Shark legislation? Is it legal to buy/sell/own sharks in California?

[kth]

Hello, new member here.
I'm working on a project at my university about starting up a pet shark business. I've been trying to find information on the legislation of buying/selling/owning sharks in California, but can't seem to find anything relevant to my business (all about shark fins and how many sharks and what kinds you can fish... etc).

Can anyone help me? Our group is thinking of selling and breeding Wobbegong, Epaulette, and or the Bamboo sharks. Any references for who to contact will be helpful as well. Thanks!

 

[NovaSS]

you should contact your wildlife officer for info on where to start.

 

[Cu455]

Is this a pretend business for a paper or an actual start up business?

 

[Zoodiver]

For regulations, you'll need permits to sell livestock for profit (not specifically for sharks). Breeding Wobbs isn't going to be profitable at all - so if you want to keep it closer to real, stick with bamboos/eppies (not that there is profit in that either). By sticking to those speices, you'll also miss all of the ownership legalities of other shark species in CA.
Are you setting it up as in import / export thing as well? If so, you'll need to be ready with proper fed paperwork to move sharks across borders.

 

[Aw3s0m3]

I'm pretty sure you can keep any shark here in Cali as long as it's not endangered but when it comes to size, you're pretty limited and like zoodiver said, there's not gonna be much profit if that's all you want to deal with. The overall cost for a system large enough to house all those sharks will cost more than what you'll be selling the sharks for. When it comes to wobbegongs, your only customers will pretty much be public aquariums because of their large size. If you still want to do it, do it for the love of the sharks because you definitely won't see much profit. Even shark eggs tend to stay in the lfs for a few months before actually being bought.


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[kth]

This is a pretend business. I think we'll have it so that we export to other states but not international. I've tried calling CA fish and game but they just kept passing me along others and didn't know the legislation either, so i didn't get the chance to ask an official about sharks in CA.

 

[Zoodiver]

I'm pretty sure you can keep any shark here in Cali as long as it's not endangered......

In CA there laws against keeping some species of elasmobranchs.

Under the Class Elasmobranchiomorphi - Cartilaginous Fishes:

Family Carcharhinidae (Requiem Sharks) All species of genus Carcharhinus

Family Potamotrygonidae (River stingrays) All species




Post #5 covers all species illegal or prohibited in CA:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?191893-RESTRICTED-SPECIES-LISTS-BY-STATE