Websites for fish collectors, including state-by-state regulations

[sandtiger]

Due to the interest in collecting natives and the wide range of laws in various states I decided to post here the links to the various state DNR sites. Though these laws and regulations have more to do with fishermen and not hobbyists many of them also apply to collecting natives for aquaria. Particularly those pertaining to baitfish. Through these sites you should also be able to contact your DNR for any specific questions you may have. It’s important that before collecting for whatever reason that you make yourself familiar with your state’s specific rules and stay up to date with them. If you have any questions feel free to post them here.
Also with these I am posting state or regional guides/lists that should help you get familiar with the fishes in your area. Fish guide/list websites don’t exist for every state but should you find one for a state that does not have one listed let me know and I will put it up. Both the U.S. and Canada are included here.
In addition to these, two great sites that may be of use are www.fishbase.org and http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/index.htm. With fishbase you can look up information on over 25,000 species of fish. With natureserve you can read up on fishes and even find lists of fishes native to your own watershed.

The United States

Alabama
http://www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/
http://www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/freshwater/fish/

Alaska
http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/statewide/reghome.cfm
http://www.fisheries.ubc.ca/Projects/PWSound/AlaskaEco/Fishes.html

Arizona
http://www.azgfd.gov/h_f/fishing.shtml

Arkansas
http://www.agfc.com/rules-regulations/fishing-regulations.aspx
http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/6521

California
http://www.fgc.ca.gov/html/regs.html

Colorado
http://wildlife.state.co.us/Fishing/
http://taurus.cnr.colostate.edu/projects/cofishguide/index.cfm?step=literature

Connecticut
http://www.ct.gov/dep/site/default.asp
http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/fish.html

Delaware
http://www.fw.delaware.gov/Fisheries/FishingInfo.htm

Florida
http://www.floridasportsman.com/regs/
http://myfwc.com/fishing/Fishes/index.html

Georgia
http://georgiawildlife.dnr.state.ga.us/content/displaynavigation.asp?TopCategory=13

Hawaii
http://www.hawaii.gov/dlnr/dar/fish_regs/
http://fish.mongabay.com/data/Hawaii.htm

Idaho
http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/cms/fish/

Illinois
http://dnr.state.il.us/fish/digest/
http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/cbd/ilspecies/fishsplist.html

Indiana
http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/fish/fishng...ng/fishgide.htm

Iowa
http://www.iowadnr.com/fish/index.html
http://maps.gis.iastate.edu/iris/fishatlas/

Kansas
http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us/news/fishing

Kentucky
http://www.kdfwr.state.ky.us/Navigation.asp?cid=101

Louisiana
http://www.wlf.state.la.us/fishing/recreational/freshwater/regulations/

Maine
http://www.maine.gov/ifw/fishing/
http://www.maine.gov/ifw/fishing/fishidentification/

Maryland
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/regulations/regindex.html
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/mdfishes.asp

Massachusetts
http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/dfwrec.htm#FISH
http://www.mcz.harvard.edu/Departments/Fish/ma_fish/ma_fam.htm

Michigan
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10364---,00.html
http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/PUBLICATIONS/PDFS/fishing/names_of_MIfishes.pdf

Mississippi
http://www.mdwfp.com/level1/fishing.asp
http://www.interaktv.com/MS/Fishes.html

Minnesota
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/regulations/fishing/index.html
http://www.gen.umn.edu/research/fish/fishes/

Missouri
http://www.mdc.mo.gov/fish/
http://mdc.mo.gov/documents/fish/2_010.PDF

Montana
http://fwp.mt.gov/fishing/default.html
http://fwp.mt.gov/wildthings/brochure_fish.html

Nebraska
http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/fishing/guides/fishguide/fishguide.asp
http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/fishing/guides/fishid/findfish.asp

Nevada
http://www.ndow.org/fish/index.shtm
http://heritage.nv.gov/lists/fishes.html

New Hampshire
http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Fishing/fishing.htm

New Jersey
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/fishing.htm
http://www.njscuba.net/biology/misc_ov_fishes.html

New Mexico
http://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/recreation/fishing/

New York
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/recfshl4.html
http://fish.dnr.cornell.edu/nyfish/fish.html

North Carolina
http://www.wildlife.state.nc.us/fs_index_03_fishing.htm

North Dakota
http://gf.nd.gov/fishing/
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/fish/ndfishes/index.htm

Ohio
http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/wildlife/Fishing/default.htm
http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/biology/facilities/aqu_ecol/fish identification/foh/FishOhio.htm

Oklahoma
http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/fishregs2.htm
http://www.sdafs.org/okafs/Fishes of Oklahoma.htm

Oregon
http://www.dfw.state.or.us/fish/

Pennsylvania
http://www.fish.state.pa.us/bookfish.htm
http://www.fish.state.pa.us/pafish/fishhtms/chapindx.htm

