Advice for bringing back fishes from an international trip?

[Narelle]

Hi all, I am looking for advice on bringing back live fishes to the US from an international trip. Any help I can get on import/export and on best methods of packing them for such a long flight?

I'll be doing fieldwork in Thailand this summer and the priority is the research, so bringing back aquarium fishes might not pan out if its too much trouble. But my PI and the person leading the trip are both okay with it as long as I can make sure it doesn't jeopardize our samples at all.

Most likely, I will not be able to bring back any of the fishes I catch while sampling (those all go in jars - I probably won't have time or supplies to be keeping anything alive on the side while we sample) but we are likely going to visit a market in Bangkok in the last day or two before we leave. So my best bet is probably purchased fishes from there, with a tight turnaround to get them prepared for export.

I talked with @Shane about this a little at catcon, but need to get details ironed out if I'm going to actually attempt it.

Shane, I think you said recipts help with import so the market would make things easier for me anyways, right?
And that returning through Florida is easier?

I think my PI would be most comfortable if I didn't fly them back myself and instead arranged with established exporters and importers to ship them here. So I'm looking for opinions and information (and connections?) for both options, flying myself or arranging to have someone else ship them back, if anyone can help!

(My perspective on this is that if I can bring back anything that'd be great, but if it turns out to not be feasible that's okay. The research is the priority. Still going to have a blast collecting the fishes and seeing some of my favorites live in the wild either way.)

[bekateen]

Hi Angela,

There are a variety of shippers authorized to export/ import fish. There's one in Sacramento, CA that imports often (it's called 916 Aquatics). The trick for you is finding one you trust to ship your fish safely and quickly without burning you financially.

As for carrying fish in your own suitcase, I've done it a few times, from the UK and from South America. Here's my old notes from my UK experience:

For anyone from the USA visiting the UK for this weekend's Catfish Study Group convention, if you plan to bring fish back to the USA, here is some information I have collected from government agencies in the last two weeks about travel from the UK to the USA with live fish. As you read it, please understand that I was investigating for myself, for a trip later in the year, and since I would be reentering the USA through San Francisco, CA (SFO airport), some of the details are just for SFO; if you will be entering at a different airport, the specifics (esp. with regard to USFWS inspectors) will differ from city to city: Also, since this is for a summer trip of mine, alas I will not be seeing any of you at the CSG meeting. But hopefully some of you will find this helpful:

• Starting in the UK, I’ve contacted the Fish Health Inspectorate (https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/fi ... spectorate). They wrote the following:
  • “There are no export controls for England. Therefore you can take these tropical fish from England to USA without any documentation or approval from us; especially if you already have approval from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.”
• Coming to the USA, I received this from the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) Law Enforcement Office:
  • The USFWS requires no permit to transport personal pet tropical fish into the USA, as long as the fish are not on an import ban species list. An employee at the FWS Law Enforcement Office in Sacramento referred me to the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR data is current as of February 23, 2016), Title 50 → Chapter I → Subchapter B → Part 14 → Subpart I → §14.91, parts (C)5 and (C)6 to clarify that policy (link is here).
  • To be defined as "personal use" (not commercial), you should limit your number of fish to SEVEN OR LESS of the same species. Some people have told me that in the Chicago area, officials exercise an informal "rule of nine" (meaning that if you have nine or less, you're safe and considered not commercial), but that interpretation is not supported by the printed policy: From this link:

    What is “commercial”?
    Commercial means related to the offering for sale or resale, purchase, trade, barter, or the actual or intended transfer in the pursuit of gain or profit, of any item of wildlife and includes the use of any wildlife article as an exhibit for the purpose of soliciting sales, without regard to quantity or weight. There is a presumption that eight or more similar unused items are for commercial use. (emphasis added by me) The Service or the importer/exporter may rebut this presumption based upon the particular facts and circumstances of each case (50 CFR 14.4)

