Illegal fish

by GaryE Mon Feb 08, 2016 4:43 am

I wandered through a downtown Toronto aquarium store while I was picking up Chinese New Year's gifts for my exchange students, and I noticed a few tanks of GMO glo-danios for sale, at a high enough price the owners had to know they were illegal. One of my local stores had them once, and sold them cheap to get them out since they had been sent them without ordering them and wanted to avoid fines.

Was this a rare thing, or are Canadian stores dodging the law on that one?

by l_l_l Mon Feb 08, 2016 6:57 am

I saw a couple of glo-danios in Canada in sub-par fish stores and everytime I told the owner about them being illegal to import, I'd get the "mind your own business" look.

When returning to the store 2 weeks later, the fishes were nowhere to be found.

by **Sbenson11** Mon Feb 08, 2016 8:22 am

That's interesting, I didn't realize they were illegal, not that I keep up on Tropical fish. Kind of surprised the Feds took the right stand on this one.

Having said that I am sort of on the fence as to things such as this. I am a real junkie when it comes to the wild and crazy, sometimes illegal pets. I would have a house full of wild and crazy animals if I could, actually I kind of do but that's another story. You don't get much more environmentally friendly then me so you will never see anything I have again in the wild. However that is the reason for some of these regulations. People just don't get it when it comes to releasing pet's into the wild. I still have a Bengal Tiger and Black Tip reef Shark on my wish list.

Anyway I have wandered off topic. I don't thing LFS's will intentionally do this, but you never know. I just can't see anyone risking a fine for a small fish like these.

Steve

by alexmtl Mon Feb 08, 2016 9:40 am

Oh I was not sure about the legal status as well. I googled the Glofish website and the following was stated :

"At present, Australia, Canada, and Europe prohibit the marketing of any genetically modified organisms, including our tropical fluorescent fish, until they are cleared through an extremely complex and costly review process. For now, due to the time, expense, and uncertainty involved with the approval process, we have no plans to pursue approval in any of these jurisdictions."

Canada is one of the largest producers of GMOs and has a stringent review process. I would tend to concur that these fish would be illegal since the manufacturer has not applied for review.

https://www.loc.gov/law/help/restrictions-on-gmos/canada.php

by alexmtl Mon Feb 08, 2016 10:02 am

I wanted to return to post a parliamentary white paper on GMOs.

http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/LOP/ResearchPublications/tips/tip2-e.htm

What is interesting to me is not the aversion to "GMO". This appears to be a buzzword which alarms the average consumer and ignites fear with horror pictures of distorted animals. I think our society has been fueled by interest groups both pro and con on this "buzzword".

I do think the position of Canada is correct. Consider the individual product (organism) rather than the process. Canada has one of the most robust review systems in place.

To add to the pro side :
Bacillus thuringiensis in corn and as an aerial pesticide.
Use of monoclonal antibodies through the development of mouse chimeras to manufacture cancer medicines
Genetically modified insects to reduce target pest populations

However, within the law, if aquarists want the colours of Glo-fish and pay for the license to have them approved, why not? Goldfish are after all, one of the most heavily modified organisms in the hobby, albeit not due to the introduction of another species genetic material.

Consider what a mule is. Humans have cultured the cross between to different species (male donkey, female horse) for centuries.

For me, I prefer natural fish.

by GaryE Mon Feb 08, 2016 3:56 pm

I would not report the guy, but at the same time, I dislike the product. I was told the reason for the ban was copyright issues, actually.
I think glofish are ugly, but I dislike Justin Bieber and would not ban him. Glofish are classic ornamental fish - you won't learn about nature from them, but most aquarists don't want to learn ecology, evolution etc, so what the heck. People have to have fun.
Once you get into dye injections (they had those too), it is a problem. I was in the US a while back at this time of year, and they were selling tattooed kissing gouramis, with red hearts made of needle and dye punctures on their flanks. That's nasty.
GMO fish - not my cup of tea but not awful.

by montrealapisto Mon Feb 08, 2016 9:21 pm

how much were the Glo fishes selling for in Toronto

by GaryE Tue Feb 09, 2016 3:53 am

$10 a danio.

by **guppyguy** Tue Feb 09, 2016 9:24 am

I have seen the glo fish in two LFS in my area are as well but the prices were just a bit more than regular danios.

by Fores41 Wed Feb 10, 2016 4:38 pm

I have seen both dye injected fish and pink Danio's in stores around here and did not know any would be illegal. I am not into dyed fish although they would look good if they were naturals.

by BlkShp Sat Aug 18, 2018 7:10 pm

Some glo fish can be legally sold in Canada. The green glo tetra's are allowed, but not pink or blue. Makes perfect sense to me......lol

by GaryE Wed Aug 22, 2018 5:57 am

http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/SAR-AS/2018/2018_027-eng.html

It looks like the green glofish were applied for and reviewed. That means the others will be too. So the wee fakefish will soon be all over.

They are ornaments, and that is not the way I like to keep fish. I think there are ethical problems with breeding them, but not big ones. My opinion is a minority one, and they will sell like crazy, replacing a lot of interesting fish we could learn about ecology from. Most aquarists aren't in it to learn, and the rest of us may see a reduced number of choices in chain stores, as our US friends have.
With the pending legalization of weed, these fish are going to be money.

by ksimdjembe Wed Aug 22, 2018 8:16 am

GaryE wrote: They are ornaments, and that is not the way I like to keep fish. I think there are ethical problems with breeding them, but not big ones. My opinion is a minority one, and they will sell like crazy, replacing a lot of interesting fish we could learn about ecology from. Most aquarists aren't in it to learn, and the rest of us may see a reduced number of choices in chain stores, as our US friends have. With the pending legalization of weed, these fish are going to be money.

What a shame. I'd hoped that they'd not get 'mainstreamed'....and I'd agree that they'll likely sell well come October.