Glen Burnie Couple Works To Cut Down On Ornamental Fish Sales

GLEN BURNIE (WJZ) -- In the United States alone, the sales of ornamental fish is a half a billion dollar industry.

Mike Schuh reports one couple in Glen Burnie is working to make it just a tiny bit smaller.

A pet store from the outside, Sea Saver is like no other fish store.  Sure, there are gorgeous salt water species---shrimp, fish and living coral---but talk with the owner and you'll find all of this was given to him.

"These are basically rescues we get in," said John Lovewell.

Rescues due to divorce, lost jobs or the moving van. 

Beautiful creatures fill Lovewell's salt water tanks in Glen Burnie.  He resells them to support the store. 

"We feel we're saving their lives.  A lot of them are destined to be flushed," he said.

But some are too big to flush.  He estimates 500 or more of these nurse sharks are bought each year in the U.S., but there is a problem.  They get to be 14 feet long.

"You don't buy a St. Bernard puppy if you live in a loft," said Bambi Ghys.

Aquariums won't take them and it's illegal to release them.  Most are told to kill the animals.  Lovewell doesn't know of any others who will rescue these fish.

"It's not responsible and there's nothing right about it," Lovewell said.

Sea Saver has a bill written to outlaw the sale of nurse sharks by pet stores here in Maryland but so far, they're struggling to find a sponsor.

"Our mission is now to get the fish rights and to help sharks and stop the sale of them," Lovewell said.

That couple is thinking about publicizing the nurse shark problem by putting their sharks into a large tank and driving to the Florida Keys.  They'd then break state and federal laws by releasing their sharks back into the wild.

Because they don't know the history of animal and its health, major exhibit aquariums won't accept the donation of a nurse shark.