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Please forward to the group...

HERE IS MY 1ST DRAFT OF A POSITION PAPER ON COLLECTING AND KEEPING OF NATIVE SPECIES....PLEASE LOOK IT OVER AND ADD YOUR INPUT...I WILL FORWARD
THE FINAL VERSION TO ALL 50 STATES PLUS THE FEDERAL
AGENCIES...................




                   NANFA POSITION PAPER :
    AMENDING STATE REGULATIONS TO GUARANTEE THE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS TO
COLLECT AND KEEP NATIVE FISHES FOR THE HOME AQUARIUM.
                              
                              
Currently  all  across the continent 1,000's of  individuals
are collecting , rearing and breeding  native fishes in home
Aquariams.  Their activities are usually shrouded  in  legal
ambiguity.  In many cases the keeping of common fishes  such
as darters and  pygmy sunfishes is technically illegal. They
are  illegal  due  to individual states regulators  lack  of
consideration of this common use of our fisheries resources.
While  such cases seldom if ever result in individuals being
prosecuted  the  possibility  does  exist.  NANFA  (   North
American  Fishes Association ) has become a  clearing  house
for  individuals  interested in keeping native  fishes.  Our
unique  makeup of 1/3 fisheries personnel and  2/3  Aquarist
gives  us  a balanced perspective in the issue of  fisheries
regulation. The purpose of this position paper  is  to  spur
the   individual  state  regulatory  committees  to   adjust
existing  regulations to address the collecting and  rearing
of  native  fish  for  the home Aquarium.  We  do  not  seek
anything but reasonable and rational access to our fisheries
resources like  sport fishermen enjoy.

First  and foremost we are all aware that our fishes  are  a
renewable  natural resource that we all  have  a  share  in.
NANFA   is  involved  all  across  the  country  in   stream
restoration,  endangered  species  propagation  and   public
education. We in NANFA seek to conserve and learn about  our
fishes   within   the   framework  of   state   regulations.
Unfortunately  as  has  been  stated  before  many  of   the
regulations do not have the Aquarist in mind when they  were
developed.  The  Aquarist  who  keeps  Native  Fish  is   an
invaluable  untapped  resource to  State  agencies  for  the
following reasons.

1.)  Aquarist  typically  deal in non  game  species.  Their
expertise in raising and breeding such species makes them  a
valuable   untapped   resource  for   fisheries   personnel.
Propagation  techniques developed by Aquarist in  NANFA  are
all  ready  being used by the states of Tennessee, Virginia,
and Oregon on threatened and endangered species.

2.) With sanctioned involvement of Aquarist public education
would   increase.   With  the  increased  public   education
involvement  would  also increase.  For  example  NANFA  has
several  writers who typically write for Aquarium  magazines
and expose 500,000 readers to native species and their care.
These  are  people  who  vote, pay taxes  and  were  largely
ignorant of our native species.

3.)  Aquarist spend over 1 billion dollars a year  on  their
hobby. It is reasonable that some of that money be spent  on
local species via a collectors license or permit fee.

4.)  With their backgrounds in domestic propagation Aquarist
would be excellent partners in stream restoration projects.

5.)   There  are more Aquarist in this country than  hunters
and  fisherman  combined. Encouraging their  involvement  in
local species could only benefit those species.

6.) The danger of introduction of non indigenous species  to
new  watersheds is minimal when compared with  the  risk  of
existing  stocking  programs,  bait  collections  etc.  With
existing  laws you are in effect encouraging individuals  to
kill  fish  while discouraging them from preserving  them  (
i.e.  you  can collect X amount to use as bait but  can  not
collect  for the home aquarium ) such regulations are  short
sighted. Who is more likely to introduce a new species to  a
watershed  the  bait farm/ stocking program  with  1,000,000
fish  and a 3%  species by product  (i.e. unintended species
in  the  mix)  or  an Aquarist with a few dozen  shiners  or
darters ?

                              
NANFA proposes a simple game species -non game species
system for Aquarist .This would be covered under a regular
fishing license or an additional collecting permit if that
is necessary. For example an individual could collect X
amount of non game species  per day via seine net, dip net
or hook. It is simpler to just name the game species than to
name the non game species. In addition  an individual can
collect via seine ,dipnet or hook X amount of  under X size
game fish for home Aquarium use. Scientific permits have
proven to be an ineffective means of allowing non game
species collecting. By their very nature they are exclusive.
For example a housewife in Illinois is very unlikely to be
able to acquire a scientific collecting permit so she can
collect Darters. The paperwork involved in such permits
makes them unsuitable as a means to allow collecting for the
home aquarium. They also are a difficulty to fisheries
personell. They must evaluate on a case by case basis
instead of assuming a citizen as a worthy fisherman , the
scientific collecting permit takes a guilty until proven
innocent attitude. The paperwork for a scientific collecting
permit is just too formidable for the average citizen or
fisheries department to deal with on a large scale.


In conclusion we ask that you reevaluate existing
regulations and include the needs of the home aquarium
collector in your future plans. The home aquarium collector
is a valuable untapped resource that is worthy of serious
consideration when evaluating fisheries programs and user
needs.
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