Dear NANFAns,

Please accept my apologies for the lateness of this post, but we are having the November Southeastern Wisconsin Regional NANFA meeting in Pewaukee, WI THIS SATURDAY, the 17th at 6:00pm. The meeting will be held at the home of Corban Schultz. His address and phone is:

1192 Turnbery Dr.
Pewaukee, WI 53072
Phone:(262)-695-9234

WE HAVE A REAL FLESH-AND-BLOOD SPEAKER FOR THIS MEETING! Dr. John Lyons of the Wisconsin DNR will be speaking on WI fishes that the average person can go and see in the wild (without having to capture them) and the places to go to do this. Some of these are pretty well known, like Lake Sturgeon spawning in the Wolf River or salmon/steelhead at the Root River wier, but he has some more obscure ones that should appeal to the group as well. You won't want to miss this talk! WE WILL ALSO BE DISCUSSING THE CHANGE IN COLLECTING REGULATIONS THAT IS TAKING PLACE IN THE STATE. IT IS CURRENTLY ILLEGAL TO COLLECT FISH TO KEEP AT HOME! WE NEED TO GET THIS LAW CHANGED. COME AND HELP US FORM AN ACTION-PLAN ON HOW TO DO THIS! WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Please come to this meeting because it sounds pretty interesting and i would like to meet more native people finally.

Also, if anybody wants to see my 150 gallon native tank it's really impressive!

I hope to see you there!

Well, thought I would post the hand-out Dr. Lyons gave us at his talk on viewing Wisconsin fishes at our meeting. If you weren't there, you missed a great talk, but you may still benefit from some of the things he talked about. Hope to see you at the next meeting!



Brian

Brian J. Torreano - Owner
BTDarters
American Native Fish for
your aquarium...and more!
Web: http://www.btdarters.com
Phone: (262) 268-7489

My family has a summer home on Lake Wisconsin (about 15 minutes away from the Prairie Du Sac Dam on the Wisconsin River)...I would like to meet up with some of our Wisconsin members this spring. I often go up to that area for a week in early May to go Brook Trout fishing.

-Nate


Oh, and as an afterhthought, I was on the Root River about a month ago, I've never seen so many Steelhead, Brown Trout, and Pink Salmon!

Nate,

PM or email me when you are planning on coming. I'm sure our Wisconsin contingent would love to get together with you and watch some fish!

Brian

Brian J. Torreano - Owner
BTDarters
American Native Fish for
your aquarium...and more!
Web: http://www.btdarters.com
Phone: (262) 268-7489

Is anyone who is a member of NANFA welcome to come to these meetings? Is there a meeting in January and if so when and where is it?

Are there any NANFA meetings in Northern Illinois?

Dear TheLorax,

Anyone is welcome to come to these meetings. We are planning to meet in January, at the home of our newest club member, just west of Pewaukee, WI. I'm shooting for having the meeting on the 19th but still haven't finalized this as I am trying to nail-down our speaker. I will be posting more details as the meeting nears, but tentatively, it'll be on the 19th at 6:00pm. Like I said, I'll post more as the meeting nears.

Brian

Brian J. Torreano - Owner
BTDarters
American Native Fish for
your aquarium...and more!
Web: http://www.btdarters.com
Phone: (262) 268-7489

I actually joined NANFA a few days ago and received confirmation via e-mail that I was official. I've scoured the website and couldn't find links to local chapters. I know you're out there in SE WI however I'm thinking there must be a chapter for NE IL somewhere.

Thanks for mentioning anyone can come. I have a personal friend who isn't a NANFA member who restores natural areas and she was interested in accompanying me if another speaker from the Wisconsin DNR was going to be in a position to come and share.

I actually joined NANFA a few days ago and received confirmation via e-mail that I was official. I've scoured the website and couldn't find links to local chapters. I know you're out there in SE WI however I'm thinking there must be a chapter for NE IL somewhere.

There is an IL-IN region. The rep is Uland Thomas aka 'teleost'. Get in touch with him if he doesn't with you first.

Brian,

Nick Zarlinga had post a message he'd received from someone at WI DNR on the email list. We talked a bit about it, this morning I decided the best for me to help with this was to contact this fella. I thought I would get the cross post going here, and this seemed like the most applicable place to put it.

This is what I sent, and CC'd the e-list:

Hello Dennis,

I recently read a forward of a message you'd sent to the NANFA website Contact about the regulations regarding VHS in Wisconsin, and how emergency measures are being taken to stop the spread of the disease. I've been a board member of NANFA in the past and currently doing my PhD graduate work at the University of Toledo, where my work focuses on the fishes and Unionids in the eastern United States.

I have a few questions, if you wouldn't mind answering them. If you don't have the answers, perhaps you could please get me in contact with someone who can (you're more than welcome to forward this message along). I think folks in Wisconsin are rightfully cautious to ask themselves, as they would potentially expose themselves to scrutiny in trying to get themselves legal. As such, I'm offering to do this for them.

The first question, may resolve all, if they're able to do this...

Can folks who are keeping native fishes apply for a bait dealer liscence and legally collect and keep native species in aquaria?

My thought is that the permit costs (I realize they're free) "pays" for the administrative time of the state agency (where one pays for this service) to assure bait dealer compliance with Division mandates. If the state feels they should still provide this service to bait dealers, perhaps they can also consider this for the few people who are currently active home aquaria native fish enthusiasts, who understand the ecological problems associated with bait release in any form.

If not, does Wisconsin provide for a Science and Education permit that can be applied for, that would involve collection and keeping of native fishes for non-academic or non-agency folks?

I am inclined to think that this is a true service to the citizens of Wisconsin, should someone be willing to maintain aquaria at a local school "in trade" for their home hobby. NANFA has a lot of experience with this type of outreach, and so far as I know, it has ALL been positive. I think this also is an opportunity to pair teachers with experienced aquarists and so forth... I understand this requires some work on everyone's part. But I would hope this wouldn't go unexplored.

My final question regards those aniamls that were legally captured and held prior to the emergency measure. In reading your message, I got the impression that any animal in aquaria was now illegal... I understand that the animals don't come with a bar code that had a "sold to" date on them But I don't know that it's a prosecuteable offense for someone to maintain the animals they'd acquired legally prior to the emergency measure.

What are they to do with animals in this scenario?

I'm most concerned that if the interpretation is that the animals are illegal, that people are being asked to kill their pets, and some less enlightened individual may take it upon themselves (out of spite) to release their fish into the wild. I don't agree with them doing this, but it's a reality, and one that I want to take all measures to prevent.

"Don't ask don't tell" is perhaps the best advice to these people. But I think it would speak well of the Department to openly address these issues with a minority group of individuals who have in the past, demonstrated an effort to promote the conservation of non-game species and the watershed issues that hinder these species to the public without any recognition or reward.

I thank you for any time you spend with this. I'd be glad to give you a call, if you felt that was a more efficient way of communicating. However, I am working between 3 lab spaces over the next few weeks, so it's a little more difficult to nail me down at a phone location (and I don't have a cell phone . If you can let me know when you'll be in the office via email, I can call during those times.

Thanks again, and have a very Happy New Year!

I'll keep both the list and forum posted with developments. I think this is going to be the fallout in all Great Lakes states, we need to address it up front.

Todd

Your post is very good in that it asks some tough questions. Perhaps deserving of a thread of its own with a more appropriate subject line to better attract the attention of those who share your same concerns.