Some thoughts on illegal fish

[rjmtx]

OK, there's this constant banter about fish legality that goes on here, in fish stores, and the people in charge of making the laws. I just want to try to put it all in perspective, and maybe get some input.

I hate pointless laws, laws that protect you from yourself mostly, this includes legalizing many things not related to fish at all. However, I think as agricultural, ecological, and environmental protections, some laws are necessary. I live in Texas. FW stingrays, Piranhas, Candiru, Snakeheads, etc, are illegal down here. Yeah, I could whine, "but I want a leopoldi ray or a RBP," all day, but the reality is that the average joe shouldn't have access to those fish down here. What happens when fish get too big, or you gotta move out of the dorm? Most people on this site would find a new home for the fish, but the majority (unfortunately), think it's better to just let the tank loose in the nearest lake/stream. Up north, these tropical fish would maybe last a season, but would get zapped as soon as it got cold. Down south, especially in spring fed systems, these fish could end up with reproductive populations that just tear up the precious, and often underappreciated, native fish that unfortunately, are often overlooked in the aquarium community.

For instance, the San Marcos River, where I've pulled countless nets and done even more hours of related work, is overrun by 2, maybe 3 species of plecos, Rio Grande Cichlids, Tilapia, Carp, and whatever else students might dump at the end of semester. What if these students had access to stingrays, piranhas, tiger fish, candiru (no more beer while tubing), and everything else on the list, just to dump when it was time to move? The plecos are horrible from an ecological standpoint, but I'm not afraid of being on crutches for 6 months because I stepped on one.

I worked at an LFS for years, maintain fish tanks comercially, and now I'm doing local work and research on the rivers, so I think I have a well rounded view of the situation... At the store, not a week went by when someone didn't mention Asian Aros, Piranha, or stingrays. They would always ask if I know where to get them and would want some kind of hookup. This is like asking a cop for coke, sue I knew where to get them and could get the wheels rolling with a call, but would I, HELL NO!

How I see it, they are illegal, so they are hard to get, for good reason. Pike Cichlids were illegal here once, but that was irrational, and overturned. Guess what? We don't have any pike cichlid problems I know of. Rational ecological protection in action... If you are going to go to the trouble and expense of getting an illegal fish, chances are, you're going to hold on to it, or eventually pass it on to someone else with respect for the responsibilty of keeping a potential ecological disaster. That's why you hardly ever hear of a hobby fish keeper getting busted SWAT style for some fish, just like most potheads don't get thir doors kicked in.

All I'm trying to say, is just be cool if you are breaking the law. Don't go around bragging about what you're getting away with, it just brings the heat on EVERYBODY. Even the guppy beeder could feel the heat in the end. If you're breaking a law of the state, just be sure you can go to bed knowing you're not crossing ethical boundaries.

Alright, you got me... I got a couple in me, and just had to rant. Thanks.

 

[sean-820]

the problem is that me and you may be responsible keepers of snake heads... (illigal where i am too) but theres people out there that will just release them when they dont want them thereby ruining it for the rest of us

 

[rjmtx]

Yes, and that's why they should stay illegal, meaning no live import, no legal sales/purchases, and by no means going around sayin "Look what I got!"

And for the record, I stay away fron the illegals since I work for a state agency whose focus is fish in rivers... It might be a bad career move to get caught up in it all. However, I don't give a hoot about what goes on at you house. As long as you're not hurtin anyone.

 

[Miguel]

I tend to agree with you .

 

[Bsixxx]

who in the hell goes through all that trouble and spends a crap load of money on lets say an illegal stingray and says oh my tank is too small, but hey look at that stream behind my house??? no one does that no matter what, maybe an oscar or something but deffinatly not a stingray.

anyway aside from that i agree with the banning and prohibitation on most of the species today, but the main thing i have trouble knowing everysingle time i walk into a petstore or LFS is that when i see those cute little oscars, arowanas, redtail catfish, and occational pimas, pacu etc... is that some kid who sees one of the employees feed them a goldfish and be in awe and say hey i want that and when they get it they realize that it cant turn around in its ten gallon tank anymore, what do they do they release it in there lake, stream, or river next to there house thinking it wont do anything. Basically i say if your going to ban or prohibit an animal think about which ones you should and which ones you let little kids buy and take home, that someday might be released.

