There is a serious problem for the Salmon Fly tier, beyond simply locating some specific feathers or the high price of those feathers. The problem involves the legal issues of acquiring them in the first place. Much has been said about this subject, mostly from mouth to ear, but often without accurate information, which in turn creates misinformation.

In 1966 the United States created legislation called the Endangered Species Act. Then in 1973 government agencies in various countries, under pressure from environmental groups (who were alarmed by the status of a great deal of the world's fauna and flora threatened by extinction due to human activities such as pollution, foreign trade, extermination under the guise of economical justification, greed, fashion trends, as well as simple stupidity,) decided to meet in order to establish a common legislation that would attempt to stop this decimation of species. They created laws to allow better control of commercial trade on specific species.

Since 1973, 130 countries around the world co.-signed and therefore applied to respect and enforce this mutual agreement in order to protect those endangered species. This agreement is called CITES (Convention on International Trading of Endangered Species) also known as the Washington's Convention and is the main legal document that includes the listing and specific conditions of all endangered species. This list is revised every 2 years. Those species are put into 3 different groups, depending on their status in the wild, called "ANNEXES" or "APPENDICES".

ANNEX/APPENDIX I: includes all species directly menaced by extinction. International dealing of such species is illegal and is only permitted under very strict controls for scientific purposes.

ANNEX/APPENDIX II: includes species not directly endangered, but still menaced. International trading is possible if an export license is issued by the country of departure as well as an import license from the country of arrival.

ANNEX/APPENDIX III: applied to some species in the same conditions as for ANNEX II but only when they are coming from specific countries. The Convention applied to all parts or all products coming from any of the species (products using part of, such as a Salmon Fly) mentioned in the ANNEXES, including: live birds, skins, feathers, meat, bones, eggs. This is called a specimen.

We will be talking here about species that directly concern fly tying and more specifically species related to Classic Salmon Flies, as the patterns of the 19th Century contain a lot of such material which at the time were not protected. Also will be mentioned the more common birds and mammals and I strongly suggest that you get a copy of the Convention on your own so that you can look for more specific species. Your Bureau of Fish and Wildlife should be able to help you in that matter.

The birds and mammals of ANNEX/APPENDIX I includes: Brown bears (Ursus arctos), Seals (Monachus species-all), Eagles, Himalayan Pheasant (Catreus wallichii), Palawan Peacock Pheasant (Polyplectron emphanum) also called Napoleon Peacock Pheasant, Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps), Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis undulata), Bengal Bustard (Eupodotis bengalensis), Hyacinth Macaw (Anodorhynchus specie), Buffon Macaw (Ara ambigua), Blue Throated Macaw (Ara glaucogularis), Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao), Military Macaw (Ara militaris), Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus moccino), Banded Cotinga (Cotinga maculata).

The birds and mammals of ANNEX/APPENDIX II includes: Seals (all Arctocephalus species), Red Ibis (Eudocimus ruber), all species of Flamingoes (Phoenicopteridae ), all species of raptors (Falconiformes ), Argus Pheasant (Argusianus argus ), Germain Peacock Pheasant (Polyplectron germaini ), Hardwick/Malay Peacock Pheasant (Polyplectron malacense ), Jungle Cock (Gallus sonneratii ), Swan (Coscoroba coscoroba, Cygnus melanocorypha, Dendrocygna arborea ) - the mute swan, used in the making of wings is not listed but is protected under some country laws- , all species of Bustards (Otididae), Ariel Toucan (Ramphastos vitellinus ), Sulfur Toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus), Cock of the rock (rupicola species ), Birds of Paradise (Paradisaeidae species ), all species of Macaws and Parrots.

In the ANNEX/APPENDIX III, we'll find the status of specific species in specific countries, here is a very short list of some of the more common birds: Occelated Turkey -Guatemma, Rothschild Peacock Pheasant -Malaysia.

Again, I can only stress that the list of birds is very important and that I only mentioned the more commonly used in the making of Classics. The Indian Crows and Blue Chaterrer (cotinga species) are not listed in the Convention (with the exception of the Banded Cotinga) but the trading of such species is subject to the import/export laws of local/country laws and you should be aware of those.

As an example the American legislation does not allow the importation of birds or parts of the birds coming from Guatemala, Costa Rica, the Carribeans. I mentioned international trading and therefore control of the possible damages that senseless trading can and will do to some species which is the ultimate reason of the Washington's Convention. This means that the law applies every time the specific fauna or flora is moved from one country to another. This will not apply to domestically raised fauna or flora that is legally recognized as such by a Management Authority of their state of export unless specified by a local law. Jungle Cock is raised locally in England and therefore legally sold over there as long as there is proof that they are at least of the second generation of the animals taken from the wild, that those last ones were legally imported in England and raised in an establishment legally recognized by the governmental agency. If the specimen meets all these criteria it is legal to sell it there as well as in any European country of the CEE (European's Economic Community) but you cannot bring it back freely to the US. Same for the birds raised domestically in the States as long as you don't cross the border with any specimen. This means that you won't have too much problems to obtain the legal papers to import it from England but chances are that you won't be able to from India. In case of materials that you had in your possession before 1973, the process is still the same, in view of proof of this fact, the agency will deliver you a CITES with the mention P for pre-Convention era. In any case, the domestic birds should be accompanied by a certificate established by the Management Authority in lieu of the permits required.

