We used no permits to collect fishes in Mexico and no permits to import them
into the U.S. We did declare at customs, both Mexican and U.S., that we had
fishes living in our luggage. It was never a problem. The Mexican customs
officials never even asked a question about it, and the U.S. customs
officials only asked if we also had live birds. Since we had no birds, he
was happy to wave us through. Actually having the fish allowed us to pass
through customs in Houston quicker than other passengers on our flight, as
they all had to wait in one line, and we were told to go to another line.
Our line was composed of the four of us. It was the agricultural (we also
admitted that we had spent some time on ranches [we had driven across them,
and collected from rivers bordering them]) inspection station. Actually,
the Agricultural guy saw us walking toward his station, came halfway across
the customs area to meet us, asked about the birds we didn't have, and then
waved us through. It was fast.
Houston is supposedly the best city to re-enter the U.S. with fishes. I
hear that Miami and L.A. are much more concerned with this, and it can take
three days for your fishes to clear customs, and you are required to fill
out paper work. In Mexico, Tampico is just as easy going.
Norm
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www.gpas.org
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----- Original Message -----
From: Christopher Scharpf <ichthos_at_charm.net>
To: NANFA Mailing List <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
Sent: Saturday, May 13, 2000 11:41 AM
Subject: NANFA-- Norm in Mexico
I was flipping through the new issue of Buntbarsche Bulletin when a photo on
page 9 caught my eye. Gee, that looks like Norm Edelen, I thought. Later,
when I
read the article, I learned that sure enough it was -- Norm had traveled to
southern Mexico to collect cichlids and other fishes.
Two questions, Norm:
1) What permits are required to collect Mexican fishes?
2) The article mentions that a small piece of Polyfilter was added to each
breathable bag. Was this biologically active Polyfilter?
Christopher Scharpf
Baltimore
"The secret of life is to have a task....And the most important thing is --
it
must be something you cannot possibly do!"
Henry Moore, sculptor
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