Catch The Excitement!
Mike Nussman, President & CEO
ICAST Industry Breakfast ~ July 9, 2003
Thank you, Jerry. It’s a real privilege to be here today and speak
to all of you about the state of your association and our industry.
My goal is to convey where your trade association is headed
in the context of the larger universe in which we’re operating. I
want to share with you the ways we’re all making it stronger and
more relevant in affecting the future of our businesses and our
sport.
The first thing we understand is when it comes to this association,
there’s no business like show business. Last year’s ICAST was
an important step in the right direction for our association.
Yet, as you all know, we’re constantly looking for ways to improve
the value of ICAST for all segments of our industry.
Last fall,
we invited Bob Delfay to speak at the Sportfishing Summit in
Tucson. Bob has been intimately involved in the SHOT
Show since “day
one” and served as Chairman of the SHOT Show committee for
more than 15 years. In Tucson, Bob emphasized that the number one lesson
they learned in growing the SHOT Show was the value of two-way
communication with exhibitors
and attendees.
So it gives me a great deal of pleasure to announce
that Bob is here today and will be working with us to take
a strategic look at ICAST’s strengths, weaknesses, challenges,
and opportunities. Bob will be on the
floor this week and I know that he, and we, want to hear from
you on how to make ICAST even more valuable in the future.
But before we move on to the future, let’s take a second to reflect
on the past. I think everyone would agree that the last few
years have been anything but typical for our country. We were
caught up in a confusing
Presidential election, we’ve seen corporate scandals from Enron to
WorldCom, we’ve seen terrorism and even war. We’ve had droughts
followed by widespread flooding in different parts of the country.
The stock market in responding to all these events has been
skittish to say
the least. And now SARS is having big impacts on manufacturing
operations worldwide.
All of these things have had tremendous
effects on the mood and mindset of Americans, including our
buying habits and the
way we spend our free time. Yet the very fact that you’re here means
you’re
a survivor and have persevered through a very difficult period.
And I know we’ve got what it takes to ride out this storm and even
chart a better course, and I’ll tell you why. Companies having the
most success are using their ingenuity to find new markets,
to enhance product
innovation, and to create new product niches.
Like in the past,
new products that create excitement in the industry and with
anglers alike will lead us out of stagnation.
And I’m
pleased to report that we’ve got about a thousand of them that will
be introduced this week.
In fact, I think the New Product Showcase
reception we had last night is one of the most exciting parts
of ICAST. What
I see overall is a spark of ingenuity and passion that continues
to be the hallmark of
the sportfishing industry and a flagship feature of ICAST.
I’ll give you a few examples that reflect our industry’s vitality.
Last night, I saw more companies appealing to new markets by
experimenting with technology to compete for anglers’ attention.
Others are expanding product lines to take advantage of the
rebounding saltwater fish stocks
and the resulting popularity of inshore saltwater fishing.
Some are introducing new environmentally friendly lures and
terminal tackle. We may be in a
highly competitive business, but we’re not all just bean counters.
There is a great love of the sport of fishing, and it shows.
More than anything, that’s what drives our industry and makes it
special.
Since I was asked to take this job some 20 months ago,
leadership is something I spend a good deal of time thinking
about. It might surprise you how much I consider ASA members
as the source of it. But it’s
easy to see from my vantage point, and one thing I want to
do today is share that view with you.
No trade association can
be effective without the trust and activism of its members.
More than anything, an association
that unites an active and engaged membership will keep us all
firmly anchored. I see
striking examples every day of the ways ASA members are making
a difference, and from where I’m sitting, it’s easy to see
how it all adds up. That’s the best part of my job!
I don’t
need to tell you that there are plenty of threats to the future
of fishing that we need to be vigilant about, regardless of the
ebb and flow of our economic cycles. I’m sure you are well aware
of threats to fishing access, competing demands on our outdoor
resources, and shifting lifestyles and attitudes.
As your trade
association, we not only have to stay apprised and involved
in these issues, we also have to be able to mobilize
our membership to be effective in influencing them. That’s where
we truly make our mark.
Over the last year especially, the Board
of Directors, led by Jerry Calengor, has invested a great deal
of thought and
care in finding new routes to better engage ASA members for
a stronger dialogue and activism
on issues that affect our industry. Together, we’ve addressed many
of the basic building blocks to get us started in a new direction.
The Board has been supportive in helping to position the Association to
take a stronger leadership role. The bottom line is, in
everything we do as an association, we’re creating new avenues to
encourage everyone to stand together on issues that affect
the sportfishing business. After
all, that’s the main reason you need a trade association.
I see members
showing their leadership by getting directly involved with
some of the bigger threats I mentioned a moment
ago. In recent years, saltwater products have seen significant
growth, yet we’ve
never seen bigger threats to angler access to the ocean than
we’re
seeing today.
