~~~Illegal Fish~~~

Can anyone please link me to an "official" site to see what fish are illegal
in the state of Washington. I did my own search but for some weird reason they are all butt backwards. One site said bowfin are illagel in Washington. And one site specified a particular snakehead as being illegal. So I have no clue. The reason I'm asking is cause I recently inquired about a Florida spotted gar and the person said he can't ship
it to this state cause it was illegal.

Anyway if anyone knows of an "official" site that would
be awesome.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks a bunch I'm going to read through them
now.

Those are good links, but to answer your question all 3 fish you mentioned are "ILLEGAL" in WA State.. But you can go to Pet Pourii and buy the Bowfin and Gars though..lol I told them they were illegal a couple years ago and they didn't seem to care..lol

So I was on here bragging about my bowfin not knowing that game an wild life can come kicking in my front door?

And me being new would think a lfs that sells a fish openly is ok. It would have been different if they were like c'mon through the back I got what you need type deal. But man that's crazy.

I had bought a few gars through PP in everett before i found out they were illegal through a different fish forum.. I posted pics of my fish and they erased my thread because i was posting illegal fish..lol I doubt Fish and game will be raiding your house over a bowfin or gar, now if you were posting pics of a Asian Aro i'd be scared to be in your house.. And snakeheads are real risky too..

I blame hippies for not being able to legally own an asian arowana

I know about the snakeheads heck I think people that breed birds know about them lol. I tried to but a golden cross back aro. But at the top of the aquabid it said won't ship to anywhere illegal. Real nice though.

Well either way I'm glad I made a public post about the bowfin jumping out and dieing. But if I here "threat nuturalized" in the middle of the night it's fish and wild life. Haha

P.s. We should
make those links a sticky. Great for newbies like me.

Here's a list i found for Washington..

WASHINGTON:

(i) Family Amiidae: Bowfin, grinnel, or mudfish, Amia calva.

(ii) Family Channidae: China fish, snakeheads: All members of the genus Channa.

(iii) Family Characidae: Piranha: All members of the genera Pygocentrus, Rooseveltia, and Serrasalmus.

(iv) Family Clariidae: Walking catfish: All members of the family.

(v) Family Cyprinidae:
a- Fathead minnow, Pimephales promelas.
b- Grass carp (in the diploid form), Ctenopharyngodon idella.
c- Ide, silver orfe or golden orfe, Leuciscus idus.
d- Rudd, Scardinius erythropthalmus.

(vi) Family Gobiidae: Round goby, Neogobius melanostomus.

(viii) Family Lepiosteidae: Gar-pikes: All members of the family.


And for our Oregon members..

OREGON:

Live specimens of the following fish species may not be imported, possessed, sold, purchased, exhanged, or transported in the state:

(A) Order Amiiformes
Bowfin - Amiidae - Amia calva.
(B ) Order Cypriniformes
(i) Piranha or Caribe - Characidae subfamily Serrasalminae - All species and hybrids except Serrasalmus, Pygocentrus and Pristobrycon pursuant to ORS 498.242 and OAR 635-011-0160(2);
(ii) Walking catfish (ORS 498.242) - Clariidae - All species and hybrids;
(iii) Oriental weatherfish - Cobitidae - Misgurnus anguillicaudatus;
(iv) Ide - Cyprinidae - Leuciscus idus;
(v) Rudd - Cyprinidae - Scardinius erythropthalmus.
(C ) Order Lepisosteiformes
Gar - Lepisosteidae - All species and hybrids.
(D) Order Perciformes
(i) Snakehead - Channidae - Channa All species and hybrids;
(ii) Round Goby - Gobiidae - Neogobius melanostemus;
(iii) Ruffe - Percidae - Gymnocephalus cernuus;
(iv) Zander or Pike-perch - Percidae - Stizostedion lucioperca.
(E) Order Salmoniformes
Pikes, Pickerel - Esocidae - All species and hybrids.


Source: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife regulations, Oregon Administrative Rules (OAR) 635-056-0050 (Prohibited Species), subd. c.

Link:


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The last link I posted also lists the Marine species that are illegal, for us SW folks.

But you can go to Pet Pourii and buy the Bowfin, my buddy is going to be all over this..... never had the interest myself.

On a side note it's all so no good to collect drift wood from beach front parks, I've been told it's a protected natural resource

Shua called the office today and the people he talked too recomended we petition some of these fish. Is that something you guys would take an intreast in? I think it would be a plus on almost all fronts. We as owners don't have to fear getting in trouble for owning a certain fish. Lfs can import and profit from
"new" fish.

Anyway Shua is looking into it. I mean if someone let a Florida spotted gar out into the wild it would probably just die do to climate.

What are the thoughts of the members here??

I would also like to add that petitioning does work. I did it with pitbulls. I forgot the city/county it was but they wanted to ban the dog saying it was a dangerous breed. Well a crap load of people gave pictures of the pits with there family, kids, cats, birds you name it there were pictures of it. The judge seen the pics and nolonger believed that the "breed" was dangerous but there were/are bad apples.

Do an online petition, get people to sign it.

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Dew eeeet!

Sweet. I'll let Shua and Ashley know. There the ones getting the info on how to go about it.

I'm acquaintances with the head of fish and wildlife enforcement for WA state. A petition probably won't do much because they've already done the research and decided that these fish are a potential threat. All though the fish listed above are illegal in WA state, the likeliness of an enforcement officer coming to your door if very low. There is 1 enforecement officer for the whole state of WA. But if tipped off they could send someone out. But I just want to remind you guys to be responsible fish keepers and don't dump your fish. that solves the problem right there.

Being arrested for an evasive specie of fish, would suck.

