New info on exporting and importing insects

I have to say this is a terrible idea. You are still violating US law if you are importing commercial specimens as "scientific". Knowingly providing false information on federal forms is a crime on top of that!

yep sounds pretty risky.
There is a distinct difference betwwen commercial and scientific , usually the scientific specimens can only be sent between scientific institutions and registered researchers and they are each allocated an export number which must be on parcel .
I find you can talk to 3 different people in customs and each will give you a different reply , they are not even sure of correct procedure at times so it better to triple or quadruple check, rather than risk some hefty fines eventually.

What Billgarthe said.

I have a permit, and I always do the declarations, and yes it is a huge PITA and costs money for nothing. BUT BUT BUT if you get caught importing contrary to regulations you run the risk of a hassle, even arrest and (more likely) fine, seizure of your collection (even if temporary, I can assure you something will be damaged), and you might get blacklisted so you get hassled every time you cross the border.

There are plenty of "loopholes." I just found one in a particular state's protected species laws (don't ask me, I'm not going to give the details because in this case it could actually be detrimental to a species.) Anyway, the point is if you're really interested in avoiding the hassle, real all the laws and then find a hole. But keep one thing in mind- it's free to arrest, but it costs money to defend- guess which side you're on.

Bluemoth- it is not uncommon for people to "piggy-back" on permits so that is probably reasonable- in other fields anyway it require that you accompany them, you can't go out on your own unless your specifically mentioned in the permit. Getting involved as a volunteer would be a great way to make contacts that could help you with this. Many times you can even volunteer to accompany them to various localities. In the science free help is usually appreciated because money is always tight and outreach is frequently an important facet to research.

I think the major thing about importing for "scientific research" is that if you don't have permits anyway you probably aren't scientific and then there is a concern about gains you might be trying to make with specimens. I know that if you were to collect a small number, say 5, very common butterflies from a country that doesn't require it's own export permits and you weren't planning on selling or trading them then you would be able to bring those in without payment- you still need to do the PPQ of course. I called USFW to confirm. But who wants to only have 5 very common butterflies if they went to the trouble of going overseas to collect? Probably not many of us.

It's probably the best idea to try to accompany someone else who is getting a permit, all the way through the permitting process and through the return back to the states so you can see how it works. That's what I would like to do. Unfortunately finding someone like this is not always easy, hence the local collecting only for me. I'm even afraid to buy specimens from overseas (and I don't find buying them as satisfying anyway), period. Best of luck! And if it does work out I would love to hear about it.

To everyone who has contributed to this thread...your posts make me pleased to be in the UK where we don't have all of this hastle.

To all US collectors - you have my admiration and respect for perservering with this hobby despite the hurdles put in the way by the authorities.

Simon

Yes, that's a big point- trading is a type of gain. "Gain" is used because it is ambiguous, how you qualify what is gain and what is not isn't defined in the law. Theoretically, the notoriety you might gain by publishing a paper on a specimen you collected abroad, common and singular as it might have been, could be misconstrued as "gain." Legal wording is almost always intentionally ambiguous like this so that special exceptions don't cause problems should they arise, it takes the guess work out of it for authorities that may not be as well informed as they need to be for every circumstance. Always presume that the law will not fall on your side unless it is absolutely clear.

The other thing about collecting under a permit for someone else is to be sure that you can keep the specimens yourself. Most often it is written in the permit what the ultimate fate of the specimens will be and if that doesn't include you then you may not be able to keep what you collect. If you collect with a museum you probably will have to surrender what you get to them at the end of the day. It's not really of any benefit or of interest to museums and the like to expose themselves to the risk of an additional collector when they don't get anything in return.

You can always design your plan of attack and then call USFW directly to explain your intent and your approach. They will likely clarify whether what you are doing is acceptable or not.

Yes, getting letters back from them(USFW) is rare indeed.

Since letters are so tough to get and phone records are 'ify', I do have many hard copies of emails from various inspectors. If questions arose and you had to show evidence of some sort, having copies of these emails would, in my opinion, be a good bet. Having them would clearly show one's intent to abide by the laws even if the inspector was wrong.

When emailing, I tend to be rather basic and not at all like I am some sort of know-it-all.....which I'm not. Asking the most basic questions from the position of a mere bug collector wanting to do the right thing is a good approach. By being basic, I am trying not to put them 'on guard'. Many smaller questions over a period of time is better than one super-huge email with multiple questions and many 'what-ifs'.

For obvious reasons, I am not going to list all my cooperative inspectors. Try emailing a bunch and see what happens. There are actually a few USFW inspectors who really do want to help and don't treat us with a gestapo-like attitude.