106 replies to this topic

[Matt DeLaVega]

Good to hear your take on it Michael.

[keepnatives]

I'm not giving up on having a good turnout either we do have lots of fishy types in the Killie Club and Aquarium Club realm up in the northeast most of whom love a good convention. I think we may be able to draw some newcomers from the surrounding states NJ,NY,MA, CT,VT,PA ME. Josh and I joined a group from NJ & NY for pine barrens collecting and they were very interested in natives and invited me to speak at their club some time and have an invite from a
Syracuse club as well. I've also made contact with killie collectors at the Northeast Weekend for a couple years the last one had mostly speakers on native fishes. I also joined the Upstate New York Killie Association and have attended meetings as has Scott, our other NY rep and needless to say seem to be developing a greater interest in natives. This NANFA convention might be
an especially fun experience as they get to get in the water more then some might in there normal realm of interest. If we target
some specialty groups we may well pick up a few to several attendees at a minimum. Maybe I should develop a club session on NANFA
conferences and get out on the speaker trail.

[Matt DeLaVega]

Wow that is really cool Mike. Boosting the convention attendance and the NANFA membership.

[FirstChAoS]

I will be their of course, it's my convention.

I think NH has an aquarium society by the coast somewhere,

I was also wonder if the various fish study groups and public aquarium staffs would be interested.

[Matt DeLaVega]

Watch, you guys will end up with more attendees than any previous NANCON.

[Michael Wolfe]

I'm not giving up on having a good turnout either we do have lots of fishy types in the Killie Club and Aquarium Club realm up in the northeast most of whom love a good convention. I think we may be able to draw some newcomers from the surrounding states NJ,NY,MA, CT,VT,PA ME. Josh and I joined a group from NJ & NY for pine barrens collecting and they were very interested in natives and invited me to speak at their club some time and have an invite from a
Syracuse club as well. I've also made contact with killie collectors at the Northeast Weekend for a couple years the last one had mostly speakers on native fishes. I also joined the Upstate New York Killie Association and have attended meetings as has Scott, our other NY rep and needless to say seem to be developing a greater interest in natives. This NANFA convention might be
an especially fun experience as they get to get in the water more then some might in there normal realm of interest. If we target
some specialty groups we may well pick up a few to several attendees at a minimum. Maybe I should develop a club session on NANFA
conferences and get out on the speaker trail.

I think that is a great idea Mike, and I totally agree with your thoughts. We historically have gotten a little bump in membership int eh home state of a convention, just because more local people join/attend. The same thing that makes a guy from Georgia think that NE is far away, has probably made folks in NE think that NC is far away... so some amount of appealing to or catering to the local crowd is definitely a good idea.

[FirstChAoS]

I just wish we heard back from Clay and Dave (the Fish Nerds Crew) on this. I wrote them a while back saying that as important figures in the NH fish community and knowledgable on all our fish they could have a role in our convention (whether as trip leaders, set aside interview times, speakers, etc.) They never got back to me on this (usually they are good at replying).

[swampfish]

I would probably come to a NH convention.
Phil Nixon

[Matt DeLaVega]

Time to call this to a vote? Michael?

[Michael Wolfe]

you don't need me... any BOD member can start the process... what we need is a motion... then a second... then I can call for a vote...

[FirstChAoS]

Here an interesting little northern marine oddball.

What is this colorful little guy (whose picture I found on the NH fish and wildlife page).



it's a lumpfish they grow up to 20 inches and look like this when older. The species found in NH is Cyclopterus lumpus that's right, lumpus.




They can be trained (I think I linked this picture before once)

Their called lumpsuckers as their pelvic fins form adhesive discs that let them adhere to the substrate. (or with the pacific species in this image, finger tips)




(oddly I found some lumpfish on sale here) http://www.coldwater...s-rays/products/baby-lumpfish-cyclopterus-lumpus

[keepnatives]

How often must you wet your hands and should it be with salt water, to keep them as in the last photo? That would save on tank space. Or for the trip home could I simply attach to the windshield and spray often! But seriously that's a cool fish hope we see some.

[FirstChAoS]

It's a fish I never seen in the wild and really hope to see as well. If I had a chilled saltwater tank I'd want one. (I assume they need a chiller as when me and Justin went to biomes aquarium in Rhode Island and asked about them, the guy their said he plans to get one now he has a chiller, but I am not certain if they do or not). I hope they'd go into a seine or net and not just remain stuck to the rock as it passes over them.

[FirstChAoS]

I just noticed something in the rules I never seen before. Not sure if it is because it is new, or if it is because it was hidden in the commercial licence info. To collect fish by net from marine and estuarine environments you need to apply for a coastal harvest permit. But such a permit appears to be free.

I also found a page of info on Great Bay (haven't read it yet), but appendix E their lists all the species found their during a 1980-81 survey

http://www.prep.unh....ion-nhep-00.pdf

[FirstChAoS]

ID's will be an issue. The most important one to learn would be Bridle Shiner to make sure no one takes a threatened species.

Working on marine identifications seems to be a challenge with all those herring and flatfish, including a few flatfish species not shown on the ID chart in the saltwater fishing rules. A pitty american plaice usually tend to be in deeper water in this lattitude as "we have a plaice for you in New Hampshire" would be a good slogan.

And with all the cold water loving marine fish, someone needs to tell them we have a temperate climate here.

[fundulus]

The water on the NH coast is cold, too, if you go swimming at Rye Beach you'll feel it. But the clam shacks there are always fun once you've ID'd your fish.

[FirstChAoS]

The water on the NH coast is cold, too, if you go swimming at Rye Beach you'll feel it. But the clam shacks there are always fun once you've ID'd your fish.

Cold water is very common on the New England coast. When I was a kid and went to Maine the water was always feeezing. In more recent years I felt cold water near rye harbor, but decent water by Odiorne point (maybe effected by the river) and Hampton. Some resources refer to the waters of the gulf of maine as Boreal which makes me wonder if oceans can have different climate zones than the shoreline.

 

(then again where climate zones transition in NH is something I found conflicting info on, some say the transition zone starts in the white mountains/great north woods, other say that those just have spruce/fir variants of northern mixed forest and the real transition is in canada. Also conflicting is whether the great north woods of NH is seperate from that of the great lakes. or if it is all one zone along the US/Canada border from Minnesota to Maine).

 

Sorry to drift off topic. For those curious on Marine Fishes, Fishes of the Gulf of Maine is free online. http://www.gma.org/fogm/

 

One neat looking fish I found was in the area is the Windowpane, A flounder named for the youngs translucent color with a neat pattern of spots and fringing of fins.  Flounder ID is something that I wonder on. Their are species found inshore and offshore not in the saltwater fishes ID guide. Inshore is the smooth and windowpane. I almost wonder if I can skip learning the offshore species, except I once read one very unusual account of the witch flounder (one of the deeper water species) being caught off a pier in Boston.

 

I'll leave you with a couple online pics of windowpanes to admire. It's one species I hope to find.

 

 

[Michael Wolfe]

very interesting 'hand sized' fish... is that their normal size?  would seem to be totally manageable in a 75 gallon tank (48x18 footprint).

[FirstChAoS]

From what I read they reach ten to twelve inches long.

[James]

for what its worth I would I would definitely try to make it. Its part of  the US of A I need to explore before I'm too old. The geography, the people, the folklore, the rich history and the fish. You can't make any educated comments about something you know nothing about. Kinda like when I hear people make stupid comments here about California.