Prohibiting pet crayfish does not consistently reduce their availability online

The pet trade is a significant source of introductions of non-indigenous aquatic species, such as crayfish. To test whether legislation that regulates the ownership of ornamental animals for aquariums had the desired effect of reducing the availability of those pets, classified advertising websites were monitored for sales of crayfish in jurisdictions with and without legislation regulating the ownership of crayfish. Advertisements from Canadian provinces with legislation against owning crayfish were compared to provinces without such legislation. The population adjusted number of advertisements for crayfish, and number of distinct sellers of crayfish, was significantly lower in one of two provinces that prohibited crayfish compared to provinces that permitted crayfish. This mixed outcome suggests that legislation alone does not consistently reduce online trade in crayfish.

Key Words
Pet trade; aquariums; legislation; non-indigenous crayfish; prohibited species

Authorship

Zen Faulkes

ESCNE 2.364, Department of Biology, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, Texas, USA. The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyUSAEdinburg, Texas, USAESCNE 2.364, Department of Biology, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, Texas, USA.

http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4049-7034

E-mail
: (ZF) zen.faulkes@utrgv.edu

SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Figures

Figures (4)

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Figure 1
Supply chain of ornamental species in the pet trade. Any species sold in the aquarium trade is initially taken from wild populations (Ng and Tan 1997Ng, P.K.L. and Tan , H.H. 1997. Freshwater fishes of Southeast Asia: potential for the aquarium fish trade and conservation issues. Aquarium Sciences and Conservation, 1: 79-90.; Raghavan et al., 2013Raghavan, R.; Dahanukar, N.; Tlusty, M.F.; Rhyne, A.L.; Krishna Kumar, K.; Molur, S. and Rosser, A.M. 2013. Uncovering an obscure trade: threatened freshwater fishes and the aquarium pet markets. Biological Conservation, 164: 158-169.), although aquaculture can replace collection from the wild as a supply for the pet trade (Ng and Tan 1997Ng, P.K.L. and Tan , H.H. 1997. Freshwater fishes of Southeast Asia: potential for the aquarium fish trade and conservation issues. Aquarium Sciences and Conservation, 1: 79-90.; Voigt, 2016Voigt, E. 2016. The Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World’s Most Coveted Fish. New York: Scribner, 318p.). Most freshwater aquarium fish species are aquacultured (Whittington and Chong, 2007Whittington, R.J. and Chong, R. 2007. Global trade in ornamental fish from an Australian perspective: The case for revised import risk analysis and management strategies. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 81: 92-116.; Maceda-Veiga et al., 2016Maceda-Veiga, A.; Domínguez-Domínguez, O.; Escribano-Alacid, J. and Lyons, J. 2016. The aquarium hobby: can sinners become saints in freshwater fish conservation? Fish and Fisheries, 17: 860-874.), although the proportion for crayfish species that are aquacultured is unknown. Breeders and wholesalers may be one and the same entities. These are unlikely, however, to deal directly with the members of the public who buy and own pets. Retailers are the main source of animals for sale to the public, although owners may share or sell pets directly among themselves (Faulkes, 2015bFaulkes, Z. 2015b. Marmorkrebs (Procambarus fallax f. virginalis) are the most popular crayfish in the North American pet trade. Knowledge and Management of Aquatic Ecosystems, 416: 20.). Aquatic pets often die in captivity, but those that do not may be released alive either into sewer systems (Assis et al., 2014Assis, D.A.S.; Cavalcante, S.S. and Brito, M.F.G. 2014. Aquarium trade as a potential disseminator of non-native invertebrates in Northeastern Brazil. Neotropical Biology and Conservation, 9: 115-119.; Patoka et al., 2014Patoka, J.; Petrtýl, M. and Kalous, L. 2014. Garden ponds as potential introduction pathway of ornamental crayfish. Knowledge and Management of Aquatic Ecosystems, 414: 13.; Blanchette, 2016Blanchette, A. 2016. Officials warn: Don't flush your goldfish. In Star Tribune. (Star Tribune Company, Minnsota). Available at Available at http://www.startribune.com/officials-warn-don-t-flush-your-goldfish/365792231/ . Accessed on: 27 April 2018.
http://www.startribune.com/officials-war... ), where probability of survival is low, or into outdoor habitats (Chucholl, 2013Chucholl, C. 2013. Invaders for sale: trade and determinants of introduction of ornamental freshwater crayfish. Biological Invasions, 15: 125-141.; Pârvulescu et al., 2017Pârvulescu, L.; Togor, A.; Lele, S.-F.; Scheu, S.; Șinca, D. and Panteleit, J. 2017. First established population of marbled crayfish Procambarus fallax (Hagen, 1870) f. virginalis (Decapoda, Cambaridae) in Romania. BioInvasions Records, 6: 357-362.), where they may become unwanted introduced species. Even when crayfish die in captivity or soon after release, they can still spread diseases post mortem, such as crayfish plague (Oidtmann et al., 2002Oidtmann, B.; Heitz, E.; Rogers, D. and Hoffmann, R.W. 2002. Transmission of crayfish plague. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms, 52: 259-167.) if their bodies contact natural ecosystems.

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Figure 2
A, Map of Canada (light gray) with focal provinces in this study shown in dark gray. B, Map of Canadian prairie provinces of Alberta (AB), Saskatchewan (SK), and Manitoba (MB), with dots showing locations of sellers placing advertisements for crayfish on Kijiji. Most dots concentrate around cities such as Calgary and Edmonton (AB), Regina and Saskatoon (SK), and Winnipeg (MB). C, Canadian Atlantic province of Nova Scotia (NS), with dots showing locations of sellers placing advertisements for crayfish on Kijiji. Most dots are near the city of Halifax.

