Legality of shrimp in Maine

[Green024]

Crystal red shrimp and most other freshwater aquarium shrimp you all know of and love to watch, are Illegal without a permit In the state I live in, Maine.

I was wondering why I have never seen any species of shrimp in my local fish store's tanks for sale. So I contacted the Maine department of wildlife and asked them why this is so.

Here is what i got for a reply:
"Thank you for your inquiry about the importation of crystal red shrimp.
MDIFW regulates the importation of wildlife into the State of Maine. These shrimp are not listed on the unrestricted species list, so they are not allowed to be imported into the State of Maine without permits. The unrestricted list can be seen at: http://www.maine.gov/ifw/wildlife/sp...ed_species.htm

Addition of species to the unrestricted list requires a comprehensive agency review, some items the review would address are potential threats to native species, their habitats,and potential disease issues. Such a review for Cyrstal Red Shrimp has not occurred."


I then asked him:

What are the chances of getting one of these reviews started? And how could someone like myself help this species and others like it become part of the unrestricted list? Who would i contact?


He replied:
"Due to a variety of reasons, including staff work loads, lack of staffing, financial constraints, and MDIFW work priorities, this review would be of lower priority.
In answer to your question reference work you could do as prep work for a review process, a first step is to prepare documentation (report) of a comprehensive review of literature on the species , addressing those attributes I spoke of in my earlier email, which are life history attributes for the species that may potentially threaten native fish and wildlife species and their habitats, diseases and parasites, ensuring the medium they would be shipped in contains no organisms that would potentially pose the same type of threats and other pertinent information.
The initial contact person for the agency is myself.
As far as diversifying your aquarium, have you given thought to native crayfish?"

Crayfish? Weak....
I have no knowledge about writing comprehensive reviews on animals, nor do I know much about crs and other shrimp like them besides how to keep them in a freshwater aquarium.

It would be GREAT to find another states (similar to Maine's conditions) comprehensive review that was done on shrimp. Possibly saving other people some time doing research and writing. If this is even possible.....

Is there anyone out there who can help assist me on this or knows someone who can?
Your assistance is greatly appreciated

[Mustafa]

Never heard about this before. That is really an odd regulation. I am not aware of any other state that actually has such procedures...as far as I know shrimp are "fair game" in pretty much all of the rest of the US.

[Green024]

Kinda sucks, I wouldn't mind being the local breeder of these awesome little creatures... not the illegal shrimp dealer

[aidenofthetower]

I totally agree that it sucks, but the problem isn't really the state. The problem is that there are people out there who release animals! This causes all sorts of environmental problems. Therefore it is easier to say, "no, we don't know if it is safe or not". Then to let it happen until there is a problem. Fish and invertibrates can play havoc on an eco-system that isn't used to them being there. They can breed, over take other populations, and kill of native creatures. It's always good to speak out against releasing unwanted pets into the environment. Maybe some day it will get through to those that might do such things.