Is it illegal to own FRT? or just illegal to import? Would like to get one but don't want a giant fine!? Where to get them in the tri-state area? Average prices for smaller ones?
FRT legality?
- Thread starter michael
- Start date
FRTs were never illegal to import. They're covered by CITES II conventions. That means that the proper paperwork is required to legally EXport them from their countries of origin. The US supports the CITES conventions with the Lacey Act which means that the US will uphold regulations as set by the CITES conventions for endangered species. The US issues no paperwork/permits to import CITES listed species. Their sole responsibility is in ensuring that all CITES listed animals arriving in the US have the proper export permits from their countries of origin.
FRTs are listed as CITES II. And CITES states that captive hatched specimens can be made available for export with the proper permits. No numbers quotas have been listed.There is only 1 farm breeding FRTs and they only produce about a dozen hatchlings a year. However, the CITES regulations for Indonesia state that captive hatched turtles may originate from wild collected eggs.
Rumors run wild of people having F&G knocking on doors and issuing warrants/arresting people in possession of FRTs. THERE ARE NO SUCH CASES ON FILE. All of the arrests have been accomplished either at US entry ports or originated at US entry ports when a trail was to be followed to the smuggled animals final destination.
FRTs are not illegal to own. It is illegal to purchase, obtain, or possess a FRT that has been illegally exported from their countries of origin. But, once a FRT is in the US there is no way to determine the legality of the conditions under which they arrived in the US. There are no programs or regulations in place concerning the tattooing or chipping of FRTs destined for the legal markets.
FRTs are listed as CITES II. And CITES states that captive hatched specimens can be made available for export with the proper permits. No numbers quotas have been listed.There is only 1 farm breeding FRTs and they only produce about a dozen hatchlings a year. However, the CITES regulations for Indonesia state that captive hatched turtles may originate from wild collected eggs.
Rumors run wild of people having F&G knocking on doors and issuing warrants/arresting people in possession of FRTs. THERE ARE NO SUCH CASES ON FILE. All of the arrests have been accomplished either at US entry ports or originated at US entry ports when a trail was to be followed to the smuggled animals final destination.
FRTs are not illegal to own. It is illegal to purchase, obtain, or possess a FRT that has been illegally exported from their countries of origin. But, once a FRT is in the US there is no way to determine the legality of the conditions under which they arrived in the US. There are no programs or regulations in place concerning the tattooing or chipping of FRTs destined for the legal markets.
According to Ms. Janine Van Norman of the USFWS, USFWS considers any FRT in the U.S. to be illegally imported in violation of the Lacey Act. This determination is apparently based not on the recent CITES II listing of the FRT, but on the Lacey Act provisions prohibiting the importation, acquisition, or sales of species in violation of foreign laws. Specifically, the three countries in which FRTs occur naturally, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia, all have export bans, which trigger the Lacey Act prohibition. This information is based on a conversation I had w/ Ms. Van Norman about a month ago.
Conversations not withstanding, here's a condensed version of the CITES 9-page document on FRTs as it pertains to trade. I've omitted the passages pertaining to turtles originating from Australia and Papua New Guinea since trade is banned from these countries. The following passages pertain to Indonesia only:
3. Utilization and Trade
3.1 National utilization
Indonesia: Cann (1978, 1998) noted that locals living along the Eilanden River (Irian Jaya [West Papua]) relished the species? eggs as food; all nests examined on riverine sand anks in 1972 had been disturbed, and baskets filled with about 200 eggs each were observed. Cann (1998) also described that, before about 1970, river travel and associated egg harvest were extremely limited due to the insecure conditions in the region. Samedi and Iskandar (2000, presumably based on Maturbongs, 1999) noted that a field study undertaken at the Vriendschap River in Merauke Regency, Irian Jaya, in August?September 1998 recorded 84,000 eggs collected by 7 collectors. In all of 1998, half a million eggs were collected from the banks of the Vriendschap River. In the entire Merauke Regency, collection of Carettochelys eggs has been estimated recently to amount to 1.5?2
million eggs annually (Samedi and Iskandar 2000). Many of these eggs are traded and consumed locally, but a proportion is incubated in sand-filled buckets and the hatchlings subsequently sold for the pet trade.
Maturbongs (1999) noted that local peoples along the Vriendschap River usually only captured adult turtles for consumption. According to his survey and interview results, egg collection has expanded massively in recent years, since 1997, due to the influx of egg harvesters from outside West Papua, originating from Toraja and Ujung Pandang. Maturbongs (1999) specifically stated that local communities barely obtain benefits from egg harvesting. External collectors organize local villagers to carry out the labor of harvesting eggs, for which they are paid 10,000 Rp (USD 1.12) per day, but from which 6,000 Rp is deducted for two meals daily, 1,000 Rp for coffee and 2,000 Rp for cigarettes, leaving a net income of 1,000 Rp (USD 0.11) per day as reward for over-harvesting the
community?s natural resources.
