National Fishing and Boating Week
2006 Highlights
American Sportfishing Association Honors Sportfishing Champions
On Tuesday, June 6, 2006, the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) presented
its most prestigious honors to two life-long sportfishing advocates during
an evening reception at the Dirksen Senate office building on Capitol Hill,
as part of ASA’s National Fishing and Boating Week celebrations which
took place nationwide June 3-11. Approximately 200 people attended the reception.
The Honorable John D. Dingell (D-MI) was honored with the Norville Prosser
Lifetime Achievement Award, and Jim Cummins, director of the Living
Resources Section of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin
(ICPRB), received the Future of Fishing Award.
“It is an honor to present ASA’s highest awards to two very different,
but equally exceptional advocates,” said Mike Nussman, president and
CEO of ASA, “Congressman Dingell and his family have contributed more
than two lifetime’s work to the conservation, management and restoration
of fisheries nationwide, while Mr. Cummins has taken the same strategies and
applied them to the restoration of our fisheries in the Potomac River Basin.”
The Norville Prosser Lifetime Achievement Award, named after the
American Sportfishing Association’s former Vice President for Government
Affairs, It is presented to an individual who has shown extraordinary leadership
throughout his or her career in promoting the values of sportfishing and advancing
cooperative approaches to conservation and recreation. The Future of Fishing
Award pays tribute to those individuals or organizations who design new
approaches to expand fishing participation or community involvement.
Congressman
Dingell is an avid outdoorsman, and it shows in his work in the
U.S. Congress. He understands that the greatest advocates for the protection
of fish and game are the anglers and hunters themselves. Toward that end,
he has sponsored a number of bills to conserve wildlife and the traditions
of sportsmen and women.
Congressman Dingell’s accomplishments include ensuring that fishing
and hunting remain a priority use in our National Wildlife Refuge System. He
is also an advocate for the restoration and protection of the Great Lakes.
Through the years, Congressman Dingell has been an advocate for fisheries and
sportfishing when federal water projects were authorized, assuring that both
the fisheries and anglers are accommodated when federal power projects go forward.
"It is an honor for me to accept the Norville Prosser Lifetime AchievementAward. It
is a distinction I share with those in the conservation community that have
come before me, particularly my father,” said Congressman Dingell. “Dad
handed down to me my love for fishing, hunting, the outdoors and conservation
of precious resources that I have tried to pass along to my own children. While
we have had many successes, much work remains to be done to ensure that our
precious natural resources can be enjoyed by future generations of sportsmen. I
say thank you to the American Sportfishing Association and to all who work
so hard to ensure Americans can continue to enjoy our outdoor heritage.”
Congressman Dingell also brings a generational legacy of sportfishing advocacy.
His father, former Congressman John Dingell, Sr., co-authored the Federal Aid
in Sport Fish Restoration Act, commonly known as the Dingell-Johnson Act of
1950. The Act was the first legislation ever passed to ensure the management,
conservation and restoration of fishery resources.
Jim
Cummins has amassed a lengthy list of achievements during his tenure, but none
so demanding or rewarding as leading the cooperative effort to restore American
shad to the Potomac River.The cooperative effort has successfully
helped to triple the number of adult shad collected during spring brood-stock
in the Potomac since 1995. The program still collects brood stock to provide
fry to restock other regional tributaries.
The American shad was once one of the East Coast’s most abundant and
economically important fish. But by the mid-70s, the stock had been decimated
due to water pollution, over-harvest and other factors. By the 1990’s,
despite significant improvements in Potomac River water quality, the shad failed
to rebound. So, in 1995, the Commission, under Jim’s leadership and with
the cooperation of local watermen, students, community volunteers and the Harrison
Lake federal fish hatchery, launched the restoration project that ultimately
brought American shad back to the Potomac.
While the project owes its success to many individuals and organizations,
none of it would have occurred without the vision and determination provided
by Jim Cummins.
“I’m honored to be the recipient of the Future of Fishing
Award. Receiving this award is certainly a highlight of my career and
the successful effort to restore the American shad to the Potomac River is
one of the most rewarding,” said Cummins. “However, I share this
award hundreds of volunteers and others who put their collective hearts and
souls into this project. From students to anglers to commercial watermen
to state agency and federal fish hatchery staff; it was their enthusiasm
and passion that brought this project to fruition. The American shad's return
has sparked rapidly increasing public and angler interest in this remarkable
fish which is most deserved and long overdue. On behalf of myself and all
the people involved, I say thank you.”