Herons, Swans, Geese, Kingfishers, Blue Jays .... are protected species under local/country laws that are different from one place to the other ( so are Cormorans but this is another subject!!! ).

As a fly tier, you probably won't bring those material from another country so you won't need to go through the legal path (use of legal import/export documents issued by the government of all countries involved, also called CITES) but the business selling you any of those materials is required to give legal proof of acquisition in order to sell it, in case of importation from a different country. Having a friend send you a Jungle Cock from India while visiting this country is a pretty bad idea and could be the beginning of a bunch of problems with local law enforcement - including the FBI. You are also supposed to have the proper CITES when going out of the US to do a fly tying demonstration while using any of the listed material!!!!. Although there is little chance that Customs will notice what you are traveling with, be aware of the tremendous amount of legal hassle resulting in the event of serious control... penalties are very stiff! ! !

To give you an example on how it should be done: you are invited to demonstrate your tying skills at the Fly Fair in Holland and you are going to travel with the following materials: Jungle cock, Kori Bustard, Argus Pheasant... You have to go to your Bureau of Fish and Wildlife in order to obtain an export CITES which you will submit to the proper agency of Holland or the Management Authority of any country that you'll travel through and will need to clear customs. You'll need a third party in the arrival country who will apply for the import CITES which can only be issued in view of the export one. If all parties agrees and you got both of the documents with you, then you can travel and clear customs without hassle. The process should be the same if you send a Salmon Fly using any of the listed fauna to a friend abroad. Although CITES mentions that it applies to "any easily recognized" part of the listed species, customs will not hesitate to call an expert to determinate what it is that you are using. On a lighter note, here is the answer of Customs in LAX when I called them few years ago regarding the fact that I was traveling to France and back with some feathers listed in the CITES for the purpose of fly tying: As long as this is not Guns or Drugs, we won't bother (to which extent, I can't tell you!!!).

Although the respect of the legal aspect of dealing will have some impute in the pricing of such materials, there is still a huge difference between the "production" and the retail prices. From few dollars a feather (or a full skin) to the hundreds of dollars for the same feathers, we can ask ourselves what is the justification of such tremendous pricing. A Jungle cock neck in India is priced from $1 to $10 depending on the source and the grade and will retail for $125 or more in the US. The increasing demand by Fly Tyers, the GREED of some dealers and the "I NEED.." philosophy of some people created a market that dictates the actual pricing. It is sad to say but we are directly responsible for this market and accepting to pay $250 for a feather of Speckled Bustard or $1200 for a Toucan or Indian Crow skin will not help in lowering the retail prices of exotic birds. The market will be the same as long as there is a demand for it. The existence of an illegal market of endangered species is directly linked to the personal greed of some individuals and should be condemned. The laws are very tough on that subject and it is better not to become involved in dealing exotic materials unless you are very aware of all aspects of that business.

The use of Exotic materials does not improve your tying skills and the list of substitutes is big enough for everyone to find his or her happiness legally and at a much lower price.

I used the 1995 CEE's edition of the Washington's Convention as the main source for this article and the list might have been updated since then, also my translation of some of the bird names might be different from the English names, this is why I mentioned all scientific names as well. This issue of the CITES includes all the specifics applying to the European's Economic Community members. The American issue will be different in its own specifics. Any country will have its own and they can only be MORE RESTRICTIVE than the actual Convention. Also I used Paul Schmookler's book: Rare and Unusual Fly Tying Materials: a Natural History as reference for double checking some of the Bird's names. I do regret that Paul Schmookler did not mentioned the status of the birds listed in this superb book, so here it is. To the best of my knowledge:

ANNEX I:

OSTRICH, populations from almost any Northwestern and North central Africa, CALIFORNIA CONDOR, ANDEAN CONDOR, WESTERN TRAGOPAN, HYMALAYAN MONAL PHEASANT, LITTLE BUSTARD, INDIAN BUSTARD, NICOBAR PIGEON, SCARLET MACAW, RESPLENDENT QUETZAL.

ANNEX II:

SCARLET IBIS, FLAMINGO, BANDED GYMNOGENE, GOLDEN EAGLE, MERLIN, HOBBY, BAIKAL TEAL, GREY JUNGLE FOWLJUNGLE COCK, GREY PEACOCK PHEASANT, MALAYAN PEACOCK PHEASANT, GREAT ARGUS PHEASANT, GREEN PEAFOWL, GREAT BUSTARD, LUDWIG BUSTARD, ARABIAN BUSTARD, KORI BUSTARD, BLUE AND GOLD MACAW, KNYSNA TOURACO, WHITE OWL, EURASIAN EAGLE OWL, GUIANAN COCK-OFTHE-ROCK, ANDEAN COCK-OF-THE-ROCK, TWELVE-WIRED BIRD OF PARADISE, KING BIRD OF PARADISE.

ANNEX III:

EGYPTIAN GOOSE, SATYR TRAGOPAN, OCCELATED TURKEY.

For more information, you can get a copy of the actual laws on endangered species through the Internet at the following:

CITES (General): http://www.indirect.com/www/bazza/cites/conv.html

CITES (Specifics): <http://www.indirect.coin/www/bazza/cites/cites.html>

Endangered Species for the US as well as legislation: <http://www.fws.gov/-r9endspp/statlist.asc>

Special thanks to Wayne Luallen for his help and guidance in the making of this article.