Fritz pausing for a photo while performing some research

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 finishing up a book on the freshwater fishes of South Carolina. In his spare time, he has described a few species and co-hosted last year's annual convention in Greensboro. 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.

Leo at home with his aquaria. Leo is a regional representative in Michigan and he organized the 2002 annual meeting there.

Read more about NANFA's annual meetings

I am a native Michigander and grew up in Dearborn. I have always loved the outdoors and wildlife of all kind. I began college with the thought of working toward a degree in Wildlife Management but was sidetracked by another love: Wildlife Art. I hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with a Secondary Teaching Certificate from Eastern Michigan University. I work as a freelance artist and teach classes in conjunction with the UAW. My wife Carol also shares my enthusiasm for the outdoors and passion for animals. I really got involved with fish in 1996 when we joined our local aquarium club, where I have been active on their board and am current president. I started keeping fish as models for my artwork, and then began to get interested in how they breed. Most of the fish I now keep are natives.

I joined NANFA after attending the 1999 Convention in Champaign, Ill. It was the first time that I went "fishing" for something other than gamefish. The experience inspired me to ask about being a Regional Representative for Michigan. As Michigan rep I have tried to get the word out about our native fishes and the problems they face, and the enjoyment that one can have by observing the wildlife they have in their own backyard. In 2002 I co-hosted the NANFA Convention in Ann Arbor.

I have been a member of NANFA since 2000 and have served as South Carolina's Regional Representative for most of that time. Over the last five years, I have co-hosted a recent convention and a booth at a state-wide event for sportsmen. I have also aided our state and federal wildlife departments in collecting efforts. I have worked closely with our local zoo's Elassoma Species Maintenance Program, providing most of their pygmy sunfish for captive breeding efforts and working to establish new populations.

I have been interested in natives since college when I first saw a picture of an Elassoma evergladei. I have since collected all over the southeast, helping coordinate trips to Florida and the Okefenokee Swamp. I have enjoyed the fellowship of the organization as well as its focus. I look forward to many more years and hope to become more involved in the direction and activities of NANFA.

Dustin holds up a flier, Centrarchus macropterus, caught at Bahama Swamp, one of the last strongholds of the bluebarred pygmy sunfish, Elassoma okatie.

Michael Wolfe
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."

I first became involved in fishkeeping when, at ten years old, I was given three homemade 45 gallon aquariums. The catch was that I had to transport them the mile and a half from a friend's house to my own. Because I feared I would be told no if I asked permission to bring them home, I carried them there without assistance, a process that took most of three days. Later that summer, I caught six brown bullhead babies in Lake Washington and transported them home in a paper cup. They immediately killed all of my tropicals.

I joined NANFA in 1999. Recently, I completed the scanning and indexing of all issues of American Currents from 1972 to the present. These issues are now available on a two-CD set. While there are no fish collecting opportunities here in the State of Washington, I occasionally take some time for collecting when on business trips in states where it is legal.

My vocation is that of a "jack of all trades" for a large corporation where I help to develop and deploy manufacturing and procurement strategies. I have served on the Boards of two non-profit organizations and was president of "For the Children of the World" for six years.

I am deeply interested in the preservation of native fish species and the habitat that nurtures them. I firmly believe that informed hobbyists can contribute as much toward this goal as fisheries professionals. It has always been my experience that diversity in knowledge, education, and background brings strength to any organization. If you read through the past issues of American Currents, it becomes clear that that is where NANFA has excelled. It is important that NANFA continues to support initiatives that will encourage the same diversity in the future.

Tom in front of an Invertebrate tank with native snails and Dwarf Crayfish (Cambarellus shufeldti)

Brian with his daughter on the Kokosing River, March 20, 2011

Brian Zimmerman
Gambier, OH

My interest in fishes began when I was maybe five or six years old. My family went to a fair and there was a booth where you could throw ping-pong balls at a table full of goldfish in little bowls. If the ball landed in a bowl, you got the goldfish. I missed, but (as the story was related to me) I cried so hard that the lady gave me the goldfish anyway. Whether she did this from pity or just to reduce the noise level was never made clear. Fast forward to high-school, when I was officially bitten by the tropical fish bug. I quickly exhausted our library's meager supply of books and then figured out how to take the bus into downtown Atlanta where the public library had more reading material. I formed a high-school aquarium club that had maybe five or six members in it, but we met after school for three years. In those days I was aware of natives but had no idea how to go about collecting them. I worked for a pet shop and later a wholesale distributor of fish and pet supplies. I took over my parents' basement and established a combination fish room/laboratory (don't ask!). I was totally immersed in all things fish. I attended the University of Georgia and obtained a B.S. in Zoology. This was when I learned how to ID natives, how to use a seine, where to go - the experience changed my interest from an ever-growing collection of exotic oddballs to Green Sunfish and Nondescript Silvery Minnows (NSM's). Then I found the internet, and although I tried to be the first person to put up a website about natives, I soon discovered that someone had beaten me to it: Jay Delong, who was NANFA's webmaster then. I didn't know it at the time, but this was the beginning of the golden era of NANFA. I attended my first convention hosted by Elmer Guerri who (not to slight the efforts of Casper and BG who hosted conventions before him) really set the standard for how conventions should be done. I had so much fun that I volunteered to host the next one in Jackson, MS. All of which pretty much brings us up to date. My other interests (they are varied and sundry) include guitar (primarily New Age) and shooting sports. My profession is Retail Manager. This is my second (noncontiguous) term on the Board.

Martin posing with Smokey The Bear on NANFA trip in Mississippi 2002

Bruce Stallsmith
NANFA Research Grant Chair
Huntsville, AL

Bruce (right) with Steven Ellis during a regional gathering at the Sipsey River, AL.

Charles Nunziata
Regional Outreach Coordinator
Largo, FL

Read more about the Regional
Representative Program

Chris Vrba
American Currents Editor
Pocahontas, IA

Read more about American Currents

Bob Muller
Breeders Award Program Chair
Royal Oak, MI

Read more about the Breeder Awards Program