[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Actually, I have several problems with the way this article is written. This is is borderline sensationalism.

I quote:
So is it illegal to sell corals or live rock or clams or seahorses? Of course not! Just about everything we deal with in the hobby is protected under CITES. That doesn't, in and of itself, make us all worthy of going to jail.

From CITES.ORG:
In short, there is CITES Appendices I, II, and III. If an animal is recognized as threatened or endanagered it will (or should) be listed in one of these appendices. Unless you're a medical researcher, don't try to import anything on App I, basically, there's no way you can legally do it. App II, it is not illegal to sell. It's just illegal to import without the proper documentation.

This article is making it sound like any of the things we have in our hobby are illegal to sell .. and that simply isn't the case.

I wish the author of the article, or the editors of the newspaper, would have tried to do some rudimentary fact checking before publishing this. This article practically amounts to a smear campaign for its lack of proper details.

I'm sure that the agencies involved wouldn't move on charges had there been nothing to go on, but it sounds to me like there's a lot more to this story than what we're seeing here.

I still wish Jayson the best through all of this. I hope he's innocent. I know another person who went to jail for trying to import (into the U.S.) some plants that were App I. This is serious business, you don't mess with CITES. Jayson knows this. That's why I think there's far more to the picture than what this haphazardly written article is telling us.

That's what I was thinking. I hope everything works out for him too, those fines are very steep!