This is about the 10th roadblock I've encountered in my quest for 400 SMB. Someone, somewhere is telling me NOT to stock SMB. Too bad I don't listen very well. Time to hunker down and redouble my efforts to get creative.
Keep your head up TJ. I ran into the same thing with brook trout. I finally found two sources albeit they are the only two sources in the country that do the testing required by my state for importation.
The first time I got brook trout I had to drive all the way to Virginia to get them. His testing (Castaline trout farms) is no longer good enough for importation into Indiana although his fish are as clean as they come. it's not the fish but the way the samples are taken. Luckily my latest source is within a couple of hours of me.
Frankly I'm puzzled by the requirement of testing for SVCV for fish other than carp. I'm also puzzled that you aren't allowed to collect broodfish from the wild. I thought the west was more hands off government than this.
The guy in charge confided in me that the latter rule was bad in that it encouraged fish farmers to import fish that were not endemic to your region. I.e. import largemouth bass that were native to Arkansas or some other state and sell the fish and offspring to pondowners in Nebraska. I think we all know you're better off using fish that are adapted to your region. However he was not able to get the powers to be to change the rule.
