>To what extent are the Achatinellidae and other Hawaiian land snails
>"protected".  By Hawaiian state law only?  Or are they on the
>International Endangered Species List, and therefore illegal to sell
>in the United States?  This is of interest to me because I have quite
>a few specimens, from an old collection I purchased.  While I am on
>the subject, a technical point I have wondered about in the past - if
>it is illegal to sell a specimen (such as the Manus Island emerald
>tree snail), is it also illegal for a collector to trade such a
>specimen to another collector?  Technically, this might be considered
>"barter", which for all practical purposes is a sale.  Also, is it
>technically illegal to possess such specimens, or only to sell them?
>Paul M.
>Rhode Island
>
>
 
Under II. Exceptions/exemptions of the ESA, part D: Loans and gifts, reads:
 
Lawfully taken and held endangered and threatened species may be shipped
interstate as a bona fide gift or loan if there is no barter, credit, other
form of compenstaion, or intent to profit or gain... Documentation of such
an activity should accompany the shipment.
 
[Trading would seem to be illegal based on this definition. For lawfully
taken, it must have been collected with the proper permits, or grandfathered
- see next]
 
Part E: Pre-Act Wildlife
 
[everyone had better read this!]
 
Species held in captivity or controlled environment - Section 10 of the Act
states that Section 9 provisions do not apply to activities involving
endangered species which were held in captivity or in a controlled
environment on December 28, 1973, or the dtae of the Federal Register
publication of listing, which ever is later, provided that the purposes of
such holding and any subsequent holdings were not contrary to the purposes
of the Act and that the wildilife was not held in the course of a commercial
activity.
 
[grandfather clause - if you have endangered species in a collection before
they were listed, you can keep them, but you cannot trade or sell them
because...]
 
E continues [emphasis mine]...
 
Note that commerce activity of ANY kind (including intrastate) VOIDS ANY
PRE-ACT STATUS. EVEN THE MERE OFFER FOR SALE REMOVES THE PRE-ACT STATUS.
 
*  G Thomas Watters               *
*  Ohio Biological Survey &       *
*  Aquatic Ecology Laboratory     *
*  Ohio State University          *
*  1315 Kinnear Rd.               *
*  Columbus, OH 43212 USA         *
*  v:614-292-6170 f:614-292-0181  *
 
"The world is my oyster, except for months with an "R" in them" - Firesign
Theater
 
"A paranoid is a man who knows a little of what's going on" - William Burroughs