September 2009 American Sportfishing Association Member Update
Member Updates are e-mailed monthly to members of the American Sportfishing Association and our partners on issues of interest to the future of fishing. For more information, contact ASA Communications, 703.519.9691.
BELOW IS A LIST OF TOPICS IN THIS UPDATE. Please scroll down for the complete document. Previous ASA Member Updates are available in the ASA Newsroom.
Each month ASA e-mails an update about our Government Affairs activities called Policy Watch. These documents can be found in the Government Affairs section of ASA’s Web site.
Condolences to the Sturdevant Family
2009 Sportfishing Summit
Pre-registration and Housing Deadline – October 7
Thank You Summit Sponsors
ASA Committee and Board of Directors Meetings
2009 Sportfishing Summit Featured Speakers
Transportation to the Rancho Bernardo Inn
No Fishing Zones in Biscayne National Park
ASA Attends AFWA Annual Meeting
Exhibiting at ICAST 2010
ICAST 2009 Highlights Available
Mark Your Calendar for ICAST 2010 and 2011
Visit the New ICAST Online Buyers’ Guide
Become an ICAST Fan on Facebook
Book Your Space for the ASA Eastern Shows
Going Green
FishAmerica Foundation Updates
Message from ASA President and CEO Mike Nussman
Condolences to the Sturdevant Family
On behalf of the FishAmerica Foundation, ASA’s Board of Directors, ASA members and the staff, we extend our sincere condolences to the Sturdevant family on the passing of Donald Sturdevant who passed away on October 1, 2009. Don worked in the sportfishing industry throughout the Southeast, spending many years with Shakespeare as Regional Manager, National Sales Manager and Director of Marketing. Don was also a long-time supporter of the FishAmerica Foundation and a member of FishAmerica’s Conservation Committee. In lieu of flowers please send donations in memory of Don to St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 170 St. Andrews Road, Columbia, SC 29210, or the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (NMCRS), 875 N. Randolph Street, Suite 225, Arlington, Va. 22203-1977.
2009 Sportfishing Summit
The American Sportfishing Association’s 2009 Sportfishing Summit , the sportfishing industry’s premier networking and business management event, is scheduled for October 27 – 29, at the Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego, Calif. We have a full agenda planned beginning with the Board of Directors meeting on Monday, October 26, and ending with the association’s General Membership meeting on Thursday morning, October 29. Don’t miss this important once-a-year opportunity. For information regarding sponsorship opportunities, registration or ASA membership, please contact Membership Director Jill Calabria . For questions about the program, contact Communications Director Mary Jane Williamson , or Communications Associate Ryan Colaianni . Please direct all questions about housing reservations to the Rancho Bernard Inn at 877-517-9340.
Pre-registration and Housing Deadline – October 7
The Summit pre-registration deadline was October 7. Registration has increased $100 in each category. The discounted room rate at Rancho Bernardo Inn has also expired. Please contact the hotel directly at 877-517-9340 if you need to make reservations.
Thank You Summit Sponsors
The American Sportfishing Association would like to thank those who have signed on as Sportfishing Summit Sponsors : Gold – NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ; Silver – Take Me Fishing™ Campaign and the U.S. Geological Survey ,; and Bronze – ZEBCO Brands , Southwick Associates , and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies . If you are interested in being a sponsor for this year’s Summit, please contact Membership Director Jill Calabria , x234.
ASA Committee and Board of Directors Meetings
During the 2009 Sportfishing Summit, the ASA Board of Directors will meet on Monday, October 26 from 2:30 – 5:30 p.m. They will also meet on Thursday, October 29, from 7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. General Membership Meeting will take place on Friday, October 29, from 9:00 – 10:00 a.m.
The association's committees will meet on Tuesday, October 27.
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Government Affairs committee (includes Trade & Commerce, Saltwater and Freshwater subcommittees) - 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
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Membership, Data & Statistics, Consumer Shows and Finance committees - 9:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
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Show, Communications and the FishAmerica Foundation committees - 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
If you have questions about the board of directors meetings, please contact Joyce Anderson-Logan , x233.
2009 Sportfishing Summit Featured Speakers
A diverse group of individuals have accepted our invitation to address ASA’s members and guests.
Tuesday, October 27
Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator
Wednesday, October 28
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Frank Peterson, president and CEO, Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation
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Don Koch, director, California Department of Fish and Game
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Jean-Claude Bel, CEO, European Fishing Tackle Trade Association
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Jeff Pontius, president, ZEBCO Brands
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Thom Dammrich, president, National Marine Manufacturers Association
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Jim Murphy, CEO, Afterburners, Inc.
