Official Statement regarding Clarion Angelfish

[sdcfish]

Dear Industy and Enthusiasts,

We would like to make an official statement to announce the seizure of Clarion Angel Fish from Los Angeles Wholesalers.

Friday, June 11th, United States Fish and Wildlife made seizures of Clarion Angels that were available for sale. These fish may have been imported illegally without proper permits. No official statement has been made by the USFWL.

The fish seized are being held at a Public Aquarium.

We at Sea Dwelling Creatures, Inc. were saddened to the fact that these beautiful fish may not have arrived in proper fashion and we regret to have purchased the fish without proof of importation. Although we were told the fish were legal and were given proper invoices for the fish, the legality issue remains to be seen.

All Clarion Angelfish that were sold prior to June 11th, will not be effected. Persons who have purchased these fish may be questioned by U.S officials verifying the quantity of fish that was received in order to obtain an accurate accounting of all fish recently traded.

These fish are not illegal to posses or sell. An investigation into the direct importer has been ongoing. No penalties have been given to any wholesaler that has traded in this fish. Many of these fish had traveled overseas with proper documentation for exporting and had been approved by USFWL for export.

Sea Dwelling Creatures will immediately be implementing a more stringent purchasing policy on all live animal purchases to ensure this type of incident does not happen again.

Best regards to all.

 

[Anonymous]

Should'a saw it coming, SDC. Others here did.

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t ... ht=clarion

 

[MaryHM]

It appears that the unnamed distributor of these fish could be Barnett Shutman:

http://www.aquafind.com/boards/message. ... brd=comorn

This kind of crap makes me SICK. And if it was Barnett doing it, it makes me even sicker since he's the recipient of so many net caught fish from the Philippines. Any wholesaler buying questionable animals should always investigate further before whipping out their checkbooks. Animals like Clarions and live rock coming in boxes marked "Hawaii" and baby leopard sharks. If the leaders in this industry don't start getting a clue, they're going to get us shut down and with good reason. That said, Eric- you know I love you- but c'mon man, you should have known better. Glad to hear you're going to be more careful in the future. Hope the others over on 104th follow suit.

 

[DBM]

Just trying to verify this, but didn't Barnett Shuttman's outfit get caught using cyanide in the Red Sea quite a few years back as well?

 

[Anonymous]

At the very least, I believe I know which P.A. the fish are at. If that is the case, I know that they couldn't be receiving better care.

 

[Anonymous]

Crap. I should've bought one of these f'in things when I had the chance.

Oh, well...

Peace,

Chip

 

[Anonymous]

Pretty stupid, too, that the wholesale was still $1,000+ when there were so many available at once :

Peace,

Chip

 

[dizzy]

Chip,
Where was that photo taken? I think this is a good example of the greed and poor judgement that is often exhibited in this industry. I'm feeling ashamed of the industry I chose to make my living in. I saw a few of those show up on price lists and I think we were all warned that something fishy was going on. Maybe this will inspire us to clean up our act.
Mitch

 

[naesco]

I sincerely hope that those that are responsible for the importation of the fish and those who aided this tragic endevour be prosececuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Those that have any information concerning this matter owe it to the hobby and the industry to come forward and provide that information to the proper authorities forthwith.

Can someone provide me with the email, phone number or address of the authorities that are investigating this matter. Thank you.

 

[JeremyR]

I think this post is quite amusing. Why make a public statement to the effect that you didn't know anything when everybody and their dog knew something was up? Sheesh. Just making yourself look like a fool.

 

[naesco]

Dear Industy and Enthusiasts,

We would like to make an official statement to announce the seizure of Clarion Angel Fish from Los Angeles Wholesalers.

Friday, June 11th, United States Fish and Wildlife made seizures of Clarion Angels that were available for sale. These fish may have been imported illegally without proper permits. No official statement has been made by the USFWL.

The fish seized are being held at a Public Aquarium.

We at Sea Dwelling Creatures, Inc. were saddened to the fact that these beautiful fish may not have arrived in proper fashion and we regret to have purchased the fish without proof of importation. Although we were told the fish were legal and were given proper invoices for the fish, the legality issue remains to be seen.

All Clarion Angelfish that were sold prior to June 11th, will not be effected. Persons who have purchased these fish may be questioned by U.S officials verifying the quantity of fish that was received in order to obtain an accurate accounting of all fish recently traded.

These fish are not illegal to posses or sell. An investigation into the direct importer has been ongoing. No penalties have been given to any wholesaler that has traded in this fish. Many of these fish had traveled overseas with proper documentation for exporting and had been approved by USFWL for export.

Sea Dwelling Creatures will immediately be implementing a more stringent purchasing policy on all live animal purchases to ensure this type of incident does not happen again.

Best regards to all.

Who did you purchase the fish from?
If not from the importer who did the your seller purchase the fish from?

