NANFA-- RE: NANFA New England Meeting (Feb.)

Richard J Rego (newzoo_at_juno.com)
Sun, 11 Feb 2001 18:59:30 -0500

Hey all,

We held our second regional meeting today in Dighton MA. It was a very
cold day, but beautiful. The skies were bright blue and the air clear
and crisp. We were happy to have several new people in attendance at
this meeting. We started off with an introduction and quick review of
last months meeting (for those who were new). We had a roundtable
discussion where we found out what peoples interests were in regards to
native fishes. What I belive makes our group unique (as well as NANFA in
general) is that everyone's interests are varied. We have those whose
interests are in keeping/breeding natives, those who want to get out in
the field and collect/observe, those with interests in habitat
restoration and fisheries conservation issues, as well as those with a
general interest in our native fishes. We watched the video by Tom
Webster on the Ash Meadows area of Nevada. Ash Meadows is home to many
endangered plant and animal species, and is home to the VERY endangered
Devil's Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis). All were amazed by the
gorgeous pupfishes of the Ash Meadows area, and we likened them to our
native sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus) which was on display in
the nature center where we held our meeting. NANFA gained three new
members as a result of the January meeting, and got another person to
renew!

We had 10 people in attendance today, they are listed below:

Rick Rego (MA) New England Regional Representative
Brian Bastarache (MA) NANFA Member
George Arndt (MA) NANFA Member
Dale Kutyna (MA) NANFA Member
Chad Rosen (MA) Brand new NANFA Member
Keith Baker (MA) Brand new NANFA Member
Robert Golder (MA) NANFA Member (Through Buttonwood Park Zoo)
Bill Dalpe (MA) Rehoboth Forestry Department
Francis Pereira (MA) Middleboro/Lakeville Herring Fisheries Commission
Ronald Wennerberg (MA) Rehoboth town resident

Our CT members couldn't join us today, as they were at a tropical fish
auction in their area. Gary Carbonneau (NANFA member from NH) was unable
to make this meeting, he is fishing in FL (lucky guy!), We hope to see
all of you again at future meetings. It seems from our meeting
discussions, our group wants to center it's efforts around anadramous
fish issues, fisheries conservation and habitat restoration (some of
those present at the meeting are already involved in this). Fish ladder
issues seem to be along the top lines of the list, along with public
awareness of non-game and anadramous fishes through educational exhibits
at local river festivals, etc.
We plan on holding the March meeting in the CT area (still tentative)
and our April Meeting at the Buttonwood Park Zoo (again, tentative). We
also plan on a field trip to the Middleboro Herring run in mid to late
April. As always, we will keep everyone posted on the events of NANFA
New England. I would like to thank my wife Robyn (and Brian & Tam) for
again providing goodies for todays meeting in the form of coffee cake,
chocolate chip cookies, and the obligatory goldfish crackers. The coffee
was not as strong as last month, as I believe I figured out the
coffee:water ratio. Door prizes were given out, winners as follows:

Chad Rosen, Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes
Francis Pereira, Bass & Trout Calendar
Keith Baker, Fishing Related Calendar
Brian Bastarache, Fishing Related Calendar

Thanks to all in attendance for making the February meeting a success.
After the meeting George Arndt, Brian Bastarache and myself went
collecting down along the Taunton River. George was hot and heavy to use
his new net. After breaking through the ice, we did catch a few
fish......I'll leave that story to George!

Rick Rego
MA/New England Regional Representative
________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org