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Mike Chrisman, secretary for Natural Resources, state of California
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Dan Wolford, Science director, Coastside Fishing Club
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Vern Goehring, manager, California Fisheries Coalition
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Doug Painter, senior advisor for the National Shooting Sports Foundation
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Chris Marek, chief officer, San Diego/Imperial Counties Chapter, American Red Cross
Transportation to the Rancho Bernardo Inn
The Rancho Bernardo Inn is located approximately 30 miles from San Diego International Airport. SuperShuttle offers shuttle service to Rancho Bernardo Inn for approximately $25 each way. Please make sure you say you are going to the Rancho Bernardo Inn to obtain that rate. For more information about the shuttle service, contact SuperShuttle at 800-974-8885. Driving directions and a map are available on the Rancho Bernardo Inn’s Web site . Taxi service is available for approximately $75 one way. Parking at the Rancho Bernardo Inn is $10 per day, self-parking, and $12 per day for valet parking.
No Fishing Zones in Biscayne National Park
As part of updating the Fisheries Management Plan (FMP) in Biscayne National Park (BNP), located near Miami, Fla., National Park Service officials have proposed to include no-fishing marine reserves to address overfishing. ASA has drafted separate letters for Florida Governor Crist and legislators and the NPS addressing this issue. The NPS is urged to follow the recommendations of its own working group which did not include no-fishing zones in its plan update recommendations. In particular, ASA’s Florida members are encouraged to send comments and help raise awareness of this issue. Comments on the FMP were due by October 6. The FMP includes five alternatives to guide future management of the park’s fisheries, three which would allow for marine reserves to be used as a management strategy in BNP. For more information, please go to www.keepamericafishing.org/florida.html .
ASA Attends AFWA Annual Meeting
ASA staff attended the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) annual meeting September 9-13, in Austin, Texas.Meetings of interest included Fisheries and Water Resources Policy, Angler and Boater Participation, Trust Funds, Marine Fisheries and Fish and Wildlife Disease.ASA staff used this gathering as an opportunity to discuss AFWA’s position on lead fishing tackle, marine protected area designations, ocean policy and Wallop-Breaux Reauthorization.
Exhibiting at ICAST 2010
Now is the time to reserve your space at ICAST 2010, being held July 14–16 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Booths will be assigned in early October. Contracts and booth assignments will not be processed until a deposit is received. The ICAST 2010 exhibit space contract and floor plan are available on ICASTfishing.org . For more information, contact Kenneth Andres , x231.
ICAST 2009 Highlights Available
Highlights from ICAST 2009 are now available on the ICAST Web site . A record crowd of nearly 7,400 representatives from the global sportfishing community converged on the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., July 15 – 17, for the world’s largest sportfishing trade show. View the highlights to recapture ICAST 2009.
Mark Your Calendar for ICAST 2010 and 2011
ICAST will return to Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Convention Center in 2010 and 2011. We look forward to seeing you there!
ICAST 2010 – July 14 - 16, 2010, Las Vegas Convention Center
ICAST 2011 – July 13 - 15, 2011, Las Vegas Convention Center
Visit the New ICAST Online Buyers’ Guide
The ICAST 2009 Buyers’ Guide is also available online. Visit the new ICAST Online Buyers’ Guide for “who’s who” in the sportfishing industry and what each industry member offers.
Become an ICAST Fan on Facebook
ICAST, the world’s largest sportfishing tradeshow, now has a presence on Facebook. Become an ICAST friend on Facebook and stay informed with important ICAST news. Be the first on your block to become an ICAST friend on the ICAST Facebook page !
Book Your Space for the ASA Eastern Shows
The ASA/Eastern Fishing & Outdoor Exposition consumer shows are gearing up for the 2010 show season. Now is the time to reserve space for the Eastern Fishing & Outdoor Expo, Worcester, Mass.,Feb. 11-14, 2010; Greater Philadelphia Outdoor Sportshow, Oaks, Pa., Feb. 25-28, 2010; World Fishing & Outdoor Expo, Suffern, N.Y., Mar. 4-7, 2010; and The Saltwater Fishing Expo, Somerset, N.J., Mar. 19-21, 2010. Current ASA members who participate in all four of ASA/ Eastern Fishing & Outdoor exposition shows will receive a 20 percent discount on standard priced booth space.To sign up for exhibit space, contact the ASA/Eastern Fishing & Outdoor Expo staff at 603-431-4315 or e-mail info@sportshows.com for more information.
Going Green
The Department of Commerce’s Green Build Road Show, being held in multiple cities November 2-10, taps into Europe’s lucrative sustainable construction and green building market at the U.S. Commercial Service’s Green Build Road Show. Space is limited. Registration is available at www.export.gov/greentechnologies to secure an appointment at one of these U.S. venues. This program is supported by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and is designed to encourage “going green.”
