All,

This morning I spoke to Bill Horns of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. He is scheduled to speak at our next Native Fish Club meeting. He informed me that Wisconsin is set to adopt legislation that is very similar to the H.R. 669 legislation that was dropped from the U.S. Congress months ago. This law will be much worse, however. Basically, the law will disallow the importation of any fish into the state that are not native to the state, with the exception of tropical fish. That means that if you enjoy being able to buy and keep fish like Mountain Redbelly Dace, Chain Pickerel, numerous species of darters, and others, you will no longer be able to do so! Bill tells me that the state will have a "white list" of approved species that will only be allowed. Any fish not on the "white list" will be illegal to keep. He did not say who would be creating the white list. Of course, tropicals that you buy in the pet stores will be white listed. This law basically effects the native fish keeper. Bill did say that at the SEWNFC meeting, he will be discussing and hearing comments on this proposed legislation. If you live in Wisconsin, I strongly encourage you to attend, so that your voice can be heard! The meeting info can be found here.

Brian

I did some searching on the Wisconsin DNR website and found some links to information pertaining to this topic. I am currently reviewing the information, but if anyone with any legal knowledge can review it and add their input, that would be great! Here are the links:

http://dnr.wi.gov/in...classification/

http://dnr.wi.gov/in...eet_package.pdf

Brian