Yeah it would. But with them being illegal in Washington they won't be available. I really can't believe that a gar would damage the enviroment a Florida spotted gar that is. Not sure about the others.

I think they're really more worried about the snakeheads and bowfins around here because they could actually live in our waters and kill all the native fish.. As for the gars i'm really doubting that one, they would die as soon as they hit our waters, it is flat out too cold for them to live in washington. Well they might be able to live half the year in eastern wa, but as soon as the cold weather hit they'd all die from, the cold.. I think the only one that should be on the illegal list is the gator gar, those things are BEASTS, and not many people can actually house one.

Those gator gars are crazy big. I would have thought that the snakehead would die too but I think I did read somewhere they could live in coldwater. The bowfin absoultly no doubt it would thrive and establish itself in our waters. There from waters just like ours living under the ice too way crazy. Mine did jump out of my tank and die for the record....lol.

Oh also I would like to add it was the Florida spotted gar that Shua really wanted to protest against since they couldn't live in our waters.

Wolf-Keeper1 wrote:Oh also I would like to add it was the Florida spotted gar that Shua really wanted to protest against since they couldn't live in our waters.

If you wrote a thorough professional letter with tons of info about the species and present it to WA fish and wildlife, that may get you somewhere. A few years ago I wrote a paper on stingrays because they were going to make them illegal because they had no info and noticed alot of people importing them into the state. All they need is info, references and professionalism. they could care less about our opinions. they want well documented facts. You could try that, it would be the best approach.

Big Dave wrote:

Wolf-Keeper1 wrote:Oh also I would like to add it was the Florida spotted gar that Shua really wanted to protest against since they couldn't live in our waters.

If you wrote a thorough professional letter with tons of info about the species and present it to WA fish and wildlife, that may get you somewhere. A few years ago I wrote a paper on stingrays because they were going to make them illegal because they had no info and noticed alot of people importing them into the state. All they need is info, references and professionalism. they could care less about our opinions. they want well documented facts. You could try that, it would be the best approach.

I will start gathering info and facts. Thanks.

The only snakehead varaint that could thrive in our frigid waters is the northern snakehead. The others are tropical fish, but with all the scare of them being able to live outside of water I really dont think anything will make them legal in our country, let alone state.

I was wondering if anyone ever sees fathead minnows fs anywhere?
I know they're illegal in WA but sometimes we get them in our fish shipments and I often take them home.

Whats the legality of owning a sturgeon in a closed system pond or aquarium?

I dont think they sell sturgeon anywhere.... but im sure if you where to catch one and let it go in your pond you wouldnt get into any trouble. that goes for trout, salmon, skate, dogfish (sharks), etc..... if you catch it, its yours to eat/keep.

I know thats what they say about snakehead in florida, if you catch one your not suppost to release it... eat, kill it.... sure if you kept it in an aquarium you wouldnt get in trouble unless you start sellin its babes.

iI remember seeing somewhere where to buy one but i am having trouble finding it.. I could have sworn liveaquaria had them at one point.. i will find that site.. lol

i was told they are illegal to keep wild caught or not..

Doza wrote:iI remember seeing somewhere where to buy one but i am having trouble finding it.. I could have sworn liveaquaria had them at one point.. i will find that site.. lol

i was told they are illegal to keep wild caught or not..

They had some sterling sturgeon in midway a while back, only get 4 feet long, dont know if they are illegal though

Deltron1988 wrote:I was wondering if anyone ever sees fathead minnows fs anywhere?
I know they're illegal in WA but sometimes we get them in our fish shipments and I often take them home.

what do you do with minnows? Do you just keep them or use them as feeders?

why are fathead minnows illegal?? arent they called rosy red minnows? I thought I saw them at fish shops before?? must be confused?? but why are they illegal?

I know a few months back they had some Sturgeon at Pet Pouri, not sure if they're legal or not though..lol I'm sure F&G would have more of a problem with you taking a wild one and throwing it in a fish tank / pond than buying one out of a lfs..

Wolf-Keeper1 wrote:

Deltron1988 wrote:I was wondering if anyone ever sees fathead minnows fs anywhere?
I know they're illegal in WA but sometimes we get them in our fish shipments and I often take them home.

what do you do with minnows? Do you just keep them or use them as feeders?

a little bit of both.
I like them in with my ram cichlids and I enjoy their look.

sandnuka wrote:why are fathead minnows illegal?? arent they called rosy red minnows? I thought I saw them at fish shops before?? must be confused?? but why are they illegal?

pretty sure they're sold every once in awhile but I think they're just illegal for being invasive.
they're commonly traded as rosy reds.
I just was wondering where if anywhere is bold enough to carry them.

I did some research before I *may or may not have* bought a bowfin from Pet P. I asked about legalities...I do't remember the specifics, but basicly Snakeheads are illegal, but the bowfin was ok...

IMO this fish might be invasive, due to the coldwater preferance, But I don't consider it to be overly aggressive, and as a matter of fact gets bullied by my smaller green sunfish, definitely is out competed for food...oops, I may have said too much...lol

Wow the bowfin should be eating smaller fish. Hypothetically of course haha

Hypotheticly theorizing here, but I do believe that *some* bowfin like fish over beef heart, as the fish that I may or may not have smells fish and goes after it(cut up and frozen rock cod I think as it was cheap in fillet form) but doesn't seam to care for beefheart(with seafood mixed for scent)...

Also this supposed bowfin fish is now standing off the green sunfish that I for sure am keeping.. They are legal right?! (lol)

Hahaha your awesome!!! I think sunfish are safe. Lol

Phew....I was getting worried about that knock on the door at 1AM...


:-)

I have my tinfoil barbs in with my green sunfish, and I think I finally figured out how to bring a shy *fin out of hiding...Add dither. 72* and holding.