 

[Jaime Baquero]

I sincerely hope that those that are responsible for the importation of the fish and those who aided this tragic endevour be prosececuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Those that have any information concerning this matter owe it to the hobby and the industry to come forward and provide that information to the proper authorities forthwith.

Can someone provide me with the email, phone number or address of the authorities that are investigating this matter. Thank you.

Naesco,

The person named as "possible responsible" for this non sense is the same person named in a previous thread regarding net caught fish from the Philippines. That person was or is the buyer of fish coming from fishers trained and helped by Ferdinand Cruz and others in this forum. Oh boy!

 

[naesco]

Jaime but we need to be 100% certain so I need the answer from Eric of Sea Dwelling Creatures.
Thanks

Wayne

 

[naesco]

At the very least, I believe I know which P.A. the fish are at. If that is the case, I know that they couldn't be receiving better care.

Will they be releasing the fish back to the sea or do they need all of the fish as evidence?

 

[MaryHM]

That person was or is the buyer of fish coming from fishers trained and helped by Ferdinand Cruz and others in this forum. Oh boy!

Yep, Jaime. I've been saying this word a lot lately, but it seems applicable yet again. DISGUSTING.

Will they be releasing the fish back to the sea or do they need all of the fish as evidence?

Seized illegals go to public aquariums. And while this person is under investigation he/she will continue to be able to import. Such was the case with the company who was under investigation for smuggling Hawaiian live rock into the country a few years back. Once again (is there an echo in here?) DISGUSTING.

 

[naesco]

That person was or is the buyer of fish coming from fishers trained and helped by Ferdinand Cruz and others in this forum. Oh boy!

Yep, Jaime. I've been saying this word a lot lately, but it seems applicable yet again. DISGUSTING.

Will they be releasing the fish back to the sea or do they need all of the fish as evidence?

Seized illegals go to public aquariums. And while this person is under investigation he/she will continue to be able to import. Such was the case with the company who was under investigation for smuggling Hawaiian live rock into the country a few years back. Once again (is there an echo in here?) DISGUSTING.

Could you find out which public aquarium they went to. I will phone Vancouver aquarium in the am to see if they can get a few of them up here.

Who can we contact that is involved in the investigation? An interim injunction may be available to stop the person continuing his business.

 

[MaryHM]

Wayne, no one is going to go to the expense to get send them to Canada. And no one is going to send federal evidence to another country. Here in the US you are innocent until proven guilty. So until he's proven guilty they aren't going to ship the fish off to the four corners of the earth.

 

[Kalkbreath]

The whole Clarion issue is ironic .......A few years back, one of the most respected collectors in the business was caught by the Mexican navy collelcting Calrions in protected waters. .........what makes this event ironic is that this collector was taken by boat to a dock at the Naval base then spent a few days in the pokey.........But get this , Around the dock at that navy port are Clarions angels by the thousands ........The Mexican navy busted a guy for collecting the same fish these navy men use as bait for groupers when they fish from the same dock. They {the mex navy }kill more Clarion Angels for recreation a year then this collector would had he gotten away with is prize. ......... http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:Er ... rmit&hl=en

 

[Anonymous]

i can't believe for a n.y. minute that no-one at sdc knew where or how those clarions came from or arrived


whether they knew or not-ignorance never negates culpability :wink:

looks more like an attempt at damage control, if you ask me, and a lame one, at that.

just my $0.02

 

[JennM]

Sea Dwelling Creatures will immediately be implementing a more stringent purchasing policy on all live animal purchases to ensure this type of incident does not happen again.

Eric, as a major "stakeholder", one would have just assumed that such a policy was already in place? Do you mean that for all these years, there have not been checks in place to make sure that all purchases were properly permitted and documented? Or is this the first time the proverbial spam has hit the fan? Or is it the first time it's hit the fan on such a large scale?

That opens a potentially huge can of worms.... not just for SDC but for all importers and the industry as a whole.

Hypothetically, it would be easy for an outsider looking in, who really has little or no knowledge about how the importation system works, to jump to some really low-ball conclusions about the whole situation. Expensive desirable fish... it *could* have been construed as a short term cash grab. Of course it could also have been construed as an honest mistake... they *could* have been Passers... :roll: Just what was the angle? Surely as someone who is forefront in the industry, issues such as this would have been known to the administration at all of the major importers (and minor ones too?!)?

Many in the retail end of the industry trust the importer/wholesalers they buy from, that everything is done on the up and up. That means collection (nets only, right ), permits as needed, and whatever other paperwork is deemed necessary by the Fish and Wildlife service, CITES and any other regulating agencies. Personally I've had my doubts for a long time that all was as it was represented to be, but this scandal really doesn't score any points for 104th Street.

It's a shame all around and a huge black eye for the industry.

Disappointed.

Jenn