3.2 Legal international trade
Neither Australia nor Papua New Guinea allow export or domestic trade of the species. Export from Indonesia is only permitted in the case of captive-bred animals, which is interpreted as including animals hatched in captivity from wild-collected eggs incubated under semi-controlled, captive conditions (Samedi and Iskandar 2000). No export quota was set for the species by the CITES Management Authority in 1998 (Samedi and Iskandar 2000).
3.4 Actual or potential trade impacts
The general consensus is that recently intensified egg collection, to a large part driven by the aim to supply hatchlings to the international pet trade, is presenting a clear threat to the survival of the species in West Papua (Maturbongs 1999) and is also affecting the exploitation and conservation status of the species in Papua New Guinea (Rhodin and Genorupa, 2000). Inclusion of Carettochelys in CITES Appendix II is primarily intended to facilitate and reinforce existing export restrictions in the three Range States, by providing an international dimension to the species? protection. This will greatly increase opportunities to reduce illegal trade in the species by imposing trade control measures in the importing countries. At present, only the Lacey Act of the United States of America provides comparable complementary protection. Inclusion of the species in CITES Appendix II should not compromise the subsistence utilization of the species by native communities throughout its range. This could facilitate limited, sustainable harvest and trade with
associated socio-economic benefits by and for these communities.
3.5 Captive breeding or artificial propagation for commercial purposes (outside country of origin) Indonesian legislation allows for incubation in captivity of wild-collected eggs (ranching) (Samedi and Iskandar 2000). WWF Sahul Bioregion conducted a study of captive incubation to identify the possibilities for future captive breeding as a means to reduce harvesting pressure on wild populations, but only provisional results were available (Tjaturadi, 1999).
4. Conservation and Management
4.1 Legal status
4.1.1 National
Indonesia: Carettochelys insculpta is given national protection status under Government Regulation Act No. 7 and 8 of 1999, which is in application of Law No.5/1990 concerning the Conservation of Biological Natural Resources and their Ecosystems incorporating Decrees 327/1978 of the Ministry of Agriculture (Noerdjito and Maryanto 2001). No utilization in any form is allowed for species listed in this protection status, except with special permission from the Minister and under the consent of the Scientific Authority for special circumstances, such as research and captive breeding, and no capture or export quotas are set (Samedi and Iskandar 2000).
4.1.2 International
Carettochelys insculpta is not specifically covered by bilateral or inter-governmental legislation. Under Notice of Strengthening the Trade Management on Turtles and Tortoises, issued on 17 June 2001, the People?s Republic of China suspended all commercial imports of all turtles from Indonesia, including Carettochelys insculpta.
3. Utilization and Trade
3.1 National utilization
Indonesia: Cann (1978, 1998) noted that locals living along the Eilanden River (Irian Jaya [West Papua]) relished the species? eggs as food; all nests examined on riverine sand anks in 1972 had been disturbed, and baskets filled with about 200 eggs each were observed. Cann (1998) also described that, before about 1970, river travel and associated egg harvest were extremely limited due to the insecure conditions in the region. Samedi and Iskandar (2000, presumably based on Maturbongs, 1999) noted that a field study undertaken at the Vriendschap River in Merauke Regency, Irian Jaya, in August?September 1998 recorded 84,000 eggs collected by 7 collectors. In all of 1998, half a million eggs were collected from the banks of the Vriendschap River. In the entire Merauke Regency, collection of Carettochelys eggs has been estimated recently to amount to 1.5?2
million eggs annually (Samedi and Iskandar 2000). Many of these eggs are traded and consumed locally, but a proportion is incubated in sand-filled buckets and the hatchlings subsequently sold for the pet trade.
Maturbongs (1999) noted that local peoples along the Vriendschap River usually only captured adult turtles for consumption. According to his survey and interview results, egg collection has expanded massively in recent years, since 1997, due to the influx of egg harvesters from outside West Papua, originating from Toraja and Ujung Pandang. Maturbongs (1999) specifically stated that local communities barely obtain benefits from egg harvesting. External collectors organize local villagers to carry out the labor of harvesting eggs, for which they are paid 10,000 Rp (USD 1.12) per day, but from which 6,000 Rp is deducted for two meals daily, 1,000 Rp for coffee and 2,000 Rp for cigarettes, leaving a net income of 1,000 Rp (USD 0.11) per day as reward for over-harvesting the
community?s natural resources.
