New Regulations implemented by Canadian Government

[Matt]

Just found this in CNN.com

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OTTAWA, Canada (CNN) -- Aquarium enthusiasts and pet stores across Canada have been delivered a nasty shock.

Beginning on June 1, 2007, Canadians will no longer be able to import live fish, coral or rocks that are sourced from several countries that have threated reef ecosystems. In a departure from normal protocol, Canada has unilaterally evaluated the tropical reefs in Australia, Indonesia, India, Sumatra, Thailand, and most of the Caribbean and declared them "threatened".

Given the difficulty for Customs officers to accurately identify the source country, it effectively shuts down Canada's borders to all imports in the described categories.

"We are acting unilaterally to position Canada as a leader in fragile ecosystem preservation," said Abril Tonto, spokesperson for the Canada Revenue Agency. "We don't expect this to have a substantial impact on Canadians, as the actual volumes are very low. This is an opportunity for Canada to lead the discussion on the critically-important area of ecosystem preservation. Coral reefs all over the world are being devastated by over-harvesting and climate change."

There will be execptions made for public aquariums and researchers.

CNN
http://www.cnn.com/headlines/canregs_news.html