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NANFA vs. NFC?
Merle G. McCartney asked:
> Is the NFC primarily a fund-raising organization that channels
> money into conservation projects (including habitat restorartion,
> captive breeding, education, etc.), whereas NANFA does not?
> If so, since NANFA's mission includes nearly identical wording,
> why not push to amend NANFA's charter to accomodate this function.
Robert Rice and myself talked about this last year, but it became
clear that NANFA was not in a financial position to both publish a
journal (American Currents) AND fund conservation projects. I floated
the idea (to Robert privately) that NANFA raise its dues in order to
fund both, with the stipulation that x% of the dues is ear-marked to
conservation efforts (whatever they might be). I also suggested that
we ask the membership-at-large what they thought about such an
arrangement. These were very brief, pie-in-the-sky, what-if type
conversations. Nothing came of them.
Robert continued to push for the conservancy angle, but it was still
very much in the "vision" stage, and nowhere near as fleshed out as
it is now. Bob Bock countered that NANFA simply didn't have the money
to adopt this angle. This led to the misunderstanding, as stated in
the "Darter" that Rice and Kon Schmidt sent out, that NANFA's current
Board was against a conservation angle. Nothing could have been
further from the truth. We just felt that we didn't have the
wherewithal to develop it in any meaningful fashion at the present
time.
When Rice resigned from the Board, and Kon from NANFA, they
developed the idea on their own. And did quite a nice job, too, it
appears.
>Why not modify NANFA's charter to accomodate the goals of the NFC?
This would require a member vote, with at least 2/3rd's of the
membership voting "yes."
>Why do we need two very similar organizations?
This is my personal opinion: Because two groups of intense,
passionate and highly motivated people let their differences get
between them, and not their commonality: which is the love of
America's native fishes.
Personally, I beleive one organization is stronger than two. And I
hope to talk to Robert Rice about this when I see him at the NANFA
convention in Chattanooga in June.
Chris Scharpf
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