having a fish shipped from the US, what paperwork is needed?

[corpusse]

First of all I know this isn't recommend. I also know if I wait long enough Reef Raft will have them again, however a friend found a great deal on a pair of flame wrasses. They are located in the US. The guy seems to think he can ship them to Canada, but he never has. As far as transit time if they aren't delayed I'm not worried but I have no clue what's going to happen.

They do NOT fall under cites, and I can't find anything searching online for importing a single fish, it would actually be a pair but since it's not commercial would it not be like importing anything else?

If he includes the fish info
http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=7768

which includes a picture, that its not dangerous, or endangered.

Also if I pick it up at the fedex hub will I have the chance to plead with customs should any problems arise?

Finally I don't want to hear you can't ship fish via courier in Canada, I'll take a picture of my J&L aquatics boxes that are labeled LIVE TROPICAL FISH on all 4 sides, as well many AP sponsors ship this way.

[Kenzy]

Your best bet would be to call your local customs office and see what kind of hoops they are going to make you jump through.

It might be easier to have the fish shipped to a Fedex hub on the US side(Buffalo?) and bring them through yourself. Again calling the Buffalo/Ontario border crossing you plan on coming through to see what (if any) paperwork that will want.

Good luck!

[Sea MunnKey]

I know for a fact that quite a few number of Canadians have brought back fish from Buffalo .. even Sharks as per the U.S. LFS owners.
Fish aren't usually as critical as per Corals .. but then I might be wrong Andrew.

Paul

[corpusse]

I know its not under cites
i also know Red List Status: Not in IUCN Red List (http://www.redlist.org/info/categories_criteria.html#categories) (Ref. 57073)

What I don't know is what will happen when it gets here. I'm making some phone calls staying on hold ect but eventually I'll get to the bottom of this. May be too late to snach up this pair but at least I'll know for the future.

Now is the time to get any Hawaiian fish you want as new laws strictly limit collections and prices are going to go way up...

[J_T]

Why not call some of the sponsors. See if they can make the arrangements for you. They may ask a couple bux's for their time, and any fee's for the actual permits if any are required. But atleast you would know that it is being done right, and for a couple of bux you don't have to risk the fish dying at the border while people that don't know what they are looking at debate the paper work.

[jackiechandc]

Personally I would agree and let the suppliers do all the paperwork as they much more familiar with bringing livestock over and pay them for their time and effort. This way the flames are more likely not to be delayed by bureaucrats:) Good luck!
Wei
PS. Didn't J&L just have a paired male/female flame wrasse couple of weeks ago?

[corpusse]

J&L did but the male was not a true supermale.

I'm still waiting to hear from this supplier if they are true supermales. He is supposed to recieve them from Hawaii today and wants to ship tomorrow.

I've been calling and calling but no answer at the ministry....

[jackiechandc]

I've been calling and calling but no answer at the ministry....

Welcome to the world of government bureaucy! You will experience the same problems when you try to bring the fish over, so that's something to thing about. Good luck!

[StevieK]

now thats an interesting idea ... keep us posted

[Ken_Baird]

OK, I have not shipped live animals, but have shipped around the world. If you are going to ship by Fedex, you can have them be your customs broker (the guy that handles all the paper work) Have you tried calling them about making a shipment using them as your broker for live stock?
Just my 2 cents
If you don't get any help let me know I can make a few calls.

[MattGC]

By the letter of US law, to bring any livestock(plants or animals live or dead) out of the US you need to have an inspection completed by a USF&W officer, as well as obtain an import export permit. The inspection must be arranged in advance (usually just a day or so) and costs $55 for non-cities plants and animals. The import export permit just went up in price and I think is now about $200 USD. If you call the USF&W office in Buffalo, you might be able to get around the permit if you claim the fish as personal pets not for commercial trade.

This being said, for the most part the Canadian officials are ignorant of the US laws and are not there to enforce them so they dont care. However if they are not ignorant of the law and choose to enforce the law, they can turn you back for not having a completed inspection and the documentation to prove it. I have in the past had to show our inspection documents to the Canadian officials, and some have gone so far as to take copies of them.

Once you are at the Canadian side, declare what you have, pay the GST and PST, there are no duties on ornamental fish, so you dont have to pay anything else.

If you have detailed questions on the import procedure from the US, feel free to email me and I will send you my phone number and we can discuss. I have personally been importing and exporting livestock for about ten years and have all kinds of horror stories ;)

Matt.

[kgolem]

• Live Fish/Seafood: We will accept live fish/seafood such as lobsters or crabs on an exception basis only when FedEx pre-shipment procedures are followed and provided the shipper is in compliance with all applicable laws, governmental regulations, orders or requirements including, but not limited to, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration food safety regulations. Customers must contact their FedEx Account Executive to complete the procedures. The packaging for such live fish/seafood must be tested and approved by the FedEx Packaging Design and Development Department prior to the shipment being accepted by FedEx. If there are any questions regarding the testing process, please call 1.800.633.7019 and speak to the packaging staff. It is ultimately the responsibility of the shipper to adequately package the shipment for all temperature extremes and handling that may be encountered.


• Live insects, animals, birds, reptiles and plants, including cut flowers (cut flowers are acceptable to selected points in the United States and to Canada – advance arrangements are required).

These quotes are from the Fed-Ex Canada website, under restrictions. The entire terms and conditions document can be found here (http://www.fedex.com/ca_english/services/serviceguide/termsandconditions/express/terms38.html).

[corpusse]

thanks for the links,
btw you do NOT need any type of permit or anything right now but this will be changing in 1-2 years. This comes straight from the government.

Also they are working on passing laws with the US so that you can bring your personal pets across when moving ect. Nice to hear about this. They were very helpful once getting a hold of the right person.

[kgolem]

Government restrictions on transportation are one thing. What your courier company is willing to transport is another topic of discussion entirely.

[corpusse]

basically the only thing i must find out now is if fedex can ship.

theres nothing stopping you from driving fish for personal use across the border though. This will change though but likely in 1-2 years.

airport to airport is the best way to go if it can be arranged.