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Apistos from French Guyana?

P.W.

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Sweden
I was just reading the comments from During in this article in "Aquarium International". He mentions that since france are considering former colonys actually as parts of EU, the imports of fishes to Europe is very simple. See the quote below:

"European Jungle – Watching Apistogramma gossei in Their Natural Habitat
by Lutz Döring
What does a fan of South American dwarf cichlids do if he wants to film them in their habitat and bring some of them home? Quite simply, he sets out to the European jungle! ‘European jungle?’, you might be asking, ‘What does he mean by that?’ It’s really quite simple: France considers its overseas protectorates a part of France and the European Union; therefore, the “import” of fish from these places is no more difficult that carrying fish across borders in Europe. All that is needed is a veterinary certificate, which is easy to get in the countries with close ties to France."

Do any of you guys in this forum have any comments to this statement? Is it really correct?
 

Mike Wise

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French Guiana is not a territory or protectorate, but actually is part of France. Technically it is an "overseas Department of France", just like Hawaii is an overseas "State of the United States of America".
 

P.W.

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French Guiana is not a territory or protectorate, but actually is part of France. Technically it is an "overseas Department of France", just like Hawaii is an overseas "State of the United States of America".

Sorry, I was not really questioning the status of the territory. Reading my post again, I realize I wasn,t very clear about my question.
It was really this sentence I´m wondering about:

"the “import” of fish from these places is no more difficult that carrying fish across borders in Europe."

Since France is a part of the "Schengen-area" within europe, there are no customs (well, some random checks for illegal substances) and no passport controls when travelling between Schengen countries.
And since Guyana is considered as a part of France, it would be extremely easy to bring Apistos for example to Sweden, via France. :)
 

Rolo

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Hi,

Well, I have been there together with Lutz and some others.
(In the next issue of the Aquarium International magazine will be another article about Apistos from French Guyana) ;-)

It is correct, what Lutz wrote. French Guyana ist french territory, therefore it belongs to the European Union.
And therefore, you need no licences to go fishing and you can bring back home all fishes, except they are protected.
We just had to make a list of all species, we wanted to export and show the veterinary that the fishes are in good condition and how they are prepared for the transport. Then we got the veterinary certificate. And that's all we needed to bring the fishes back home to germany. Pretty easy.

regards,
Rolo
 

aquaticclarity

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Hi, And that's all we needed to bring the fishes back home to germany.

It's a shame that on your next trip you have a lay over in Chicago...Just let me know the flight time and I'll come down to help you with your load of fish so they aren't such a burden to fly the rest of the trip with.
 

Rolo

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Bremen, Germany
It's a shame that on your next trip you have a lay over in Chicago...Just let me know the flight time and I'll come down to help you with your load of fish so they aren't such a burden to fly the rest of the trip with.

That's a great idea! ;-)
....but I have an even better one.

Why don't you spend your next holidays in the beautiful north of germany? I still have these fishes.

regards,
Rolo
 

aquaticclarity

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That's a great idea! ;-)
....but I have an even better one.

Why don't you spend your next holidays in the beautiful north of germany? I still have these fishes.

regards,
Rolo

My wife would LOVE to do that! Right after we got married, coming up on 11 years this year, she went off to Heidelberg for 2 months of schooling. I then headed over when she was done and we toured around for 2 weeks for our honeymoon. It was a GREAT trip...even if I only made it into a few small fish stores and didn't really see much. The trip itself was great. We met friends in Aachen but that was about as far north as we got. Once the kids are a little older we plan on making the trip again...without the kids in tow of course! The problem would be bringing fish back into the US though. Something I would want to get figured out just in case...
 

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