  • That office recommended that I contact the local airport USFWS inspector’s office to find out HOW I legally arrive in the US and get out of the airport with my fish. That step is here:
• From the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) Inspector's Office in San Francisco: “In order to import your fish into the US you will need to do the following:
  • Provide 48 hour notice to USFWS prior to leaving/arriving at SFO. If you are arriving at a different port contact that port well in advance to ensure you follow their specific protocol. If you are arriving on a Monday, please provide notice on the preceding Thursday. Email the following list of information to the inspectors operating that entry (note from me: If you are entering through SFO, I can give you the actual names and emails, but otherwise, I will leave their names out of this generic letter):
    • Name
    • Contact Information (Phone + email + address)
    • Airline & Flight #, or Air Way Bill # if flying as cargo
    • Estimated arrival/departure time
    • Scientific name(s) and quantity of pet(s) that will be traveling (genus & type #)
    There is a difference between hand carrying on a flight and flying as cargo. Hand carrying typically involves no inspection fees. However, if you bring your animals as cargo (which may be required by the airline) then there will be an inspection fee of 93$ for a live non-commercial shipment. If your import is after hours you may be charged overtime fees if an inspector chooses to inspect the shipment (overtime fees are 105$ plus an additional $53/hr after the first two hours). Be aware that your animals may be delayed/held for inspection by customs, so plan accordingly if you have a connecting flight.
  • Declare your animals to USFWS, while this just has to happen prior to import/export, the sooner you declare the better (a week or so in advance is good), as it will allow for time to fix any errors to ensure your animals can travel legally. While this can be done using the paper declaration system using form 3-177 (http://www.fws.gov/le/declaration-form-3-177.html), it is faster and preferred to use the online filing system: https://edecs.fws.gov/edecshome.cfm. Additionally, using edecs allows you to pay inspection fees (if applicable) online using your credit card. Otherwise you will need to send a check to our office, or contact us to arrange to pay with credit card, we do not accept cash payments.
    • Document package: When you submit your declaration you will need to provide a document package consisting of the following:
      • A copy of the air waybill (if you fly them as cargo);
      • An invoice-type document that lists your name/address and your friend's name/address, the species of fish (genus + #), the number of fish, the country of origin for the fish & if the fish were wild caught or captive raised;
      • Any health certificates/other permits that are required for the shipment This document package can either be emailed to all of the email addresses listed in step #1, or it can be uploaded to the edecs website.
  • On the day of import/export:
    • Follow the inspector’s instructions regarding where and when to meet for an inspection if one is required. Be aware that imports/exports on a weekend or before/after normal business hours may be subject to overtime inspection fees.
• From the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), regarding the legality of carrying fish in water-filled containers onto passenger planes:
  • “Live fish must be transported in a clear, plastic, spill proof container. In this case, the container may be larger than 3.4 ounces. A Transportation Security Officer will visually inspect your live fish at the checkpoint. Even if an item is generally permitted, it may be subject to additional screening or not allowed through the checkpoint if it triggers an alarm during the screening process, appears to have been tampered with, or poses other security concerns. The final decision rests with TSA on whether to allow any items on the plane..” (https://apps.tsa.dhs.gov/mytsa/cib_resu ... earch=fish)
• According to the USFWS, I also needed to contact the US Customs & Border Protection (CBP) Office and CBP Agriculture, to determine what requirements they have for importing live fish. This is what CBP said by email, and CBP Agriculture said over the phone:
  • "Thank you for contacting the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) INFO Center. CBP does not have any restrictions on live fish. We refer those imports to US Fish & Wildlife. It would be good to contact US Fish & Wildlife at the airport where you will first re-enter the US for their local procedures."
  • The person answering the phone at the CBP Agriculture office said that CBP Agriculture was only concerned and involved if the imported fish are koi, goldfish, or tench. Otherwise, the CBP Agriculture office said that FWS was responsible for importing any other species of fish.
  • The reason why these fish are singled out is that they are on a list of fish vulnerable to Spring viremia of carp (SVC). Acording to the USDA APHIS office (read about this here):

    Live finfish of most species may be imported into the United States without import requirements from USDA. However, 8 species of fish that are susceptible to the disease Spring viremia of carp (SVC) have recently come under USDA oversight. These species are: common carp, including koi carp (Cyprinus carpio), goldfish (Carassius auratus), grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus), silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis), Crucian carp (Carassius carassius), tench (Tinca tinca), and sheatfish (Silurus glanis).
    
    New regulations have been developed for the importation of live fish and their gametes (eggs and milt) from these species. The regulations pertain to commercial shipments and to fish brought in to the US as personal baggage.
    
    Live fish of these species may continue to be imported, provided they are accompanied by a USDA import permit and a veterinary health certificate issued by a full-time veterinary officer or Competent Authority of the National Government of the exporting country.

  • In other words, if your fish aren't on that list, you do not need a veterinarian's certificate of health or a USDA APHIS import permit approved in advance.

I also contacted one airline, who told me their policy is to ban carrying live fish on passenger planes, and they recommended I contact a pet cargo service, specifically JCS Livestock, related to JamesCargo.com. So, I contacted them, and here is our actual conversation:

I am interested in transporting a small number (5-10) of small (3-6" long) tropical fish pets. These are my personal pets. I want to bring them back with me from the UK to the USA.

Good afternoon. Thank you for your email. We are happy to quote this for you but we would really need to make you aware that the fatality rate in transit, for fish is quite high. Please advise if you wish for me to proceed with a quote for you. (emphasis added by me - they did not print this email in red font, LOL)

Oh, yeah... Did they just say that?!? And how much do you think was their price quote for shipping? Almost GBP £600!

Hopefully that helps you. The take-home message is book your flights on airlines that allow you to carry on live fish, and that will greatly simplify and cheapen the legal importation of pet/hobby fish from the UK to the USA.

