I stand corrected and apologize to Rob and Jan and any others who I might
have insulted.
Best Regards,
BG
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hoover, Jan J ERDC-EL-MS" <HOOVERJ_at_wes.army.mil>
To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 9:16 PM
Subject: RE: NANFA-- Biologists (was Bluenose shiner news)
> Rob wrote:
> >>>...give the biologists a break....I, and every other biologist out
there,
> am forced to fall
> back on past experience and education to come up with an educated guess,
> i.e.
> a hypothesis, to answer questions and come up with solutions to
problems....
> I learned long ago to pay attention to knowledgeable amateurs like
yourself
> because the time and energy that you have invested in learning about the
> area
> is highly valuable. Many other biologists may not have learned this
> valuable
> lesson. I understand and sympathize with your (and other's) feelings
about
> professional biologists but please don't accuse them (us) of being
unwilling
> to learn....<<<
>
> Jan writes:
>
> I agree with Rob.
>
> I strongly disagree with the content of recent posts accusing state and
> federal biologists of being alarmist (for listing species without
sufficient
> knowledge of their current distributions), idle (for doing no more than
> listing those species), provincial (for supporting only those species and
> activities related to fishing), and inexperienced (for relying on prior
> studies on which to base conclusions rather than years of first-hand
> experience with local populations).
>
> Firstly, these "generalizations" may have some very limited application in
> reality, but they do not characterize the majority of professional field
> biologists.
>
> Secondly, an understanding of and an appreciation for any biological
> phenomenon is just as likely to improve with an observer's breadth of
> experience as it would their focus. Local experts (naturalists,
commercial
> fishermen, etc.) have one kind of knowledge, but so do individuals who
have
> worked less intensively on a small scale, but more extensively on broader
> geographic, taxonomic, and topical scales. Its not always necessary to
spend
> years of your life gazing into Walden Pond or tramping around Sand County
to
> understand the critical processes that go on there.
>
> Lastly, most of the field biologists that I know work long hours, and
spend
> much of their limited free time educating themselves in their own
discipline
> (or in related topics). Many of them devote substantial time, resources,
> energy, and their own funds doing habitat improvement projects,
> environmental monitoring, and public outreach. They do that because they
> love what they do and because they want others to experience the same
> satisfaction they get from doing biology.
>
> Its great to go out, collect fish, and set up aquaria. Its an important
> part of what our members do, but its not the most important part of native
> fish biology.
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