Latest Lacey Act Stories
WASHINGTON, Aug. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Karen Sack, director of international ocean conservation for the Pew Environment Group, issued the following statement in response to a major decision that sends a strong message to those engaged in large-scale illegal fishing. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered three defendants to pay $54.9 million in restitution to the South African government for illegally taking lobsters from that country's...
WASHINGTON, Aug. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a Criminal Enforcement Agreement with the Department of Justice, Gibson Guitar Company today acknowledged responsibility for importing illegal wood into the United States and incurred penalties, totaling a minimum of $600,000, including the forfeiture of wood taken from the protected forests of Madagascar. Find DOJ's full press release at: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/August/12-enrd-976.html "The resolution of the first...
CARLSBAD, Calif., Oct. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) announced today that it has joined the Lacey Act Defense National Consensus Committee, a newly-formed group made up of companies, associations and organizations impacted by the Lacey Act, and leading environmental groups, with the purpose of creating a new standard designed to provide a defense to Lacey liability. The following organizations will participate in the new committee's activities:...
Findings demonstrate substantial returns on screening program relative to current costs of open-door policy WASHINGTON, Aug. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a major new study published in the journal Ecological Economics, scientists and economists have, for the first time, statistically demonstrated the net benefits of doing risk assessments for the live wild animal trade. The study estimates that the long-term expected net benefits from implementing a risk screening system range...
As yet another invasive animal becomes established, environmental groups call on the federal government to screen the trade of imported animals and prevent the next problem invasion WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A large, non-native lizard called the black and white tegu has become established in Florida. Like the Burmese python, one of the state's most well-known invasive animals, the lizard is pushing out many of Florida's native animals, including some threatened...
WASHINGTON, May 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A federal grand jury in Wichita, Kan., returned a 23-count felony indictment charging two brothers with conspiracy and wildlife trafficking stemming from the illegal sale of guided deer hunts, the Justice Department announced. The indictment charges James Bobby Butler Jr., 41, with conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act, 18 substantive violations of the Lacey Act, and three counts of obstruction of justice. His brother, Marlin Jackson Butler,...
WASHINGTON, March 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- April 1, 2010 marks the beginning of enforcement for basic information transparency requirements under the Lacey Act for guitars, revolvers, hand tools, pool cues and certain types of furniture. The US Lacey Act, amended in May 2008, makes it a federal crime to trade in illegal wood products. Under a phased-in process, many sectors also have to declare the scientific name and the country of harvest for any plant constituents of their imported...
WASHINGTON, March 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands and the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife will hold a joint oversight hearing on "How To Manage Large Constrictor Snakes And Other Invasive Species." The Subcommittees will receive testimony on efforts to monitor and control Burmese Pythons and other invasive species in Everglades National Park. At the center of this debate is the US Fish & Wildlife...
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Howard William Ledford of Hayesville, N.C., was sentenced today in federal court in the Western District of North Carolina to serve one year in prison for illegally selling and transporting wild American ginseng into Georgia, the Justice Department announced. Ledford pleaded guilty on Nov. 9, 2009, to two counts charging him with selling and transporting wild American ginseng in violation of the Lacey Act. Ledford admitted that in 2004 and...
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ushering in a new era of environmental responsibility in the home furnishings industry, The Sustainable Furnishings Council and World Market Center Las Vegas, in cooperation with World Wildlife Fund, Rainforest Alliance, Forest Stewardship Council and numerous other leading governmental, environmental, academic and trade organizations is launching the first cross-disciplinary ECOngress on legal and sustainable wood sourcing in the home...
