This newsletter is being sent during National Invasive Species Awareness Week (NISAW)  February 27 - March 3, 2012. The week features a full slate of events in Washington, D.C., as well as a host of associated events and activities in all areas of the country. First begun in 2009, NISAW is a great way to get out the message about invasives.   Visit the NISAW Site

     On Thursday March, 1 from 1:00 - 3:00 (Eastern time) anyone interested is invited to listen to a webcast of the Grassroots Partnership session taking place in Washington, DC. This is an audio only broadcast that you listen to on the Web. Learn More

     There are a number of associated activities taking place as part of NISAW. Several of our great Clean Angling partners have efforts that compliment the national activities.
    The Fishing Outfitters Association of Montanan (FOAM) is undertaking several efforts to get their professional guide and outfitter members to better teach their clients about cleaning Read More
     Recycled Fish has kicked off the week at the Bassmaster Classic where they have unveiled the new What-A-Mussel game.  Read More
     Trout Unlimited  has been conducting a national survey about anglers and invasives. During NISAW they expect to release the results of this biggest ever attempt to better understand how anglers relate to invasives. In addition, TU will be providing special training to their volunteer leadership.  Read More
      Patagonia  is highlighting a number of outreach initiatives including their new web content and product hang tags. Unfortunately the Patagonia program has not yet been posted to the NISAW website so we can't supply a link. Visit the NISAW link above to find it when posted.

   Montana senator Jon Tester has joined the ranks of those who pledge to take personally responsibility for reducing the spread of invasives. On February 28, Senator Tester announced that he had taken the Clean Angling Pledge. As part of his remarks Testor said “This pledge is an important step to stop the spread of invasive species so that we can pass down our outdoor heritage to our kids and grandkids.”  Read More

   In the  January 2012 Issue of the Clean Angling News we reported about the new felt ban being implemented in Rhode Island. The ban was for all waters, fresh and salt. However, the ban has been modified and now only applies to fresh water. Read More

  Felt bans are one of the hottest topics among anglers and we continue to provide a comprehensive accounting of all felt ban proposals in the US at  US Felt Bans

Clean Angling Ambassadors Announced

 The Clean Angling Coalition has just launched a new program that is sure to attract attention form a lot of anglers. The Clean Angling Ambassador program is an effort to get many of our best known anglers to become active advocates for clean angling. The Ambassadors are all role models for many others and by including a simple cleaning message every time they advocate for fishing they use their influence to educate everyone about the need to be clean.

  The list of Ambassadors contains some very well known anglers and Program Director Leah Elwell tells us to watch for many new additions to the list coming soon.   Read More

Too Far?

   Any time we do anything we can expect that there will be critics. In the past month a couple of stories out of Minnesota feature those who ask if the AIS fight is going too far.

    Glenn Schmitt is an outdoor columnist who questions a new program that will require all boat owners to take and pass an online test  Read More

    At the same time, Representative Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, questions the AIS program saying  "The approach is one that creates more government and takes away individual liberties to operate boats on waters," Drazkowski said. "It's full of enforcement and it's full of sanctions to boat owners in order to apparently accomplish the objectives."   Read More

February 2012

    With this issue of the Clean Angling News we are switching the newsletter to a new format. The links  are provided in each issue are the result of a full month of monitoring the invasive species stories of interest.  We identify great stories on a daily basis and when we  put them all together  it becomes both a lot of work and a lot of information.

     We have  begun to post links as we secure them on our two Facebook sites. Clean Angling Facebook is where we post our links that deal with cleaning, boat inspections and other issues of interest to anglers. At the Invasive Species Action Network site we post all types of invasive species news including policy issues, news about non aquatic invaders and other items of interest.

     Since many of our readers do not use Facebook, each issue of the News will include a full list of all links posted in the past month as well as several stories that will only be posted in the newsletter.

     Producing the Clean Angling News is a major job each month and I hope that this new format will deliver the news to you more quickly while streamlining the newsletter.

   If you have comments on the new format or any other topic, please send you comments, questions and complaints to newsletter@stopans.org.

Bob Wiltshire
Executive Director ISAN

If you prefer you can view the February 2012 Clean Angling News online

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