Many of the editors and writers here in this room
have used their publications to inform and rally thousands
of anglers to combat policies that would ban fishing from huge
areas along our coasts. Their efforts
reinforce a strong coalition of angler groups such as United
Anglers of Southern California and Jersey Coast Anglers Association.
In California,
400 square miles of one of our most popular fishing areas is
now closed, despite our best efforts.
This is a wake-up call
and confirmation that we need to do even more to insert some
common sense into the movement for
a national network of saltwater no-fishing zones. Toward that
end, I’m pleased
to report that last week the State of Rhode Island’s legislature
made Rhode Island the first state in the nation to adopt the
Freedom to Fish law first proposed by ASA. I need to recognize
the Recreational Fishing
Alliance’s hard work to make that important step a reality.
But such
challenges to conservation and fishing are not going away.
In an ideal world, we could address them all. But we,
like you, focus on what brings us collectively the biggest
bang for our buck. Most recently,
we worked hard in supporting the Sport Fish Restoration Act
because it’s
the single-most important law affecting fishery conservation,
angler access, and sport fishing participation.
After two years
of work leading the American League of Anglers and Boaters,
a Capitol Hill coalition, we got a major endorsement
from Congress last week that paves the way for half a billion
dollars a year
in investments in the future of fishing.
We took on this leadership
role for the Sport Fish Restoration Act not only because of
its impact on conservation and access,
but also because of its huge potential to affect sport fishing
participation. That’s
where you come in. When Congress reauthorizes the law later
this year, the sportfishing industry will benefit from $60
million dollars being set
aside over the next 6 years to broadly promote fishing and
boating.
A number of ASA members are already showing their
leadership in this area by embracing the Water Works Wonders
marketing program. Everyone using these materials helps send
the unified message that fishing and boating
are wonderful experiences to share with those we care about
most.
That’s one more area where we need to stay especially vigilant.
Back in 1995, an opinion poll showed 95 percent of the public
supported legal
recreational fishing. That’s an amazing number. Hardly anything is
supported by 95 percent of the public. So, it would be easy
to be complacent. Yet we know lifestyles and attitudes change
rapidly. We need to recognize
the incremental indicators and trends that threaten fishing’s mainstream
appeal.
For example, studies about whether or not fish feel
pain are becoming a dime a dozen. A big article in the Boston
Globe recently challenged the sportsmanship of catch and release.
PETA is petitioning to ban fishing
from our national wildlife refuges. And while heightened attention
to the plight of our ocean fisheries is a good thing, many
of the recommendations coming out ignore the fundamental differences
between large-scale
commercial
fishing activities and a family’s weekend fishing adventure.
There’s
a common denominator in all this. Gradually fishing is being
nudged toward the fringe. If we let this happen, it would mean that instead
of anglers being perceived as strong conservationists, they’ll just
be viewed as another special interest. Instead of being perceived
as a wholesome family pastime, fishing would be seen as a cruel
sport. We need
to do even more to promote the values of fishing to our society
and recapture our rightful image as leaders in conservation.
We need to be the first
to show how the sport of fishing enriches people’s lives.
A promising
example that shows how powerful we can be together was a joint
effort led by Geoff Ratte and Fred Neal, both ASA
Board members, along with a number of other ASA members in
the Midwest. Without their
direct involvement with policy-makers in Minnesota, one of
our most popular fishing states would have passed legislation
banning lead in tackle that
would have included many of the lures on the show floor. I’m pleased
to report that when Minnesota anglers and the sport fishing
industry banded together they stopped this misguided legislation.
Just
like the efforts of those on the frontlines of the no-fishing
zone issue, these members created an even stronger front by
bridging their efforts with those of anglers themselves. In
the end, they all made themselves
heard. These successes show the great potential for uniting
the industry and engaging anglers in our advocacy.
What's evolving
is an opportunity for ASA to take the lead in creating an advocacy
network that for the first time links
together all our members with millions of anglers. I’m not proposing
a new organization, or a new level of bureaucracy, instead
I’m proposing
a new way of communicating. Think of it as creating a big stick
that we can bring to the fight. So that when we see a threat,
we can take advantage
of technology to make it simple for both companies and sportsmen
to rally to the cause.
Led by Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shops, and others,
we already possess powerful communication tools that have the
potential to expand our reach and mobilize
our masses. We must now take that next step and use these assets
in a coordinated fashion to speak on behalf of the industry
and the nation’s
anglers. I'm convinced there's nothing more important for us
to do in the coming years.
I can go on and on talking about how our members
have worked
to move the association and the industry ahead. Instead, let
me conclude here by thanking all of you for your contributions
to the association, to the industry, and to our great sport.
I hope you can see
how valuable
your active involvement is to our future. A rising tide lifts
all ships, and as an industry, we’ll always be stronger together!
