RELATES TO:
KRS
150.180
NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY:
KRS
150.025(1)(c) authorizes the
department to promulgate administrative regulations regarding the buying,
selling, or transporting of fish and wildlife.
KRS
150.280(2) authorizes the
department to promulgate administrative regulations prohibiting the holding or
transporting of species potentially damaging to native ecosystems. This
administrative regulation establishes the species of aquatic life that are
prohibited in the Commonwealth.
Section
1. A person shall not buy, sell, possess, import, or release any
aquatic species not native or established in Kentucky waters, except as
established in Section 2, 4, or 5 of this administrative regulation.
Section 2. Exceptions.
(1) A person may buy, sell, import, or
possess any aquatic specimens for aquarium use, except as established in
Sections 3 and 4 of this administrative regulation, but shall not release the
species into Kentucky waters.
(2) A
person may buy, sell, import, or possess sterile,
triploid grass carp
(Ctenopharyngodon idella) pursuant to
301 KAR 1:171.
(3) A fertile, diploid grass carp may only be
imported or possessed by a certified propagator for the exclusive purpose of
producing triploid grass carp.
(4)
Individuals of any aquatic species may be immediately released at the time of
catch back into the water body from which they are caught.
(5) Tilapia (Tilapia spp. or Oreochromis
spp.) may be transported and sold live within Kentucky for aquarium use or to
a:
(a) Licensed propagator;
(b) Licensed live fish and bait dealer;
or
(c) Person, corporation, or
other business entity that is selling fish for food in establishments licensed
for resale by another state agency or for sale as wholesale food
products.
(6) A person
may buy, sell, import, or possess goldfish (Carassius auratus) for use as
bait.
Section 3. The
live
aquatic organisms established in subsections (1) through (7) of this
section shall not be imported, bought, sold, or possessed in aquaria:
(1) Subfamily Serrasalminae - piranha,
piraya, pirae, or tiger characins;
(2) Astyanax mexicanus - Mexican banded
tetra, Mexican minnow, or Mexican tetra;
(3) Petromyzon marinus - sea
lamprey;
(4) Genus Clarias -
walking catfish;
(5) Genus Channa -
snakeheads of Asia and Africa;
(6)
Dreissena polymorpha - zebra mussel; or
(7) Neogobius melanostomus - round
goby.
Section 4.
Invasive carp.
(1) A person shall not buy,
sell, possess, import, transport, or
release the live
invasive carp species
established in paragraphs (a) through (d) of this subsection, except as
established in Sections 2(2), (3), and (4) of this administrative regulation:
(a) Hypophthalmichthys molitrix - silver
carp;
(b) Hypophthalmichthys
nobilis - bighead carp;
(c)
Mylopharyngodon piceus - black carp; or
(d) Ctenopharyngodon idella - grass
carp.
(2) A licensed
commercial fisherman or any person possessing a sport fishing license may
possess, sell, and transport the species of
invasive carp established in
Section 4(1) of this administrative regulation if the
invasive carp are:
(a) Not being transported in water;
(b) Dead or dying; and
(c) Being transported to a fish processing
facility.
Section
5. Commissioner Approval. The commissioner may permit the
importation of a banned aquatic species if the applicant demonstrates that the
species shall be used for legitimate scientific or educational
purposes.
