NANFA-L-- topics for discussion


Subject: NANFA-L-- topics for discussion
From: Dave McNeely (dlmcneely-in-lunet.edu)
Date: Tue Aug 31 2004 - 11:30:29 CDT


I hope this inquiry will be forgiven in the spirit of trying to understand what is permitted and what is not. I guess I hadn't even realized that there has been an effort with the reincarnation of the list to control communication until some other participants raised the question. In making this inquiry, I am simply speaking as one who wishes to further understanding, and I am in no way offering anything negative regarding anyone, whether those who developed list policy and procedure, or those who have questioned same. So, what follows is copied from the notice welcoming participants to the list:

"Accepted topics are biology, captive care and breeding, collection, and conservation of North
American native fishes, as well as NANFA-related business and news items. Unacceptable topics are
virus alerts, chain letters, jokes, and personal musings on politics, religion, creationism vs.
evolution, and other off-topic, potentially divisive subjects.

Topics not recommended include politics and arguments about the environment, environmental
legislation, endangered species laws vs. property rights, and the role(s) of individuals, states,
and federal agencies in conservation efforts. Many of these topics have been discussed many times in
the past on this list. All of them are almost guaranteed to generate more heat than light. News
items on these topics, however, are welcome."

Now to the question: If conservation is an appropriate topic, given that politics and roles of individuals, states, and federal agencies are often-in-least as important to conservation as is science, when would discussion of these matters be germane to the furtherance of conservation, and would they be allowed in the context?

Re: Creationism vs. evolution. I may have been "guilty" of posting something related to this topic in the past -- I just don't remember. A conservation question that depends on understanding the evolution of a population or species may arise. Suppose, just suppose, someone takes offense to the evolutionary explanation of a conservation concern (or Heaven forbid, the politically charged concept of the "evolutionarily significant unit," a conservation approach developed by federal agencies and relevant to conservation of the fishes we care about) . What do we do?

Here's wishin' you "good fishin'.

Dave in Okieland, home o' the "red dirt darter."

David L. McNeely, Ph.D.
Professor of Biology
Langston University
P.O. Box 1500
Langston, Oklahoma 73050
phone: 405-466-6025
fax: 405-466-3307
email: dlmcneely-in-lunet.edu
web page: http://www.lunet.edu/mcneely

"Are we there yet?" (author unknown)

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: Wed Sep 29 2004 - 12:24:25 CDT