Are all fishkeepers CRIMINALS???

[jcardona1]

So i had never bothered to care of any of these silly laws regarding fish and restricted species etc etc.

But today at work we had a "lawyer's lunch" where the legal guys talked about several interesting legal topics. one which caught my attention was U.S.C 16, section 3372 (basically the Lacey act) which reads:

It is unlawful for any person—
(1) to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase any fish or wildlife or plant taken, possessed, transported, or sold in violation of any law, treaty, or regulation of the United States or in violation of any Indian tribal law;
(2) to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase in interstate or foreign commerce— (A) any fish or wildlife taken, possessed, transported, or sold in violation of any law or regulation of any State or in violation of any foreign law;

call me clueless but i had no idea about this LOL. does that basically mean that all people in possession of STs are breaking US federal law, since these are banned for export from their home country? and the same can be said for many of the species that brazil has banned for export or other species that we may not know what the home country has restricted...

is this news to anybody? i find it pretty interesting. not that it bothers me, but interesting nonetheless.

DISCUSS

 

[RedTailKinG]

 

[poly-nomial]

I hope not!

 

[BlackShark11k]

When STs were imported it was legal then, right? If so I would imagine they're perfectly legal to keep, since the specimens in captivity were imported legally, event though any future species to be imported would be illegal.

?

 

[jcardona1]

When STs were imported it was legal then, right? If so I would imagine they're perfectly legal to keep, since the specimens in captivity were imported legally, event though any future species to be imported would be illegal.

?

not sure if they were legal when exported, but how would you prove that? and it also says if you sell or acquire. so does that mean the buying and selling of STs (or certain species of fish from brazil) could potentially be in violation of federal law????

 

[crisper]

Let the law go after the real criminals. Up herein Canada our justice system is a joke. People here have been convicted of manslaugter a lesser charge than murder. And only sentenced to house arrest with a curfew. These are adults and not minors.
Sorry about going of topic just needed to rant.

 

[jcardona1]

Let the law go after the real criminals. Up herein Canada our justice system is a joke. People here have been convicted of manslaugter a lesser charge than murder. And only sentenced to house arrest with a curfew. These are adults and not minors.
Sorry about going of topic just needed to rant.

haha i agree, but that's why here in the us we have the Fish & Wildlife Dept. that IS their job. we have several other agnencies for the 'real' criminals; local law enforcement/FBI/SWAT/ATF/DEA, etc etc

 

[odinthejd]

didn't know that

 

[BlackShark11k]

(A) any fish or wildlife taken, possessed, transported, or sold in violation of any law or regulation

but if they were legal when exported...

they wouldn't be violating any laws. the laws in brazil or indonesia would restrict exports of future fish, not fish already exported, so no laws were violated, and the fish are legal

 

[arapaimag]

Are all fishkeepers CRIMINALS you asked???

But then quoted a law that applies to your country and not the other 194 countries and 30 odd territories in the world.

So I don't think that all fishkeepers are CRIMINALS.