Asian arowana

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daitenshi

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 9, 2007
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Sydney
Hi all. I'm planning on eventually setting up an asian arowana tank. And obviously to do that I will need to get asian arowana.
Right now I'm getting conflicting information about importing asian arowana into Australia. Some people are saying it's illegal while other people are saying that it's legal as long as they are from a CITES certified breeding farm.
I have also seen Asian arowana in fish stores that are microchipped and certified saying they are from a breeding farm and not wild caught. So my question is this if you haven't guessed it already :P.
Are asian arowana illegal in Australia or not? :)
If they are illegal in Australia can someone please point out something to me saying for sure that they are.
 
Forgot to add.
The only thing I can find on asian arowana regarding importing on an Aus gov website is this.

http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/invitecomment/pubs/scleropages-formosus.pdf

"Currently Scleropages formosus (Asian Arowana) are not listed under Commonwealth Environment Protection
and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Wildlife Protection) Act 1999. This goes for all the State and
Territory as well. However under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 as long
as they meet the requirement of the Quarantine Act 1908 that is specimens of CITES listed species may be
imported for commercial purposes provided they have been derived from an approved CITES registered captive
breeding program (Appendix I animals), animals bred in captivity or imported for commercial purpose provided
a relevant CITES authority in the country of exports has given permission for the export. Scleropages formosus
(Asian Arowana) under the CITES is placed as Appendix I in 1975, under the EPBC Act 1999 Scleropages
formosus (Asian Arowana) are allowed to be import under a permit and provided that it meet the requirement of
the Quarantine Act 1908. This applies also to all State and Territory legislative, which are controls under the
EPBC Act 1999 and Quarantine Act 1908."
 
It might be a good idea if we had a list of countries that it is legal to import asian arowana into. Would be helpful for people who are looking at keeping this beautiful fish :)
US - Illegal
Canada - Legal, right?
 
I share your confusion on this. I've heard that they are illegal in Australia, but that document does mention that the list does NOT have S. Formosus listed. However, it does mention at the bottom of the first page, that the views are that of the author, and may not reflect the views of the government.

The strange thing is that the document is written for this reason: "An application was received under the Commonwealth of Australia Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Wildlife Protection) Act 1999 to amend the list of species taken to be suitable for live import into Australia to include the Scleropages formosus (Asian Arowanas)." Which seems to imply that they are not legal for import.

Confusing. If you can get a concrete answer on this I'd like to know.
 
The only legal/government kind of language was the part about the "Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Wildlife Protection) Act 1999" And even that is a bit vague.
If it is legal to import asian arowana's then there are of course many forms that need to be filled out and fee's to be payed...
These 2 forms would be the ones that have to be submitted if someone was to apply for an import.

http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/permits/forms/pets.html
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/permits/pubs/pet.pdf

I'll be making some calls next week to see if there is any ban on the import of asian arowana. But as far as I can tell it's just a case of fill out the forms, and hope that the person handling the form is having a good day :)

Australia is a real pain to get any animal/plant/fish into. We have some of the strongest quarantine laws around. I like it that way since it's best to be safe than sorry when dealing with the natural environment.
 
i say go for it if its legal. i love asian arrows but i always thought they were illegal
 
first time i hear about them being illegal in aussie...wait for more aussies to show up....
 
i remember a few months ago a lady was caught in melbourne airport trying to smuggle in some fish, among others RTC and asian aros from singapore. she had to get rid of all the fish (im wondering where they went) and also had to do a whole heap of community service

afaik, asians were illegal. but i kno they're available, if you ask the right questions and are willing to pay megabucks
 
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