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Figure 3
Online sales of crayfish in selected Canadian provinces. A, number of individual advertisements per month per million people in the population. B, number of individual sellers placing ads per month per million people in the population. In both, provinces that do not differ statistically share a lowercase letter above the box. Square = mean; horizontal line = median; box = 50% of data; whiskers = 95% of data; triangles = minimum and maximum.

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Figure 4
Crayfish that have probably been misidentified by their sellers. A-C, representative pictures of crayfish described as Cherax or “Australian” in online advertisements. All appear to be members of the North American genus Procambarus.

Figure 1 Supply chain of ornamental species in the pet trade. Any species sold in the aquarium trade is initially taken from wild populations (Ng and Tan 1997Ng, P.K.L. and Tan , H.H. 1997. Freshwater fishes of Southeast Asia: potential for the aquarium fish trade and conservation issues. Aquarium Sciences and Conservation, 1: 79-90.; **Raghavan et al., 2013Raghavan, R.; Dahanukar, N.; Tlusty, M.F.; Rhyne, A.L.; Krishna Kumar, K.; Molur, S. and Rosser, A.M. 2013. Uncovering an obscure trade: threatened freshwater fishes and the aquarium pet markets. Biological Conservation, 164: 158-169.), although aquaculture can replace collection from the wild as a supply for the pet trade (Ng and Tan 1997Ng, P.K.L. and Tan , H.H. 1997. Freshwater fishes of Southeast Asia: potential for the aquarium fish trade and conservation issues. Aquarium Sciences and Conservation, 1: 79-90.; Voigt, 2016Voigt, E. 2016. The Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World’s Most Coveted Fish. New York: Scribner, 318p.). Most freshwater aquarium fish species are aquacultured (Whittington and Chong, 2007Whittington, R.J. and Chong, R. 2007. Global trade in ornamental fish from an Australian perspective: The case for revised import risk analysis and management strategies. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 81: 92-116.; Maceda-Veiga et al., 2016Maceda-Veiga, A.; Domínguez-Domínguez, O.; Escribano-Alacid, J. and Lyons, J. 2016. The aquarium hobby: can sinners become saints in freshwater fish conservation? Fish and Fisheries, 17: 860-874.), although the proportion for crayfish species that are aquacultured is unknown. Breeders and wholesalers may be one and the same entities. These are unlikely, however, to deal directly with the members of the public who buy and own pets. Retailers are the main source of animals for sale to the public, although owners may share or sell pets directly among themselves (Faulkes, 2015bFaulkes, Z. 2015b. Marmorkrebs (Procambarus fallax f. virginalis) are the most popular crayfish in the North American pet trade. Knowledge and Management of Aquatic Ecosystems, 416: 20.). Aquatic pets often die in captivity, but those that do not may be released alive either into sewer systems (Assis et al., 2014Assis, D.A.S.; Cavalcante, S.S. and Brito, M.F.G. 2014. Aquarium trade as a potential disseminator of non-native invertebrates in Northeastern Brazil. Neotropical Biology and Conservation, 9: 115-119.; Patoka et al., 2014Patoka, J.; Petrtýl, M. and Kalous, L. 2014. Garden ponds as potential introduction pathway of ornamental crayfish. Knowledge and Management of Aquatic Ecosystems, 414: 13.; Blanchette, 2016Blanchette, A. 2016. Officials warn: Don't flush your goldfish. In Star Tribune. (Star Tribune Company, Minnsota). Available at Available at http://www.startribune.com/officials-warn-don-t-flush-your-goldfish/365792231/ . Accessed on: 27 April 2018.
http://www.startribune.com/officials-war... ), where probability of survival is low, or into outdoor habitats (Chucholl, 2013Chucholl, C. 2013. Invaders for sale: trade and determinants of introduction of ornamental freshwater crayfish. Biological Invasions, 15: 125-141.; Pârvulescu et al., 2017Pârvulescu, L.; Togor, A.; Lele, S.-F.; Scheu, S.; Șinca, D. and Panteleit, J. 2017. First established population of marbled crayfish Procambarus fallax (Hagen, 1870) f. virginalis (Decapoda, Cambaridae) in Romania. BioInvasions Records, 6: 357-362.), where they may become unwanted introduced species. Even when crayfish die in captivity or soon after release, they can still spread diseases post mortem, such as crayfish plague (Oidtmann et al., 2002**Oidtmann, B.; Heitz, E.; Rogers, D. and Hoffmann, R.W. 2002. Transmission of crayfish plague. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms, 52: 259-167.) if their bodies contact natural ecosystems.

Figure 2 A, Map of Canada (light gray) with focal provinces in this study shown in dark gray. B, Map of Canadian prairie provinces of Alberta (AB), Saskatchewan (SK), and Manitoba (MB), with dots showing locations of sellers placing advertisements for crayfish on Kijiji. Most dots concentrate around cities such as Calgary and Edmonton (AB), Regina and Saskatoon (SK), and Winnipeg (MB). C, Canadian Atlantic province of Nova Scotia (NS), with dots showing locations of sellers placing advertisements for crayfish on Kijiji. Most dots are near the city of Halifax.

Figure 3 Online sales of crayfish in selected Canadian provinces. A, number of individual advertisements per month per million people in the population. B, number of individual sellers placing ads per month per million people in the population. In both, provinces that do not differ statistically share a lowercase letter above the box. Square = mean; horizontal line = median; box = 50% of data; whiskers = 95% of data; triangles = minimum and maximum.

Figure 4 Crayfish that have probably been misidentified by their sellers. A-C, representative pictures of crayfish described as Cherax or “Australian” in online advertisements. All appear to be members of the North American genus Procambarus.

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Prohibiting pet crayfish does not consistently reduce their availability online

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[1] E-mail
: (ZF) zen.faulkes@utrgv.edu