FMAS May General Meeting is coming up. FWC and DACS

[AquamanE]

When: May 26, 2015
Time: 7PM
Where: South Plantation High School
1300 SW 54th Ave, Plantation, FL 33317


The much anticipated meeting with Florida Wildlife Commission (FWC), and The Florida Division of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DACS), Aquaculture Division is coming this month to FMAS. :fish1::fish1:

These are the State entities that regulate and enforce the rules of our State. :hammer:

They will help answer all your pressing questions with regard to rules and regulations, and how they apply to our hobby.

Dont get caught with your pants down not knowing the rules of our State. :uhoh3:

 

[AquamanE]

Is it legit to sell frags at swaps without a aquaculture certificate? How about from one member to the other?

What do I do if my stag-horn colony is growing out of the water and i have to cut it, do i throw it in the garbage vs bartering with friends?:blown:

 

[nivram]

They will also have information on how to become aquaculture certified. It may not be as difficult as you think.

Remember you do not have to be a member to attend our meetings. So bring your friends with you.

 

[nivram]

We will have free pizza at this meeting. Don't forget about the raffle!

 

[nivram]

Bump

 

[Deep Reef]

looking forward to it

 

[nivram]

Reminder. This is next week.

 

[AquamanE]

Are we required to have an aquaculture license to keep, or sell frags of our flourishing corals or fish?. :sad2:

If i want to trade with Peter a coral that is growing out of my tank?, or do i cut it and throw in the garbage? :sad2::sad2:

What if I do want to sell it to Peter for a few bucks from my own home? :sad2::sad2::sad2:

How about at a frag swap? :hammer::fish1:

These are the questions that we hopefully get answered this coming Tuesday!!!

Dont miss out on this and the raffle. :blown:

 

[Lacy]

We will have free pizza at this meeting. Don't forget about the raffle!

I'm bringing paper plates for pizza.

 

[Bret61081]

Id love a recap! Im in NYC for work =(

 

[Lacy]

Id love a recap! Im in NYC for work =(

It will just confuse you more.
In order to sell a frag you have to have an aquaculture license (100.00) and a retail license (75.00). They didn't say, but Broward county will probably want you to have a business license also. This applies to every hobbyist even Joe Schmo who wants to sell 50.00 of frags a year. Jeff from Ft. Myers asked if they could have a blank permit/license for a frag swap that would cover everyone for that swap.I think they are going to look into it. This only applies to non commercial people. Their definition of commercial people are people who have a store front, website or brokers (I think they said brokers). Many questions were asked and at times they looked as confused as us.

You also need documentation of where the coral came from and what species it is. What!! Most stores don't even have a clue as to what species it is. I am talking about stores such as Beverly's, Petco and even a lot of reef stores don't even know. Keep your receipts and write down the info that you can. Eddie asked what if we bought a coral from an individual in another state where they are not required to have permits and licenses? Again a blank stare and I think they might have said to write things down. Sorry, but it goes on and on. So many questions and so few answers.

I think they are opening up a can of worms without having all the answers. I think they should spend more time catching the bad guys who are really up to no good and leave us hobbyist alone. IMO it sounds like a lot of manpower is going to be wasted on us hobbyist. :headwalls:

 

[itz frank]

Rene, they also said that the rules were intended to stop people from going around the system. The fwc nor dacs will come after someone like you or me.
They said that if you're going commercial, you need docs as to origin of your corals or what you're selling.

Basically, Ina nutshell, if you feel that you are borderline business, you need these. If you're a hobbyist, they have no intentions of causing problems.

 

[AquamanE]

Lacy, Frank, and Bret- i created another thread with a more appropriate title so that those that coudnt participate can learn what we understood. :hmm5:

 

[itz frank]

Lacy, Frank, and Bret- i created another thread with a more appropriate title so that those that coudnt participate can learn what we understood. :hmm5:

I saw it.