heh, we'll try this again, with an extremely slimmed down version of what I originally said then stupidly deleted.
I think that the price point is a major argument. I'm not saying it's good for the smugglers to be getting the money, I'm saying that the price is performing a service making it very restrictive. If they were intelligent about it, the Austrailian government would legalize all but the most dangerous fish and put a huge importation tarrif on them, I'd say less than the current $600, but who knows, I'd imagine $300 would be sufficent to pretty much ensure the fish would be cared for and not released. The $ that is taken in can be used, then, to do things like habitat protection, public education, and such things. Sort of a rip-off of what the government is doing to the tobacco companies over here, except that catfish don't kill.
And about CITES, that's way different than what's restricted in the US caol_ila, of course those species are the backbone, but then they go out and choose other fish, pirhana are one that's been especially picked on. Here's a list of the 50 US states and what their legal stance on pirhana is.
http://www.kencofish.com/states.htm at the end of the page are a few specific states, and what they have said "no" to.
I think states like florida are probably the most likely places for released (accidentally or otherwise) tropicals to colonize. There are already tilapia and othes out there, but for some reason florida still keeps a big part of the tropical fish trades importation facilities, and the best known of the american discus breeders works out of florida... Things like this also make me laugh
http://fish2u.com/smblackarowana.html Note, they can't sell it in the state of florida. Of course "Fish2U.com is located near Tampa, Florida - the Heart of the World's Tropical Fish farming industry.", Gibsonton FL is where their PO box is... I would think a mass importer would have much higher likelyhood of losing a few fish into the water systems of southern florida than hobbyists... many say that's how some of the pleco species have become so strong in the area. And, the closely related silver arrowana is acceptable for sale in florida...
http://fish2u.com/lgsiar.html .
I don't mind rules, there are some fish that are dangerous enough, to local ecosystems if released, that they should be restricted to permit only keeping... Of course what would be on the permit's requirement list?
