Pleco Ban, Fish and Wildlife, and PIJAC ???

[fishmaven]

The grapevine is mumbling

something about Fish & Wildlife trying to ban pleco imports as an "invasive species."

Supposedly PIJAC has expressed their disapproval and things are at a standstil. Does anyone have

aditional info on this? Dan

[Fishguy]

<!--quoteo(post=3670:date=Jan

21 2007, 05:42 PM:name=fishmaven)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fishmaven @ Jan 21 2007,

05:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> (index.php?act=findpost&pid=3670)</div><div

class='quotemain'>The grapevine is mumbling something about Fish & Wildlife

trying to ban pleco imports as an "invasive species." Supposedly PIJAC has expressed

their disapproval and things are at a standstil. Does anyone have aditional info on this? Dan<!--

QuoteEnd--></div>

Ray Lucas sent the following email:

Phil

Benes

Hi Ray,
>
> I was talking to Jim on Thursday and he was updating

me on Plecos. ALL
> plecostomus are being considered as an invasive species and the Feds


> want to ban them all! They are not looking at a permit system, they want
>

a total ban on sale and transport of plecostomus. Fortunately PIJAC had
> its current

staff biologist at the meeting and challenged the computer
> model that they were using to

show the eventual spread of plecostomus.
> Thanks to the challenge, the Feds are now

reviewing their model and
> data. We dodged a bullet but they will be back at us

again! Hobbyists
> better stay informed and clubs should stay in touch with PIJAC.
>
> The goldfish permits are a pain. Dolphin tells me they had to create a
>

position just to fill out out the weekly import permits for goldfish and
> koi. They have

also limited the number of countries the offer so there
> are less permits to do. Of

course the additional costs are being passed
> on which is now creating less of a demand

for imports. I guess a couple
> of smaller importers have lost shipments not because the

paperwork was
> wrong but because the right federal official was not available on that
> day to clear the shipment. A real mess.
>
> Hope all is well.
>


> Larry
_________________

[fishmaven]

<!--quoteo

(post=3680:date=Jan 22 2007, 12:16 PM:name=Fishguy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Fishguy

@ Jan 22 2007, 12:16 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=3680"><{POST_SNAPBACK}

></a></div><div class='quotemain'>Ray Lucas sent the following email:

Phil Benes
_________________</div>
Thanks. It's nice

to see another ACA Board Member here. Now that you've posted once you can tell the others how

easy it is.

I was looking for something more along the lines of what the proposal

constraints would be and who suggested them. I like Ray Lucas and realize that his personal and

industry interests are aquatic rather than dog/cat. I'm sure he'd like us all to either

join PIJAC or one of the PIJAC funding agents. I've done so in the past. As I've pointed

out to him, the only way to rile the public would be to threaten their dogs and cats, NOT their

fish.

Re plecos: what are the rules? Plecos are readily found in Florida and Texas

waters. I'd imagine they'd survive in any of the Gulf Coast and So Cal waters.

Re goldfish and koi: what are the current rules? Were the reasons for the import changes because

of invasive species? ... or viral contamination?

Do you have contact info for Fish and

Wlidlife? I'll see if Texas Parks and Wildlife have any info; in the past they've told me

they have too much to do to keep up with what the Feds propose. They wait for the final papers. No

one I know of has a better hook to TP&W than Caroline Estes. She's the one most responsible

(and possibly the sole reason) for finally getting pikes "legal" in Texas again.

I'd like to point out, we're dealing with the Feds here NOT some local or state agency.

While there's some logic to the reasons of some of their rules, I'd like to find which

buttons were pushed this time.

As they used to say on the TV western Maverick, "the

only thing worse than paying for government is paying and then getting it." Dan