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NANFA Board of Directors
Fritz pausing for a photo while performing some research |
Fritz Rohde President Wilmington, NC Fritz Rohde is a biologist with the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Division where he splits his time among several saltwater ventures. His real research interests, however, lie in the freshwater realm. He has co-authored a book on the freshwater fishes of the eastern seaboard and is the primary author and photographer for "Freshwater Fishes of South Carolina" released in 2009. In his spare time, he has described a few species and co-hosted the 2007 NANFA convention in Greensboro, NC. His interests in NANFA include seeing the high quality of AC maintained, keep continuing good relations with local DNRs and academia, opening dialogue with members, and keeping up the standards set at the annual meetings. |
Brian with his daughter on the Kokosing River, March 20, 2011 |
Brian
Zimmerman Vice President Gambier, OH I have been interested in North American Native Fish for almost my whole life. My father has photos of me playing in a stream when I was 2 years old. My parents got me interested in reading by getting me fish books because I had no interest in reading otherwise. By the time I was in middle school I knew I wanted to work with fish and by high school it was definitely natives. While still in high school I began breeding fish in aquariums and built a 1/4 acre wetland just to breed my own grass pickerel in my parents backyard. I then went to college at Heidelberg University in Tiffin Ohio where I double majored in water resources and environmental biology. Also while there I started Zimmerman's Fish and began selling native fish to other enthusiasts. I then moved on to Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green Ohio where I got a masters in Aquatic Ecology and completed my thesis on a study of Redside Dace with the help of the NANFA conservation grant. I have still yet to find a permanent job since completing my masters degree but have had some interesting temporary positions with a couple of consulting companies and the Ohio Division of Wildlife. While working for ODW I revamped their fish ID webpage so that it included descriptions and photos of all Ohio fish species. Apparently I impressed them enough with my work there because after that temporary position ended I was asked to work on a project through Ohio State University funded by ODW to revise the well known (at least to fish people) book Fishes of Ohio by M.B. Trautman. Hopefully I will be working on this project for several year to come and eventually provide a nice new publication for our membership and other native fish enthusiast. |
| Michael Wolfe Secretary, Board Chair Statham, GA I really believe in the NANFA mission statement. It shows a natural progression that people go through. Many people come to NANFA for only the first thing "appreciation... of the continent's native fishes." Appreciation can mean angling, it can mean aquarium husbandry, it can even mean, "hey, look at that pretty little fish my three year old just caught." That's how I got into natives. I had aquariums and my daughter wanted one of her own. And 'Fishes of Alabama and the Mobile Basin' had just come out. And living in Alabama I bought it out of curiosity. Soon I was in a local stream with a couple of little kids seining up "bait". After the initial exposure and appreciation, I moved on to the "study... of the continent's native fishes." This didn't mean a formal education. But it does mean an intellectual curiosity that's been acted upon, invested in, and never fully sated. And I think there are more people out there, willing to act on that curiosity if we show them how to see first-hand the "continent's native fishes" in their native habitat. And that's when people begin to value the fish, and the habitat enough to be interested in the "conservation of the continent's native fishes." |
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Josh Blaylock Growing up in Southeastern Kentucky, I spent a lot of time in creeks, streams, and mountains. Fishing in the waterways and hiking the mountains gave me a great love for my state. My enjoyment of nature and Kentucky came together around 2008 when I found NANFA while researching native fish aquariums. My love for natives has grown over the years. The more I read and researched the deeper appreciation I have for our native fishes. Outreach, education, and protection have been a priority for me. These priorities lead me to the Kentucky Regional Representative for NANFA in 2012, and now to the board of directors. I am also a member of Kentucky Waterways Alliance & Kentucky River Watershed Watch. In 2011 I started my own webpage, www.kycreeks.com, which is dedicated to the beauty, diversity, and conservation of the waterways within Kentucky. I strive to continue outreach and education about native fishes, as this is the way to get others to care and get involved in their protection. |
| Jenny Kruckenberg Inver Grove Hts., MN Like a lot of families, mine had a lot of pets; dogs, parakeets, gerbils, hamsters and FISH. My Mom and Dad were busy so a lot of the care for the pets, were the responsibility of me and my two siblings. As I recall, it was mostly my brother and I who fed the fish. Eventually, we got aquariums in other rooms and I became more and more fascinated by fish, and especially small fast-moving fish, like zebra danios. |
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| Derek Wheaton Knoxville, TN |
| Scott Schlueter Fabius, NY |
