I have to agree with you, Paradox, until there are laws in place to deal with this kind of crap, we'll continue to deal with it. Lucky (in this case), that Thales got the specimens and is trying to take care of them - more lucky that it was through a wholesaler - which means more yuppies won't see one (while casually wandering through an aquarist store of the lowest-level) and tell his mate, "Sure, Muffy, oh, the stripes match that pair of stockings you just bought, of COURSE I'll by them for you, sweetie."
For the record, however, we don't even know how common these species are out there. The home aquarist industry could conceivably do what close-to-shore mining, construction, sewage-disposal, and other industries might do to diminish these evolutionary shooting stars even when it's been just twenty-odd years since "discovering" them. Normally I'd be against Thales' "rescue" of this animal, just based upon a terror that this will spread, but if any of my colleagues here can do some good in this situation for the invertebrate individual, it's probably Richard. I would advise any amateurs, however, to remember that Richard has zero guarantee of success. The scientists across the Bay in Berkeley haven't had much luck with these guys, and therefore you probably won't either. Best to not purchase them, to fight their importation, and to try to shut this down entirely. Let these amazing fellow-citizens of our planet live where they were bred. Simple as that. Save up your cash, fly there, and go scuba diving with them. Carry that joyous memory with you later. Don't bring them here. They don't belong here. They're so-far impossible to keep alive in captivity. Plus, there's zero-guarantee of how widespread they are in the first place. How would somebody like to feel - "Hey I got this real cool octopus that died within two months of me buying it" - if they contributed to the extinction of a truly amazing species? Jeez, buy a bimac. They're just as cool. They're still an octopus.