Subject: new communication

Hi everyone,

I want to invite you to join a new listserve called “NCRAC-all”.  I realize that many of the states, such as Ohio, Indiana-Illinois, Michigan, etc., have their own e-mail lists, but until now, we haven’t had a list that serves the entire 12-state North Central region.  Following is an example of the usefulness of such a regional list.

Bob Calala, president of the Ohio Aquaculture Association, just sent a message to the Ohio list, asking everyone to contact their US Senators and Representatives before November 13 about changes to the recent Federal Order prohibiting the movement of many fish species from the eight Great Lakes states.  I suspect that Bob would really have liked to also send this message to the aquaculture association members in the other seven affected states, but they don’t all have e-mail lists.  In this time of confusion and anxiety regarding VHS and its effects on interstate fish transport, I believe that a quick way to get information around the entire region is especially needed.

The new “NCRAC-all” listserve is intended to only carry important information, of interest to the majority of the aquaculture community in our region.  No one needs, or wants, another whole set of messages to read every day!  Many of you know that I recently came here from the Northeast region, where NRAC has a similar list.  Members of that list are very respectful of everyone’s time, and I received only about one message per month on average.  I am happy to say that almost all of those messages were both pertinent and interesting and I was glad to have received them.

To sum it all up, I believe that this listserve will greatly aid communication around the North Central region, and I invite you to give it a try.  (Besides, if you end up deciding that it is just a big pain in the backside, you can always unsubscribe!).  This list is NOT just for people with an official connection to NCRAC, so please spread the word to everyone who might be interested.  The more people who subscribe, the better our communication will be.

To join the list, just go to https://lists.purdue.edu/mailman/listinfo/ncrac-all.  I look forward to your participation!

JJ Newman Rode