Re: NANFA-L-- FW: turtle poachers arrested in Alabama

Derek Parr (derekparr-in-earthlink.net)
Wed, 27 Apr 2005 16:11:56 -0400

i'm not sure i see it that way.
particularly due to the unknowns of the story.
Without any details on what was illegal and what laws specifically were broken its hard
to make any blanket statements about whether they had a commercial license or not and
whether that was/is relevant ,, and not being a lawyer or living in AL I don't know what
the laws specifically are there.
etc etc.

I would like to point out that although it might be irrelavent, we have no way to tell
from this article. And it does seem quite odd that the huge majority of the turtles
were caught legally, when a comparative minority were not. It would be foolish to not
wonder and ask why.

-derek parr

dlmcneely-in-lunet.edu wrote:
> In all states I know, one is required to have a commercial fishing
> license in order to legally catch fish for sale. The reason for that
> is so that the state can regulate the trade for the protection of the
> fish populations. If anyone is catching fish for sale under a sports
> fishing license, in most states that person is poaching, which is a
> crime.
>
> The fact that the folks illegally catching turtles also caught turtles
> legally is irrelevant to the conclusion that they committed a crime.
> If we want to continue the privilege we have of collecting fish for
> aquaria, we need to be on the side of resource protection.
>
> Thanks, Dave
>
> David L. McNeely, Ph.D., Professor of Biology
> Langston University; P.O. Box 1500
> Langston, OK 73050; email: dlmcneely-in-lunet.edu
> telephone: (405) 466-6025; fax: 405) 466-3307
> home page http://www.lunet.edu/mcneely/index.htm
>
> "Where are we going?" "I don't know, are we there yet?"
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Moontanman-in-aol.com
> Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 10:42 am
> Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- FW: turtle poachers arrested in Alabama
>
>
>>I'm confused, if only 340 of about 7000 turtles were caught
>>illegally that
>>means that almost all of the money was also legal. This article is
>>very much
>>slanted and causes people who read it to think of a vast illegal
>>network catching
>>thousands of illegal turtles when in actuality only a few of the
>>turtles were
>>indeed illegal. I know the breeding of turtles for sale is legal
>>and should
>>be legal. I am appalled that 7000 turtles could be caught legally
>>by a few
>>individuals but to insinuate that this was some kind of huge
>>conspiracy is so
>>misleading. Does anyone else on this list realize that we also
>>catch fish, often
>>for sale or trade, under laws that are often quite obscure or less
>>than clear
>>and that some of us, if not many of us, could be caught up in some
>>sort of
>>similar operation just for catching the small fish we all love so
>>much?
>>
>>
>>Michael Hissom (AKA Moon)
>>Lower Cape Fear River, Waccamaw Lake and river system, and coastal
>>salt water
>>and brackish water estuaries in the same location. (South Eastern
>>North
>>Carolina)
>>I have access to the only natural Ocean Shore Rock out cropping in
>>Coastal NC
>>
>
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