Ornamental Marinelife Restrictions in Australia

[mpedersen]

So, I realized that while we had threads on places like Puerto Rico and Hawaii, we've never formally dcoumented / discussed the restrictions that our Australian members face. I.e. Christian especially has brought this up several times, as they are unable to obtain or own a wierd selection of fish.

So, what are the fish, what are the reasons, and what are the actual laws (can we see some links perhaps)?

[Clownfish75]

This is our list of legal imports, you will note that inverts are not on there as they are all illegal.

http://www.aqis.gov.au/icon32/asp/ex_ca ... essionID=0

Things of note we cant have include, jawfish, many gobies and blennies, including all Amblyelestrios, Neons, and stonogobiops.

There is also a list of approved countries which i believe is fairly hard to get another one added to.

Also getting different fish added to the list is possible, but you have to provide a full impact assessment and i think this is a little dear. Along with the fact that once it is added then anyone can import the species, so this provides no commercial incentive to ever add anything.

Christian

[mpedersen]

This is our list of legal imports, you will note that inverts are not on there as they are all illegal.

I should clarify that this is indeed only import related. I.e. it's not illegal for you guys to keep reef tanks, just not legal to import corals and such.

Things of note we cant have include, jawfish, many gobies and blennies, including all Amblyelestrios, Neons, and stonogobiops.

HMM. But this isn't a "Can't have" list, it's a "Can't Import" list. What about native species? They're not being "imported" if they're collective in Australian waters.

I.e. Stonogobiops. As a genus, it's not on the 'included' for import list. Which does rule out any species not found in Australian waters (S. dracula, S. medon, S. nematodes, and S. yasha). However, there is a species that is found on the Great Barrier Reef (which I assume is Australian waters) - Stonogobiops xanthorhinica. So based on the information provided, you should be able to keep this species...

Again, the Opistignathids (Jawfish). While three of the most popular species are from the Americas (Pearly and Dusky from Florida, Blue Spot from Baja California / Mexico), our #4 species here in the states, the Black Cap Jawfish, Opistognathus randalli is found again on the GBR.

And the shrimpgobies - Amblyeleotris diagonalis, A. callopareia, A. gymnocephala, A. guttata, A. fasciata, A. macronema, A. ogasawarensis, A. periophthalma, A. randalli, A. rubrimarginata, A. steinitzi, and A. wheeleri - all are found in Australian waters. Again, the regulation you cited only regulates imports, so you should have a variety of Shrimp Gobies legally available to you!

I notice it is wierd that the genus Ecsenius (Blennies) is spelled out at the species level, and that a fish like E. graveri, from the Red Sea, is perfectly OK to import.

HRM. Perhaps there's more to this than just the import restrictions?

[Greshamh]

To add to this, the import fee alone is something in the league of $1,200 just for the paperwork. In the states that costs us $50.