 

[AMG]

I agree with the need to preserve local aquatic life in any given region, and protect them from irresponsible fish keepers.

 

[Mystix212]

If for example, stingrays were legal. In a few years, the price of them would drop because many people would be breeding them. After, perhaps a decade, the price would be so low that they would be considered as 'average' fish. Thus people release them into the rivers, lakes and waterways because they have no centimental value. The end result would be catastrophic. Its situations like this which makes them illegal.
Another reason is because of the natural temperatures, some intrusive fish would be able to survive in this climate. Therefore they would reproduce and cause havok among the native populations. yet, it if you headed over to Iowa, the fish available there is amazing because it snows. Thus no tropical fish can survive in the wild. And so they say, why not have this Snakehead, or Lets import 10,000 pacu and RTC's!
I like the laws some times.

 

[rlheugel]

I think that some people stumble on illegal fish without paying a bunch for them and take them home, thus resulting in a lack of the considerations towards the issues mentioned .above that would theoretically serve as a deterrent to the future release. For example, I live in Houston and have seen several illegal fish in stores all over the place here. Last month I saw a store selling freshwater rays (extremely illegal here) for dirt cheap process and I think it would be reasonable for people to end up with these without knowing what they had and if it was illegal. I frequently see Butterkoferi in stores here (also illegal) and this kind of presents several relevant issues I think. 1) Namely, maybe some of the people buying these fish from stores don't know the illegality of their fish. 2) Why do stores continue to do things they know are illegal in plain sight? Where is the enforcement if this is a concern? 3) Is there really any concern about illegal fish if they are kept out of stores. By this, I mean that the points about people spending money on illegal fish and releasing them would never be an issue for these individuals in most situations, but this discussion really is null then. The concern comes from stores selling to irresponsible buyers or uneducated buyers who then release them. And, the uneducated point is important too - some people just aren't environmentally aware and don't think about the consequences of releasing fish. And how would they become aware without more education programs. This leaves us with two ways to address the problem that don't seem to be occurring - no education and no enforcement. If there went illegal fish in stores, there really wouldn't be a problem, and if there was more education, there would be less risk as well. Just my thoughts. Who else sees local stores with illegal fish?

 

[hatorihanzoe]

perhaps they can legalize those fishes by saying if you don't want your fish no more, u can't release it into the wild, only thing is you brought it in the country, you finish it off if you dont' want it

 

[Zoodiver]

........The concern comes from stores selling to irresponsible buyers or uneducated buyers who then release them. And, the uneducated point is important too - some people just aren't environmentally aware and don't think about the consequences of releasing fish. And how would they become aware without more education programs. This leaves us with two ways to address the problem that don't seem to be occurring - no education and no enforcement. If there went illegal fish in stores, there really wouldn't be a problem, and if there was more education, there would be less risk as well. Just my thoughts. Who else sees local stores with illegal fish?

You hit the nail on the head. It all comes down to education.
But even that has multiple angles to it. The obvious one is that the seller needs to be educated so that information can be passed on to the end consumer. The part not often thought of it the expanded education of the fish keepers. By that I mean even those arguing the law. One might look at a banned animal and say "who would ever release that?" I'm going to keep it anyway. But the real truth is the animal wasn't banned for the non-release factor at all. There are more reasons to list fish as prohibited than just protecting the native wild life or animals being endangered. We as fish keepers should look at why the law is in place to better understand why we need to follow it. Besides, if we were really better at making the fish laws than those who do already, wouldn't we be doing that as our jobs instead of sitting around our computers whining about it?