I'm researching about invasive invertebrates in Virginia and delving into the laws relevant to the topic when I come across this:
4VAC15-360-70. Prohibit the sale of crayfish species.
It shall be unlawful to sell any species of crayfish (Superfamily Astacoidea) live as bait or for personal use, except for personal consumption.
This says any crayfish, which I knew of some of them being illegal to sell from my time in aquarium stores, but this says ANY crayfish. I was under the impression that some of them were ok like the blue, vanilla, and dwarf varieties. Am I missing something here? Has every LFS I know been breaking this law?
I didn't realize that you meant the app, which on my phone is called Seek, by iNaturalist. It's absolutely great. I use it all the time to identify plants. It is amazingly accurate. Haven't tried it for fish or other aquatic species, however!
Cool. Is it national?
I have been checking a site called iNaturalist where people can submit photos and location data for plants and animals. There I have found people running into some things that USGS doesn't have record of. USGS has reports on certain species but do not seem to be up to date or people don't know to report to them.
Some of those species, especially the marmokrebs, are elevated beyond the whole "don't buy, sell, or trade" law -- they're illegal to even have them. They're often traded by aquarists, who keep them either for their cool "clone" factor, or because they're an easy source of food for larger cichlids and other predatory fish. But, they're a huge problem when they get out, and aquarists have released them. I've found a few large blue crays at various points -- almost certainly not something that "grew up" there, but likely something someone released fairly recently. Its fortunate that they generally don't survive long, but... they can carry several diseases with them, which decimate native populations.
Yes, and no. One of the problems with these laws is that, often, there are 589 agencies involved, and differing laws conflict with one another. The crayfish law was the law of the land for quite a while, and as such, any pet store that was selling them was actually technically in violation; however, its intent was never to eliminate the sale of legitimate pet crayfish, particularly not those that have a near-zero chance of survival in the wild (e.g., CPOs). However, certain individuals have pestered the living daylights of the Va DGIF (no idea who that would be), and they were supposedly amending this regulation to exclude varieties and species sold in the pet trade. I don't see that showing anywhere in Google, and will have to look into it again at some point.