FishAmerica Foundation Update
To help FishAmerica keep our nation’s fish and waters healthy, visit FishAmerica online at www.fishamerica.org or contact Executive Director Johanna Laderman, x245 or Grants Manager Erica George, x247.
FishAmerica to meet during ASA Sportfishing Summit in San Diego, CA
FishAmerica will hold its annual conservation and research committees’ on Tuesday, October 27, beginning at 2:00 p.m. at the Rancho Bernardo Inn . Specific meeting details will be released in the upcoming weeks. The committee meeting is open to the all Summit attendees. Register for the Summit now at the ASA Web site .
Federal Employees Can Help Keep our Fish and Waters Healthy through CFC
The FishAmerica Foundation is listed in this year's Combined Federal Campaign (CFC),#12295. Since 2007, federal employees have given nearly $40,000 to keep our fish and waters healthy. Make your pledge today.
Funding for Chesapeake Bay Watershed Fisheries Habitat Restoration Available in October
In October, up to $350,000 in funding will be available through FishAmerica and its partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Trust and its new partner, the NOAA Restoration Center . In its sixth year, the partnership provides funding to restore fish habitat, improve water quality, and enhance fish stocks in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.The new Headwaters Restoration track specifically focuses on restoration of headwater fish habitat throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, West Virginia and Washington, DC. Grants of up to $75,000 each will be announced in March 2010. Since 2002, FishAmerica and the Trust have awarded more than $375,000 to 17 fisheries conservation projects in the Chesapeake Bay watershed for habitat conservation and restoration.
FishAmerica Requests Support to Invest in Critical Habitat Restoration Projects
FishAmerica has just submitted its proposal to the NOAA Restoration Center to receive $3 million over three years for community-based habitat restoration projects across the coastal United States, the Great Lakes region, and U.S. Territories of the Caribbean. In the past 12 years, FishAmerica and the NOAA Restoration Center have awarded nearly $5.5 million in grants with $6.9 million in local matching funds to projects in 24 states and Puerto Rico restoring or creating habitat for numerous species of marine and anadromous sportfish and other recreationally-important species such as salmon, trout, striped bass, bluefish, snook, tarpon, redfish, flounder, and alewives. Those interested in supporting these projects should contact Johanna Laderman , executive director, at x245.
Message from ASA President and CEO Mike Nussman
For as long as I’ve been in this business, as an industry we’ve been calling for better management of our nation’s saltwater fisheries. Why is better management so important? It’s important because most anglers aren’t very good at catching fish. They use tackle that is inefficient and spend very little time practicing their sport taking, on average, 10 fishing trips per year. However, the more fish there are; the better the likelihood of catching one. More fish means more anglers which means better business.
In fact, we need look no further than the resurgence of Atlantic striped bass and its impact on the sportfishing industry for proof of that. Anglers are taking 10 times more trips for striped bass today than when the stock was at its lowest level. To help ensure that striped bass endures as a species and as a sportfish, in 2007 President George W. Bush signed an Executive Order declaring striped bass a federal gamefish. Re-establishing striped bass is truly a fisheries management success story.
However, better fisheries management must be accompanied by significant effort to minimize the adverse impacts of fisheries management measures on communities who depend on recreational fishing. It’s ludicrous to put people out of business today so that we can provide them with better business in 10 years or 15 years. This is particularly true at a time when our federal government is spending billions, if not trillions, of our tax dollars to create jobs.
Right now, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service, the agency responsible for overseeing commercial and recreational saltwater fishing, is considering closing the entire reef fish complex in the Atlantic Ocean to all fishing based on the new red snapper stock assessment. That assessment says that red snapper is at less than 5 percent of its historic levels and overfishing is occurring at 12 times the sustainable rate. NOAA says that closing just the red snapper fishery isn’t sufficient to end overfishing because snapper by catch from other reef fish would just be too high. This comes 33 years after the 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act was voted into law to prevent this very thing from happening.
Since its inception, NOAA has allocated very little of its resources to collect reliable recreational sportfishing data, focusing largely on commercial fishing. This is despite the fact that the recreational sector creates 50 percent of the jobs coming from domestic saltwater fisheries while taking only three percent of the saltwater fish harvested each year.
Closing an entire fisheries complex in order to make up for the mismanagement of one species just isn’t acceptable. This decision will have a devastating impact on our costal communities and the sportfishing industry at a time when our country can ill afford either. Now is the time for everyone, particularly our new administration, to take a hard look at marine fisheries management and determine if there is a better way to improve our fish stocks with the least impact on our livelihood.
