Legality question

[phi delt reefer]

all stony corals require a CITES permit - so if you bring it into Canada without one then your technically doing something illegal. They are an Appendix 2 class - this means you just need a CITES Export permit filled out by the US retailer you are purchasing from and that will allow you to bring them into canada (no cites import permit reqd on appendix 2 items). The US agency that reviews the form can take up 90 days to approve.

the export permit must be filled in by the retailer and its a lot of work with a lot of dumb questions. Like who collected the item from the ocean, how was it collected, etc. Granted they have absolutely no way to verify this but it seems like a waste of everyones time. I would doubt that any retailer would be wiling to fill in the permit unless you are spending several hundred dollars with them.

you are allowed to bring them in for personal use or for resell but its a different permit. The resell one is even more paperwork and i believe there is a fee attached.

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

The way I remember from few years back.
The fee I paid for a cities was $600 per shippment so the order has to be large enough to justify $600.
The paper work would have to be filled by the supplier and when done within 60 days usually 30 days.on arrival to your destination you have tofill another form and a customs inspection only sometimes is done on the shippment.
A bit of hassle unless you are a distributer or a retailer.
You will be lucky to find a retailer in the US to say sure for doing a cities unless like I said for a large order.

[fencer]

Either they don't care or they don't know what you have

[Myka]

Originally Posted by fencer

Either they don't care or they don't know what you have

They looked on their computer, and asked me if I had some particular species that I had never heard of. I was like...14?? I went to the US bi-weekly and spent my babysitting money on fish, corals, and inverts. It was the closest LFS that had SW.

[ALang]

Interesting, Myka. Tagging along...

[fencer]

Even if you had what they listed on the computer and you said no they have no way of telling any way. I have brought stuff only by air and ask and inspect all the time. I don't do that now as someof the LFS in town do a good job at geting some choice stuff

[Myka]

Originally Posted by fencer

Even if you had what they listed on the computer and you said no they have no way of telling any way.

Ya, that's a different topic though.

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

There seem to be a debait on the right answer, I think someone should give those guys a call and the right answer.
I think depending on the situation sometimes if you are a child or maybe a reefer with a couple pieces of corals showing its only for your tank they will simply letyou gowith no hassel.

[saltcreep]

It's been pretty much covered. All scleractinia require CITES permits, be it an export or re-export permit.

Since these corals are not endemic to the US, a re-export will be required to be obtained prior to shipping from the US. With that application the original export permit (from the original country of origin) will be required to be supplied to the US Fish and Wildlife.

It's a little blurry when dealing with cultured product as in many instances, tracing the original import to the US is almost impossible.

Yes, when dealing with CBSA (or Canadian Wildlife) they do not have the resources nor the knowledge to adequately deal with imports of coral. Further complicating things will be the new legislation coming into force in December that will oversee imports of fish (but that's a whole other ball of wax).