will be at best an uphill battle and at worst futile.
I am NOT trying to be alarmist here, but I am trying to get everyone here to wake up. The US Association of Reptile Keepers sent nearly 50,000 letters to the subcommittee members this week. Thousands of phone calls were logged in the representatives offices, to the point that some committee members changed their minds.
Reptile keepers are but one relatively small facet of the pet trade-- the tropical fish and marine hobby dwarfs us in comparison. Please, friends, if you value your hobby and your right to keep aquarium fish in a lawful manner-- use this 10 day comment period to your advantage. CALL your congressmen. CALL the representatives on the list provided. MAIL a letter to them. I sent 22 letters to every member of the committee last week. I will send 22 more letters tomorrow, ones that I wrote myself that deal with the impact this bill could have on my personal life. Please consider doing SOMETHING... we have a membership here of hundreds! If everyone here mailed just one $.42 cent letter... that would take HOURS of staff time, and it would make our voices heard.
10 days, folks!!! Do your part!
http://www.pethobbyist.com/sitenews...gging-Congressional-hearing-on-H.-R.-669.html
If I am reading this correctly, the proposal according to its subcommittee and the reccomendations proposed today would create automatically a limited white list. Folks-- the only aquarium fish that would be on that list to start out would be the common goldfish (which is a terrible inasive in many areas! Again! The lies!)
In order to add more tiger barbs, cichlids, catfish, and any other non-native species in our tanks, that species would have to be added to the approved list. The USFWS currently takes about 4 years to add an animal to the injurious list under the Lacey Act, in order to prohibit a species. With a much larger pool of basically every non-native to go through, how long do you think it will take for them to add even harmless fish onto the "approved list?" What will your LFS do for money in the meantime, when all they can sell legally for years is goldfish?? Think about it folks!
The guy from Israel said the way to fund this is to make the person who wants to import the non-native species pay for the study out of their own pocket. That means you and I would be paying somehow to fund the study that would "prove" that our aquarium fish will cause no harm anywhere in the country. Now given that Florida and a few other regions are sub-tropical and provide the optimum environment for many aquarium fish, this will be at best an uphill battle and at worst futile.
I am NOT trying to be alarmist here, but I am trying to get everyone here to wake up. The US Association of Reptile Keepers sent nearly 50,000 letters to the subcommittee members this week. Thousands of phone calls were logged in the representatives offices, to the point that some committee members changed their minds.
Reptile keepers are but one relatively small facet of the pet trade-- the tropical fish and marine hobby dwarfs us in comparison. Please, friends, if you value your hobby and your right to keep aquarium fish in a lawful manner-- use this 10 day comment period to your advantage. CALL your congressmen. CALL the representatives on the list provided. MAIL a letter to them. I sent 22 letters to every member of the committee last week. I will send 22 more letters tomorrow, ones that I wrote myself that deal with the impact this bill could have on my personal life. Please consider doing SOMETHING... we have a membership here of hundreds! If everyone here mailed just one $.42 cent letter... that would take HOURS of staff time, and it would make our voices heard.
10 days, folks!!! Do your part!