3.2 Legal international trade
Neither Australia nor Papua New Guinea allow export or domestic trade of the species. Export from Indonesia is only permitted in the case of captive-bred animals, which is interpreted as including animals hatched in captivity from wild-collected eggs incubated under semi-controlled, captive conditions (Samedi and Iskandar 2000). No export quota was set for the species by the CITES Management Authority in 1998 (Samedi and Iskandar 2000).
3.4 Actual or potential trade impacts
The general consensus is that recently intensified egg collection, to a large part driven by the aim to supply hatchlings to the international pet trade, is presenting a clear threat to the survival of the species in West Papua (Maturbongs 1999) and is also affecting the exploitation and conservation status of the species in Papua New Guinea (Rhodin and Genorupa, 2000). Inclusion of Carettochelys in CITES Appendix II is primarily intended to facilitate and reinforce existing export restrictions in the three Range States, by providing an international dimension to the species? protection. This will greatly increase opportunities to reduce illegal trade in the species by imposing trade control measures in the importing countries. At present, only the Lacey Act of the United States of America provides comparable complementary protection. Inclusion of the species in CITES Appendix II should not compromise the subsistence utilization of the species by native communities throughout its range. This could facilitate limited, sustainable harvest and trade with
associated socio-economic benefits by and for these communities.
3.5 Captive breeding or artificial propagation for commercial purposes (outside country of origin) Indonesian legislation allows for incubation in captivity of wild-collected eggs (ranching) (Samedi and Iskandar 2000). WWF Sahul Bioregion conducted a study of captive incubation to identify the possibilities for future captive breeding as a means to reduce harvesting pressure on wild populations, but only provisional results were available (Tjaturadi, 1999).
4. Conservation and Management
4.1 Legal status
4.1.1 National
Indonesia: Carettochelys insculpta is given national protection status under Government Regulation Act No. 7 and 8 of 1999, which is in application of Law No.5/1990 concerning the Conservation of Biological Natural Resources and their Ecosystems incorporating Decrees 327/1978 of the Ministry of Agriculture (Noerdjito and Maryanto 2001). No utilization in any form is allowed for species listed in this protection status, except with special permission from the Minister and under the consent of the Scientific Authority for special circumstances, such as research and captive breeding, and no capture or export quotas are set (Samedi and Iskandar 2000).
4.1.2 International
Carettochelys insculpta is not specifically covered by bilateral or inter-governmental legislation. Under Notice of Strengthening the Trade Management on Turtles and Tortoises, issued on 17 June 2001, the People?s Republic of China suspended all commercial imports of all turtles from Indonesia, including Carettochelys insculpta.
Phil, I believe we are on the same page on this matter. I suspect that USFWS' position comes from the fact that, as you noted, fewer than a dozen captive bred FRTs are produced each year in Indonesia, thereby reducing the probability that an FRT imported into the U.S. absent documentation is a "legal" FRT to essentially nil.
icthyophile said:
Yep!! But, keep in mind that Indonesia considers wild-collected captive hatched turtles as captive raised and legal for international sale.
The gist of this matter is that once a FRT has made it through an entry port and into the US pet trade, there's no way to tell the difference between it and a smuggled turtle. It's that stipulation that has kept individual pet owners out of the legal spotlight and put the focus on the smuggler and receiving distributor.
The smart play would be to chip/tattoo and register every legal FRT to separate them from smuggled turtles. The price would go up and availability would drop. But, it would give exporting countries a sharp prod towards establishing breeding farms so they can maintain tariff monies from international sales and would strengthen wild population through decreased global demand for unsellable unchipped turtles.
so if i imprt some will i be arrested even with the proper paperwork????
i know that this is an old thread but i need to know before i spend the money on importing them
i know that this is an old thread but i need to know before i spend the money on importing them
F
FishHeadSoup
Guest
Once again...FRTs from Indonesia ARE NOT ILLEGAL IF accompanied by the proper export documentation FROM THEIR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN. That's according to the CITES II requirements. The US Lacey Act states that it will uphold regulations and restrictions as set forth by the CITES convention.
Indonesia allows the export of captive-hatched FRTs. Indonesia regulations allow for the collection of wild nest eggs. Those eggs that hatch in a captive environment are considered captive-hatched and legal for sale and export.
FRTs arriving at an approved US animal port of entry with the proper EXPORT documentation from Indonesia are allowed into the US. To receive imported animals destined for US markets, you're required to have an importers license. These licenses are issued only to bonafide animal businesses.
Indonesia allows the export of captive-hatched FRTs. Indonesia regulations allow for the collection of wild nest eggs. Those eggs that hatch in a captive environment are considered captive-hatched and legal for sale and export.
FRTs arriving at an approved US animal port of entry with the proper EXPORT documentation from Indonesia are allowed into the US. To receive imported animals destined for US markets, you're required to have an importers license. These licenses are issued only to bonafide animal businesses.