02-13-2006, 04:46 PM
I will repeat what I said to Bassrods on Saturday in reference to transporting sportfish to and from facilities. First to be able to transport fish from a private fish facility you must go through a formal health inspection by the Utah Department of Agriculture. This enables you to transport and stock these fish into certified waters. The waters must be inspected as well. Once these fish land in their "new" water they are no longer certified. In order to be moved from that water the fish must be re-inspected.
The reason for this is to eliminate the chance of unethical folks to buy fish from a health certified source, fill a "new" pond or "aquarium" with water from who knows where and resell or move those fish to other waters. If this happens one time it would open a pandora's box that would be tough to close.
Another this that could happen if this was allowed, an unethical person could buy some fish from a certified facility, stock their new "aquarium/pond" then add/mix other uninspected fish of the same species to the pond and have an endless supply of "certified" fish. This type of activity happens!!
As far as the UDWR moving uninspected fish anywhere, that is just not true. Every fish that is transplanted or stocked must be inspected and receive approval before they are moved.
We have risks from many diseases and organisms that would be catasrophic to our aquatic systems in Utah. It is best to be over protective than not. Afterall what if some bad news disease/organism did show up because our regulations were not stringent enough.
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The reason for this is to eliminate the chance of unethical folks to buy fish from a health certified source, fill a "new" pond or "aquarium" with water from who knows where and resell or move those fish to other waters. If this happens one time it would open a pandora's box that would be tough to close.
Another this that could happen if this was allowed, an unethical person could buy some fish from a certified facility, stock their new "aquarium/pond" then add/mix other uninspected fish of the same species to the pond and have an endless supply of "certified" fish. This type of activity happens!!
As far as the UDWR moving uninspected fish anywhere, that is just not true. Every fish that is transplanted or stocked must be inspected and receive approval before they are moved.
We have risks from many diseases and organisms that would be catasrophic to our aquatic systems in Utah. It is best to be over protective than not. Afterall what if some bad news disease/organism did show up because our regulations were not stringent enough.
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