To all:
 
Regards amateur collecting of freshwater material - .
 
When I enquired about necessary permits for collecting freshwater mussels in
Tennessee, I was informed by a state official that you could either get a
commercial license, $100 or so a year, or else a scientific collecting permit,
but only if one was a qualified researcher involved in a project leading to
publication in a recognized medium.  While agreeing that anything an amateur
or anyone else does in the area of freshwater malacology must ultimately
benefit the river mussels, and the rest of the biota as well, such regulations
are elitist and represent a heavy-handed attitude of contempt for the amateur
by state governments.  Otherwise, the science and conservation efforts risk
losing the input and cooperation of this segment of the population.
     It might be informative to draw an analogy to amateur fishermen (most
anyone who wets a line).  What would they say if it were decided you could
only fish commercially, or for scientific study because of endangered
muskelunge, etc.  Collecting is as legitimate a pursuit in its own right as
angling, perhaps more so, as you can buy fish at the market.  Who or what does
a situation like the one in Kansas described by Couch, in American
Conchologist, Dec, 1995 help?  See
http://coa.acnatsci.org/conchnet/couch995.html
Meanwhile, besides the disaster on the Clinch River itself, coal mine wastes
have been allowed to destroy the once extremely diverse fauna in the Powell
River, comparable until a few years ago to the Clinch.
 
Martin Kohl