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new public act 451,2018 and questions that you want clarification on
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arinwhite:
With the introduction of the new public act,451 that affects us, there are many questions that are arising. With that being said we are attempting to get all questions answered, clarification on. This thread is for questions, only that you would like for MCA to get answers about. Please post these questions. Please do not post your opinions on the new law as they do not help all of us to understand what needs to be done and keep us all in compliance.
I will start these questions
1) We have many members that come from canada and how does this affect them
2) Is there a list of fish coming out for exemptions
3)If you are attending a "auction" as only a buyer do you need to register
4) As a "club" do they need to report buyer information
Please reply with any questions that you would like answered
william trautmann:
Does this apply to swaps?
How does this effect the hobbiest?
Do kids in the trade under 18 need to register?
cringram:
The act mentions fish that can not survive in michigan as exemptions, and that said species were to be identified by the appropriate branch of the government, but as of now there is no such list. I would assume all cichlids should fall into this category as none can survive in the wild in Michigan, so I have a couple of questions on this:
First, are fish that are on this list exempt from registering in addition to the required sales logs, or are they just exempt from the sales logs?
Second, if these fish are exempt from registration how does a DNR officer determine that a fish is exempt if there is no source document (be it a white or black list) to reference? Assuming the answer is "register to be safe" I do not find that acceptable, and would like an exact response to how this is determined.
Seth_Herbst:
Hi all,
My name is Seth Herbst and I'm the Aquatic Species and Regulatory Affairs Unit Manager for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources-Fisheries Division. My unit has been tasked with implementing the new requirements for the Department listed within Part 413 of NREPA. I realize that there are a lot of questions on the new requirements and I hope that I can provide some answers to your questions.
The law was intended to protect Michigan's natural resources from potentially harmful species that get sold and then potentially released. We feel that our best method for protecting our natural resources is still through maintaining and enforcing our prohibited and restricted species list, but we are now also required to implement the registration and reporting requirements per the new law. Our hope is to work closely with groups like yourself to implement these laws as easily as possible.
I wanted to provide clarification on the registration requirement per the amended statute within Part 413 of the Natural Resources Environmental Protection Act (NREPA). The amended law is effective on March 21 and these are new and unfunded requirements for the industry and our department.
Per the new law, “a person shall not sell or offer for sale or possess for the purpose of sale or offering for sale a live, nonnative aquatic species except as authorized by a registration issued by the Department of Natural Resources”. There are exemptions and the registration requirements don’t apply to “the 1-time sale or offering for sale of aquatic species if the sale or offering for sale involves not more than 20 organisms of a single species”. Therefore if you plan to sell less than 20 fish (or other aquatic organisms) in 2019 you are exempt from the registration requirement. If the exemptions don't relate to you then you must register through our online registration tool. If you are only buying you don't have to register because the registration is only for those selling organisms.
If you plan to sell more than 20 organisms of a single species in 2019 then you will have to register using our online registration process. The specific location of sale is linked with a requirement in the law and for hobbyist events or auctions the location of sale would be the location where the event occurs (i.e., where the sale actually takes place). It would not be your home address because it seems you are not selling organisms there. This might mean that you would have to register multiple times in a year if you sell numerous organisms at multiple auctions throughout the year. In my mind this is similar to Meijer having to register for each store location that sells aquatic organisms.
While everyone selling will have to register, not everyone will need to report the species that they sell. The reporting will only apply to those selling freshwater organisms or organisms that can survive in Michigan. This will hopefully reduce the burden of the new law for those that only sell marine or tropical species. We will not have a list of species that you will have to report, but instead use the criteria and leave it up to the sellers to determine if their organisms adhere to that criteria. If you are in question of whether what you sell meets the criteria, I recommend reporting those to be on the safe side. This is a new program for us as well and we currently don't have a reporting website available, but are actively working to develop one. When the reporting site is completed I will share that information with your group.
As with enforcing any new law, our DNR Law Enforcement Division plans to focus mainly on outreach and education of the new requirements during the first phase of implementation. It would take a serious and intentional violation for Law Enforcement to write a citation this year. One example of a serious violation would be the possession of a species listed on the prohibited or restricted species list (i.e., the "black list"). This list includes species like snakehead, silver carp, and others that have been identified as serious threats to MI's natural resources, if they are introduced.
As I mentioned the DNR is trying to reach a broad group to inform them of the new requirements, so please share this information with others in your industry. Please let me know if you have any further questions because I would be happy to help.
Best regards,
Seth
email: [email protected]
zenins:
I imagine something similar will be enacted over here in Ontario, just a matter of time ;)
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