I've been seeing a lot of Gars being sold in a bunch of different pet store in California. Last I heard, they were illegal. Has this changed recently?
Legal Gars in Ca?
- Thread starter benzjamin13
- Start date
benzjamin13;753419; said:
NO it has not changed..what has changed are priorities....They are still Illegal and all those pet shops (and owners) can be fined in the state wants to go after them.
True gars (family Lepisosteidae) occasionally come in when a LFS orders what it thinks are legal "gars", such as characins in the genera Boulengerella and Ctenolucius, or the FW needlefish species Xenentodon cancila, but gets real gars instead. I've seen it happen. A LFS near me accidentally got some in and posted "SOLD" on them to avoid selling them.
icthyophile;753504; said:
How come that explanation really does not suprise me ??? Well don't worry then.. as soon as F&G figures that one out they will just ban the Characins and the needle fish with the common name gar in them also.
I doubt that CDFG would regulate Boulengerella, Ctenolucius, or Xenentodon. True gar are native to the eastern U.S., grow to large sizes, and, in CDFG's eye, if released could survive and potentially threaten the salmonid populations. I doubt they would view Boulengerella, Ctenolucius, or Xenentodon in the same light.
Many LFS owners and employees simply lack the information or wherewithal to wade through the California Fish and Game Code and Fish and Game Commission Regulations to determine what is legal or illegal. This is made even more complicated because the statutory list in the Fish and Game Code and the regulatory list in the Fish and Game Commission regulations DON'T match! The statutes give the Commission the authority to promulgate regulations and list additional species as they see fit. Thus, someone referring only to the statutes, for example, would not know that snakeheads are prohibited in CA because they are only listed on the regulations. Nor does the CDFG have an easily accessible list on their website. You actually have to comb through the California Code of Regulations.
LFS owners know or should know the obvious ones like piranha, FW stingrays (Potamotrygonidae), snakeheads, and gars, but the presence of "fake" and "real" gars makes things more complicated. Moreover, wholesalers don't always know which species are prohibited in each of the states to which they ship. I'm not defending the actions of wholesalers and LFS owners, merely explaining how prohibited species could "accidentally" end up in a LFS in CA.
Many LFS owners and employees simply lack the information or wherewithal to wade through the California Fish and Game Code and Fish and Game Commission Regulations to determine what is legal or illegal. This is made even more complicated because the statutory list in the Fish and Game Code and the regulatory list in the Fish and Game Commission regulations DON'T match! The statutes give the Commission the authority to promulgate regulations and list additional species as they see fit. Thus, someone referring only to the statutes, for example, would not know that snakeheads are prohibited in CA because they are only listed on the regulations. Nor does the CDFG have an easily accessible list on their website. You actually have to comb through the California Code of Regulations.
LFS owners know or should know the obvious ones like piranha, FW stingrays (Potamotrygonidae), snakeheads, and gars, but the presence of "fake" and "real" gars makes things more complicated. Moreover, wholesalers don't always know which species are prohibited in each of the states to which they ship. I'm not defending the actions of wholesalers and LFS owners, merely explaining how prohibited species could "accidentally" end up in a LFS in CA.