There is a slight problem in relying on the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as a method to protect a species across it's entire range. The problem is that the ESA would allow extinctions in many portions of the range before the population would be considered to be in jeopardy. So if you don't care whether or not a species remains in as much of its historical range as possible, then the ESA is fine, but if it matters to whether or not a species becomes extinct in large portions of it's range then a different system is needed.
For example, it would probably require corn snakes to go extinct in most of the states outside of Florida before they would reach a point before they would be considered for the ESA. Personally I think the loss of the variations seen in areas (like New Jersey) to be a problem.

I'm not for a total ban on collecting (commercial or otherwise) but we also have to keep in mind that there have been documented problems with collecting over the years ranging from the complaints that originated after Snakes and Snake Hunting was published to the loss of Gonisaurus luii from the site from which it was originally described; a span of more than 40 years. There has to be some sort of middle ground, but this requires studies on the species in question and to understand the recruitment rates of the populations as well habitat protection.

Some thoughts,

Ed

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