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US Fish and Wildlife now requires an import license for anyone importing animals or animal parts for resale and also charges "inspection fees" on every order that comes in. Since trout flies are made with feathers and fur and such, they are included in this regulation. We were not reselling flies at a profit (club members only paid for their share of the order), so we were technically exempt from this, but our orders were still seized by customs, inspected, and then we'd be contacted and asked to provide a written statement about why we didn't have the import license. This delayed every order by at least a couple of weeks, which was a hassle, but it's not the primary problem. Our Kenyan friends did business with a lot folks over here, and it turns out that a lot of those customers didn't know about this new import license requirement. So, the tyers discovered that they were tying very large orders that could not be delivered to their customers who planned to resell the flies, because they had no license. Those flies were either returned to the tyer or simply lost altogether. This interrupted their cash flow and hurt their ability to buy supplies to process the next order. THAT's the problem. Our orders now take at least several weeks and sometimes months, and when we receive them, there are often a good number of flies missing from the order. So, we're stepping out of the "import business". There are some domestic suppliers that we can recommend. These businesses also import their flies (most often from Kenya), they're licensed, and they have long-standing relationships with their suppliers. The flies are of decent quality and very reasonably priced, even though they are priced to show a profit. Fly Deal Flies is the least expensive, because they use "just-in-time" inventory. They don't order the flies until they know those flies are sold. You can expect to wait up to 4 weeks to receive your flies, but if you can plan ahead, you can save a lot of money and stay stocked up at the same time. Percy's Flies and Fly Dealer are two other low-cost options. They're both a bit higher than Fly Deal Flies, because they try to maintain an inventory, but the trade off for the higher cost is that you get your order more quickly. In the long-run, the increased customs expenses will probably benefit the US economy. The import fees are basically tarrifs, meaning there is less of an incentive to import flies that can be purchased in the U.S. Eventually, that may lead to US citizens being able to once again actually earn a living tying flies. It will certainly decrease the hours of fishing, since the expense will now be a bit higher. Even so, it's just fishing, so I'm sure we can all survive. Please keep our Kenyan friends in your prayers, though. The fly tying business used to be lucrative for them, but many of them are now struggling or going out of business altogether, and that is certainly stressful on everyone involved. All content and images on this website are under copyright protection 2004. Reprinting is permitted with written permission. Please contact us if you see something you'd like to use. |
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