Asian Arowana Redesignation, and Its effect on the US hobby.

[WyldFya]

So after several months of waiting, the FWS finally responded to my inquiry. This is the message I received. What this means is that asian arowanas are going to be farther from the goals of US keepers, as they will now be even lower in numbers in the wild.

Thank you for your inquiry regarding Federal law and regulations concerning the importation of Asian arowanas into the United States. Our mission is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.

Asian arowanas are protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), 16 USC 1538. The importation of this species into the United States is prohibited without the appropriate permits. Permits to import endangered or CITES Appendix I species are only issued for scientific, educational or research purposes.

You indicated in your email there are "three new species" of Asian arowana other than Scleropages formosus. These new "species" are merely redesignations of Scleropages formosus into different groupings in which the different color strains have been assigned new scientific names. There is considerable debate over the validity of these new groupings and whether they are worthy of separate species status. Even if these new species were to be officially accepted by the scientific community, their protection status and regulatory controls under ESA and CITES would be the same as Scleropages formosus, meaning they would still be prohibited from being imported into the United States.

Federal statutes, including the ESA and CITES, as well as regulations in 50 CFR part 17 and 23 can be found at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov.

Thank you for your inquiry about the Federal laws and regulations that help protect fish, wildlife, and plants, and their habitats. Please feel free to respond to this message with any further inquires that you may have regarding this matter.

 

[prophets]

I wouldn't have expected any other kind of response than the one you got. Hate to be cynical, but the writing is on the wall FWS doesn't really care about the hobbyists, despite the asians are bred in captivitiy for about close to 20 years. AA are no longer harvested from the wild, therefore it shouldn't be lower, in fact it should be growing.

Hmmm..maybe if we all became marine biologists, we can apply for a permit.

 

[ethnics]

figures. there is no loop hole to asians. its as simple as that.

 

[WyldFya]

I wouldn't have expected any other kind of response than the one you got. Hate to be cynical, but the writing is on the wall FWS doesn't really care about the hobbyists, despite the asians are bred in captivitiy for about close to 20 years. AA are no longer harvested from the wild, therefore it shouldn't be lower, in fact it should be growing.

Hmmm..maybe if we all became marine biologists, we can apply for a permit.

If the redesignation of s. formosus into the four species, it will remove all colors from the wild population. The current population would be separated into four populations, which would cause s. formosus to loose many of its current numbers.

 

[prophets]

Yeah, but its all symantics...words on paper. The population are still the same, and in reality its still formosus...different colorations..still an asian aro. Sounds more like a sick joke by a group of scientists that want their 15 minutes of fame.

 

[wizzin]

So after several months of waiting, the FWS finally responded to my inquiry. This is the message I received. What this means is that asian arowanas are going to be farther from the goals of US keepers, as they will now be even lower in numbers in the wild.

How exactly does that meen there will be lower numbers in the wild? I posted this answer about a month ago, by the way. here:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48035

post #8 is the actual email from the USFWS. I'll say this again. The USFWS realizes that lifting the ban on them is the only way that the US CAN help! You see, the ESA has no reach for foreign species. That is to say that the benefits of the ESA for foreign species outside the US borders is pretty much NIL. The USFWS has discovered in the case of several species that by banning them in the US, they are actually creating more of a demand for illegal trade, and that the range countries are the only ones who can really save the species.

The only thing preventing the ban being lifted is the lack of a concrete plan being implimented by the range country's.

HOWEVER! Last month, the federal government released A LOT of money to an organization (conservation international) who is drafting the conservation plan for the range countries. The plan needs to be implimented in the range countries. I don't even think they're done drafting it yet.

Here are some interesting developments.
http://www.conservation.org/xp/CIWEB/about/jobs/internships/volunteer_cambodia.xml


I'll post the article about the funds being released once I find it again.

 

[prophets]

Something smells fishy here!!

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

interesting info...thanks for emailing them!

 

[wizzin]

more from the USFWS:

As one of the world’s largest importers of aquarium fish, the United States could play a significant role in encouraging conservation of the Asian bonytongue through the issuance
of permits if we require, as a condition of issuance of an import permit, that the
specimens are bred in captivity and, a program is established to conserve the
species in the wild . Our willingness to consider allowing import of captive-
bred fish under ‘‘enhancement of survival’’ permits could provide an
incentive for development of new conservation program

 

[WyldFya]

How exactly does that meen there will be lower numbers in the wild? I posted this answer about a month ago, by the way. here:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48035

post #8 is the actual email from the USFWS. I'll say this again. The USFWS realizes that lifting the ban on them is the only way that the US CAN help! You see, the ESA has no reach for foreign species. That is to say that the benefits of the ESA for foreign species outside the US borders is pretty much NIL. The USFWS has discovered in the case of several species that by banning them in the US, they are actually creating more of a demand for illegal trade, and that the range countries are the only ones who can really save the species.

The only thing preventing the ban being lifted is the lack of a concrete plan being implimented by the range country's.

HOWEVER! Last month, the federal government released A LOT of money to an organization (conservation international) who is drafting the conservation plan for the range countries. The plan needs to be implimented in the range countries. I don't even think they're done drafting it yet.

Here are some interesting developments.
http://www.conservation.org/xp/CIWEB/about/jobs/internships/volunteer_cambodia.xml


I'll post the article about the funds being released once I find it again.

The physical population will not be lowered, however, by dividing the s. formosus into 4 species, there are no more being magically created for this. The three new designations would take away populations from the s. formosus, dropping the population of that species, but raising the population of the other three (which would be from 0).

Put it this way, if current populations of s. formosus is 3000, and only 1500 of those are s. formosus, but the remaining 1500 are of s. legendrei, s. aureus and s. macrocephalus. The population isn't affected in numbers, but it is affected on paper.