Native Fish Conservancy welcomes Joe Tomelleri (again), Tim Holschlag and Cindy Kolar to the board

As the agenda for the Native Fish Conservancy begins to take shape, the future begins to look brighter as national figures and professional figures agree to join and work with the board. These include some impressive names.

• Re-joining the board is fisheries biologist and interntionally recognized artist, Joe Tomelleri (see the post below).
• Also joining the board is outdoor author, noted guide, fly fisherman and founder of the Smallmouth Alliance, Tim Holschlag.
• Cindy Kolar holds a Ph.D. in aquatic ecology from the University of Notre Dame, is the Assistant Director of the USGS Introduced Species program. Cindy's predictive model for the effects of introduced species was published in the journal "Science", the top peer reviewed scientific journal in the United States.

At the moment the board is sorting through the task of defining a philosophy and mission. Clearly, we exist to support native fish but what does that mean exactly?

Ecology is rarely an exact science and precision in language is incredibly important when defining goals and objectives.

What exactly is a native fish? Why should anglers care if a fish is native or introduced? Are there certain kinds of native fish more at risk than others? How does one promote and sustain a native fishery? What is the best, most useful stance toward fisheries that have been introduced on top of native fish populations?

We'll be working to flesh out careful, functional answers to these questions over the weeks to come.

The more interesting nuggets will be posted here.

Stay tuned!

New Projects: Conserving native fish

The Native Fish Conservancy will soon be announcing a new granting program targeted for native fish species!

We'll be marketing customized logos like the ones above, using Joe Tomelleri's world class illustrations of North American fish. Proceeds will go directly into a granting program and every cent will be used for projects and research to save native fish species and habitats.

Just as fair warning, I've been pretty lax about copyright on the site (it's a labor of love after all). Joe's images, however, are how he makes his living and being used by permission. DON'T LIFT THE LOGOS OFF THIS SITE (or you may be making a much bigger contribution to the NFC than you would have otherwise intended).

Joe is probably the best known fish illustrator in the US if not the world. The quality of his work speaks for itself. Anyone who has paid any attention at all to fish art will immediately recognize his illustrations. I own one myself, and I've owned more than one t-shirt with his images on them.

The logos will be offered at differing prices, each reflecting a different level of involvement with the NFC granting process.

Stay tuned for developments!

More exciting NFC news is also on the horizon and prices and plans for the logos will be posted soon!

Sweet, sweet revenge....bye bye Blago

Ok. He's not guilty until the trial. But if he did what he is alleged to have done, please bear with me for a short detour into state politics as I do a little victory dance.

The reign of terror in Illinois is over. Governor Dracula, Rob Blagojevich, has been arraigned on federal charges for attempting to auction the senate seat vacated by Barak Obama and a host of other unspeakable crimes, including extorting a children's hospital for money. Here's hoping all the slimeballs attached to him go down in flames as well.

THANK YOU Pat Fitzgerald! Don't put away the hangman's noose yet!

What kind of gall do you need to SELL a US Senate seat? The same kind of gall you need to destroy the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and punish downstate legislators by selectively closing some of the most popular state parks in downstate Illinois.

What a beautiful symmetry.

See you on the river.

Hook and Line Life List

Wolf Waters and Ben have put together a list of all the species they've caught. I couldn't help but take stock of my own. If I've counted right, my personal total stands at 82. This doesn't include fish I've collected electrofishing or seining and I've done my best to exclude fish that were caught by other members of a fishing party.

There are some obvious gaps here. I've caught no flatfish, musky, sauger, or bowfin. There's also a dearth of open water oceanic fish (most of my ocean fishing has been in the surf, in a bay or behind a reef).

I suppose that leaves challenges for the future!

So here it is. My personal life list of fish I personally have hooked and landed.

Freshwater:

Largemouth bass
Smallmouth bass
Spotted bass
Guadelupe bass
Spotted bass X smallmouth bass

Bluegill sunfish
Pumpkinseed sunfish
Longear sunfish
Green sunfish
Redear sunfish
Warmouth
Green sunfish X bluegill
Bluegill X redear

Black crappie
White crappie

Rock bass
Ozark bass

Rainbow trout
Brown trout
Brook trout
Yellowstone cutthroat
Grayling

Yellow perch
Walleye
Logperch

Chain pickrel
Northern pike

Channel catfish
Blue catfish
Black bullhead
Yellow bullhead

Longnose gar
Shortnose gar

Freshwater drum

Striped shiner
Golden shiner
Common carp
Creek chub

Silver redhorse
Golden redhorse
River carpsucker
Quillback carpsucker
Highfin quillback carpsucker

Freshwater eel

White bass
Striped bass
Yellow bass
White bass X striped bass (wiper)

Salt water

Redfish
Speckled trout
Black drum
Whiting
Atlantic croaker
Sheepshead

Lane (silk) snapper
Black snapper
Dog (dog teeth) snapper
Mutton snapper
Yellowtail snapper
Schoolmaster

Southern puffer

Southern stingray

Bonefish

Common snook

Atlantic spadefish

Great barracuda

Yellow jack
Jack crevalle

Black grouper
Hindfish

Houndfish (langyard)

Gafftop catfish
Hardhead catfish

King mackrel
Spanish mackrel
Cero mackrel

Bluefish

Saucer eye porgy

Pinfish

Remora

Squirrelfish

Queen triggerfish

Conserving native fish: engaging the angling community

I'm beginning to settle in at the Native Fish Conservancy.

It seems likely my primary niche there will be to promote conservation of native fish within the angling community. I'm doing that already, so it seems like a natural step. The difference is that now I'll be working in a group with national scope specifically committed to that goal.

One thing that definitely needs to happen in the short term is to more directly address the fishing blog/forum community with the native fish conservation message. I've been thinking about ways to do that and I have a few ideas.

I could use more.

Chime in! What works? What won't work? Where does the native fish conservation message succeed, and where does it break down?

The NFC has a lot of potential (over 100,000 hits a month on their site). How can it be channeled into effective conservation?

One program I've been wondering about is a "Native Friendly" logo/benefit package that websites might adopt. Would bloggers/forums who practice good native fish conservation add an attractive logo featuring a native fish to their websites?

Could that be used to advertise the group and its' ideals?

I'd be curious to hear your opinion.

Joining the Native Fish Conservancy Board

Many thanks to the Native Fish Conservancy (NFC) for their invitation to join their board. I've enthusiastically accepted and am looking forward to an exciting new year of projects and growth.

I'll try not to shill too shamelessly, but I am definitely happy to be working with this group. The NFC is a 501c3 that promotes the conservation of native fish populations. Its' members include fish enthusiasts, anglers, conservationists and aquarium hobbyists.

This year is a rebuilding year for the group, who's membership topped 4,000 at its' peak and included well known biologists such as Larry Page (author of the Freshwater Fishes of North America Peterson's guide) and Joseph Tomelleri (a noted illustrator and former fisheries biologist. If you have any fish art at all, you may well own some of his work).

If you haven't already, stop by the web page:

http://nativefish.org/

I expect great things to be happening there in the very near future!