Rhode Island
http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/bnatres/fishwild/index.htm

South Carolina
http://www.dnr.sc.gov/fish.html
http://people.clemson.edu/~jwfoltz/SCFISH/SCKEY/sckey.htm

South Dakota
http://www.sdgfp.info/Wildlife/fishing/Index.htm
http://www.sdgfp.info/Wildlife/Education/CommonFishes.htm

Tennessee
http://www.state.tn.us/twra/fish/fishmain.html
http://www.tnfish.org/PhotoGalleryFish_TWRA/FishPhotoGallery_TWRA/TWRAFishPhotoGallery.htm

Texas
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/annual/fish/
http://www.utexas.edu/tmm/tnhc/fish/na/txindex.html

Utah
http://www.utah.com/fish/
http://water.usu.edu/utahfish/

Vermont
http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/fish_sportfish.cfm

Virginia
http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/
http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/

Washington
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish-sh.htm
http://www.ups.edu/x5669.xml

West Virginia
http://www.wvdnr.gov/fishing/fishing.shtm
http://www.wvdnr.gov/Fishing/sport_fish.asp

Wisconsin
http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/
http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/greatlakesfish/becker.html

Wyoming
http://gf.state.wy.us/fish/fishing/index.asp
http://taurus.cnr.colostate.edu/projects/cofishguide/index.cfm?step=literature

Canada

Alberta
http://www.fishalberta.com/
http://www.2learn.ca/Alberta/projects/pond/Fish.html

Manitoba
http://www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/fish/

Newfoundland and Labrador
http://www.labrador-fishing.com/fishing_regulations.html

Nova Scotia
http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsaf/sportfishing/

Québec
http://www.mrnf.gouv.qc.ca/english/publications/online/wildlife/fishing-regulations/
http://redpath-museum.mcgill.ca/Qbp/fish/fish-e.html

Yukon
http://www.environmentyukon.gov.yk.ca/yukonfishing/regulations.html

British Columbia
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/
http://www.zoology.ubc.ca/~keeley/

New Brunswick
http://www.gnb.ca/0254/index-e.asp
http://www.unb.ca/fredericton/science/biology/Fish_key/fish welcome.htm

Northwest Territories
http://www.nwtwildlife.com/fishing/
http://www.iti.gov.nt.ca/parks/education/f_j/fish.htm

Nunavut
http://www.gov.nu.ca/Nunavut/English/departments/DSD/fishsum.pdf

Prince Edward Island
http://www.gov.pe.ca/enveng/cam-info/index.php3

Saskatchewan
http://www.se.gov.sk.ca/fishwild/
http://www.usask.ca/biology/skabugs/fishsk/fish.htm

 

[ewurm]

Thanks for the info. In MN, you can get an aquarium dealers permit, which costs $90. Then you can legally collect many species.

 

[snakehead121]

hey!!! I cant find the reges in WA!!!

 

[sandtiger]

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/regs/2006/2006sportregs.pdf

 

[snakehead121]

thankes

 

[snakehead121]

I dont think you can keep native fish in a aquareum in washington!!!!

 

[teleost]

I dont think you can keep native fish in a aquareum in washington!!!!

All native fish in the entire continent are prohibited from possession in the state of Washington?????????

Do you have any info to back this up? I guess you can't keep any tropical fish either. Must be awful to live in a state with no fish.

 

[snakehead121]

I looked threw all sites listed and can only find a permit for having a pond of native fish and to transport the fish from a local breeder to the pond. I can't find a thing about it legal to colect native fish, plants, ect. And the werst part is I have 5 wild blue gill.

 

[sandtiger]

I looked threw all sites listed and can only find a permit for having a pond of native fish and to transport the fish from a local breeder to the pond. I can't find a thing about it legal to colect native fish, plants, ect. And the werst part is I have 5 wild blue gill.

That's because native fish hobbiests are so small a minority that laws are written in regards to our hobbys. The closest thing you can get is the laws used for fishing and more specifically bait collecting. If you cannot find what you're looking for there should still be an email address of someone you can contact on the links provided and you can ask them specifically.

 

[teleost]

I looked threw all sites listed and can only find a permit for having a pond of native fish and to transport the fish from a local breeder to the pond. I can't find a thing about it legal to colect native fish, plants, ect. And the werst part is I have 5 wild blue gill.

Your original remark was: "I dont think you can keep native fish in a aquareum in washington!!!!"

This comment has nothing to do with ponds, transport or collection. Your statement was simple...it implied that native fishes may not be legal to keep in the state of Washington

I'm sure many fish are prohibited from possession but not all.

Damn Teleost, you better refuel that flamethrower, you just emptied it in one shot!

I tend to get a little angry with half truths. Sorry if I came off too strong.

It's important we as a weird group of fish owners take the time to read our state laws thoroughly and then ask questions or make statements about the law.

Sorry if I smashed you a bit hard there snakehead.