If COMPETES Act H.R. 4521 is passed successfully through the Senate it will cause a catastrophic effect on specialty pet hobbies, including aquarium hobbyists.

The 2022 COMPETES Act (H.R. 4521) includes amendments to the Lacey Act’s shipping clause. The COMPETES Act has passed the House and has now gone to the Senate for their decision. If the amendments to the Lacey Act are passed as written, the aquarium hobby, along with all other specialty pet hobbies (aside from cats and dogs), will be in danger of being a thing of the past, essentially overnight.

The following is an excerpt from PIJAC:
“These amendments are alarming for the pet care community because they:
• Expand the authority of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to prevent interstate transport between states in the continental U.S. of species listed as injurious.
• Create a whitelist of approved species that can be imported, where any animal not listed is treated as an injurious species by default and banned from importation into the U.S.
• Grant the Secretary of the Interior powers to use an "emergency declaration" to prohibit importation of a species found to be injurious to humans, agriculture, horticulture, forestry, wildlife, or wildlife resources for up to 3 years. The "emergency declaration" would be effective immediately on publication in the Federal Register, unless extended up to 60 days.

Basically, in regard to the aquarium hobby, we currently operate on a state-by-state basis, within the US Fish and Wildlife’s guidelines, in allowing species in states where the climate would not allow for those species to become invasive if somehow allowed into local waters. In states where such species could potentially survive in the local climates long enough to populate and become a threat to native wildlife, said species are deemed illegal to import or bring across state borders, to protect our native wildlife populations. However, if passed, all species would be deemed injurious, thus made illegal for import or transport across state borders, until such a time that each and every species could be evaluated and placed on an approved list that would allow or deny them access to our industry.
Simply put, all species are guilty until proven innocent. This is how a whitelist works. This applies to all of our freshwater and saltwater animals. From goldfish and guppies to clownfish and corals. Even the sustainably raised and captive-bred fish and aquatic animals bred within the US would not be allowed out of the states in which they were raised.
Keep in mind that this amendment to the Lacey Act would affect all of the specialty pet industry. Fish, Birds, Reptiles, Bugs, and everything in between.

Hopefully not only will big box stores, public aquariums, and the industry watchdogs, stand up and speak loudly against the passing of this Act, as it would potentially destroy the specialty pet industry as we know it, but so too will the little voices that belong to small business owners, and hobbyists like myself and anyone who owns specialty pets, so that we can make a difference too.

Let our Senators know that we love our hobby and don’t want to see it disappear.