One more piece of advice I've received informally - If you do travel with live fish in your carry-on bags, it's an excellent idea to print out paper copies of all the details and policies mentioned above, and place copies in the carry-on luggage with the fish. That way, if you encounter an airport or airline worker who is unfamiliar with the policies, you can provide them printed information. Importantly though, the TSA website explicitly states that ultimately it is up to the judgment of the TSA security professionals to permit or reject the fish, so even with the policy you are not guaranteed smooth sailing.

I am still waiting to hear from Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) in the UK.

If you are aware of any agencies I've overlooked, please let me know. I'll investigate and add them to this list.

Finally, if you do bring back any fish this month, or before this summer, please PM me and describe your experience, because I am earnest to bring fish back with me this summer, and I want to ensure a safe and successful (and legal) transport.

Cheers, bekateen

P.S. Links to USFWS pages on rules and definition of commercial are updated 2022/03/24. The old link for the definition led to a pdf document here: https://www.fws.gov/le/pdf/3-200-3a.pdf. I do not know the current disposition of this document, but the same info is found on the links I updated above.

That thread is getting old now (although I edited it almost 3 years ago with an update) so some policies may have changed (e.g., back then, domestic US flights required you put fish in checked bags, but now it's in carry-on bags).

The USFWS edec system is still basically the same. The biggest vagueness is how many fish can you bring in as a hobbyist. The policy references 8 fish. Some inspectors may interpret that as less than 8. My USFWS interactions have always allowed 8. And, they allowed 8 of each species (I most recently transported 8 each of 4 species), but the policy is unclear if that 8 is 8 per species or 8 total.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Eric
Cheers

[TwoTankAmin]

I have never personally brought back fish from outside of the country. However, I did work with to people who did regularly import fish from the other side of the world and S. America. It was not difficult and is was definitely done for profit. To complicate things one import was of 324 zebra plecos which require a certificate of origin in order for them to be allowed out of Asia and into the states due to their CITES status. This is intended to limit the movement of this species to tank raised/farmed fish and not to allow wild ones to be involved. This is not a common thing.

Basically, there were several parties involved. The first was the breeders overseas, next came the exporters which can be the same as the breeders or can be an independent entity. In order to land them here they had to clear things at the USA end. In one case my partner in the import did a lot of the work but he also had an importer who got them off the plane and into our hands.

In most of he cases I worked with an online reseller who used an American transshipper who took care of everything. They sent out the lists from the various exporters and one order what they wanted. The fish always arrived on Sundays and my part of things was to pick up the order at the transshipper not far outside of the Kennedy Airport in NYC. I met the buyer outside of Philly and was reimbursed for the shipment payment I had mad. I did this because i was able to piggy back the person's order and acquire fish very cheaply. it was also a big help the the seller who was a friend I was helping out.

So, my suggestion would be to get things set up with both an exporter where you are going and an importer where the fish will be landed. Doing either or both before you even leave on your trip will make things easier. It is possible that your fish will arrive in the USA before you do. So you should have a plan for that in place.

The reason I suggest all of the above is that you never know when something may delay things. So if you have minimal time between when you will ship the fish and when you need to be leaving yourself, if anything goes wrong you will not have time to fix it. When we imported 350 plecos there was a delay in the seller getting the necessary certificate of origin as the vet. involved was not available for a couple of days. This did not matter to us, but it sounds like it would be a problem for you if something delayed the departure.

One last observation regarding landing the fish in the states. The need inspectors who must approve your box when it lands are only stationed full time at the major international airports such as NY, Chicago, Atlanta, LA etc. The more regional airports which accept international flights will require the needed official travel to meet your flight which is the reason for the charges mentioned above by Eric. So if you can land your fish as one of the really big international airports here that will save you money.

[Shane]

A lot of the above will be useful if you decide to have fish shipped on your behalf. I have never done it that way so can not advise with regard to commercial levels of fish shipping. However, I do not believe, based on our conversation, that is your intention.

1) Get a small flat styro that will fit in your suitcase. I have been using the same one for many years. It measures 18" x 18" x 4" deep. Pack the fish in solid containers. I like wide mouth plastic water bottles, but have seen baby food jars used. I have had too many bags punctured by catfishes in transport. One or two small fishes will be fine in a water bottle. Bottles are packed on their side to increase water surface during transport. Fill in any extra space with clothing like socks.

If you can't find the correct size styro you can easily make one. Once everything is packed seal the styro up with packing tape and pack in your suitcase.

9 times out of 10 times this is all you need to do and things will go smoothly. Fish in carry ons can be a real issue mostly because the people you will have to deal with will not know the rules. It's not worth it. Fish in big export styros also attract a lot of attention as you appear to be a commercial shipper.

2) As we spoke about, have a commercial fish store receipt for the fish. This demonstrates that you acquired the fish legally and, if they were sold in a pet store, are probably not protected. Stay under 7 of each sp so as not to break any rules. However, I never met an airport employee that could id fishes lol.

If you read Eric's posting above you can see that this all falls under the rules. Just stick to being a pet owner moving your pets between places and you will avoid a lot of red tape and hassles.

-Shane