Virginia Council of Angling Clubs

[Bob Allen]

With the eminant demise of the dominate state conservation fishing organization, it has become apparent that a new cover organization must evolve. Local Recreational fishing clubs have now come together again into a new version of the old "Federation of Anglers Clubs", which was the unifying group many years ago.

Each Club will be representing the interests of their individual membership. It is expected that anglers in Virginia will become members of a local angling club, chip in to help the local Club with events , socials and tournaments. This new organization will gain strength from your membership in the Club...not in joining the VA Council of Angling Clubs...your Club will have a representative that will be communicating with other Clubs electronically (speed) and state-wide, inter-club communications, which have failed miserably over the last several years, will be lifted to a new high.

The new VA Council of Anglers will not be making fisheries managment decisions in poorly publicized meetings of two or five self annoined individuals as has been going on the last several years.

Your Club, with elected officers will be the direct link to Council Decisions and this will be a grass roots organization with your Club representatives making decisions which effect you , the average angler.

This organization will not directly ask you to work your butt off at failed fund raisers ..your Club Dues stay right in your Club and money is no longer sent to a head office in Texas , leaving the State organization short of cash.

Money has nothing to do with this VA Council of Angling Clubs...this is about improving communications at the most important level.

There are 15 Clubs in VA...a couple (Richmond and Northern Neck) have indicated they are not interested, but all other groups have shown varying degrees of interst.

This to announce to you that a Virginia Council of Angling Clubs is up and running in Virginia...

There is now an alternative to Texas!!

JOIN YOUR LOCAL FISHING CLUB AND DEVOTE YOUR LOYALTY, TIME AND EFFORTS TO YOUR CLUB!!

Bob Allen....Va Council of Angling Clubs organizer...

[Matt]

this sounds like an excellent step in the right direction

[Sea Gristle]

Methinks the "demise of the dominate state conservation fishing organization" is, at least, premature.

VA fishing clubs SHOULD be the voice of the rec fishing community. They COULD have been involved with"the dominate state conservation fishing organization" but largely chose not to.

Whether or not this revived idea attracts new rec fisher to get involved or devolves into "making fisheries management decisions in poorly publicized meetings of two or five self annointed individuals" remains to be seen.

I look forward to hearing about what issues the council will address as a unified group, and how I might help. I don't belong to my local club now so I'm not sure what conservation projects they are involved with presently, but if they are more conservation-focused than just fishing seminars and fellowship I might just join.

I wish you luck and all the best. The Bay needs it.

[Bob Allen]

The Virginia Council of Angling Clubs is just what the title implies. The point men on the Council will be from one of the local VA recreational clubs. This is not necessarily a conservation group. The VCAC will be what the Clubs want it to be as it will be a direct extension from each Club through their appointed representataive or through one of their Executive officers(elected by their membership).

One of the big failures of CCAVA was their difficulty in communication to anyone. Communication will flow freely between Clubs , with each Club acting as a portal to the rest of the group. It will be the responsiblilty of each Club to dessiminate news and information to that Club. If Clubs are unwilling to communicate with other Clubs, & to their membership, the VCAC will fail also!!

Sorry, Kevin, you cannot participate in this group...you will just have to wait and see what comes of it, as I, too am waiting!!

The intent will be to encourage interested anglers to join a local Club , whose elected officers will , in turn be on the VA Council of Anglers Clubs.

Don Lancaster told me he , knew somone, , who was no longer a member of CCAVA nor of any club and wanted to be included...Sorry, to have ANY input , one must belong to one of the member Clubs.

I issued an open invitation to any bonified salt water fishing Club to come aboard at the beginning: two clubs declined: VA Anglers (richmond, VA) and the Northern Neck Anglers Club...

The door will always be open for both of those Clubs and I would hope they will reconsider sometime in the future.

Kevin, You know I respect all the current and past members of CCAVA and appreciate what great feats of accomplishment CCA VA attained. But tired and worn out, CCAVA, must take a back seat to the Virginia Fishing Clubs, who have the true support of recreational anglers, VCAC will, in fact speak for the members of their indivicual Clubs...VCAC has no agenda...other than holding on to the gains made by CCAVA the last 15 years and to improve the poor state of communications that developed over the last 6 years .

Bob Allen PSWSFA VCAC

[Bob Allen]

Kevin and all: I do have a personal cross to bear....I am tired of feeble fund raisers necessary to support an Executive Secretary while much of the money from local dues is demanded by a home office in Texas/Louisiana.

There is no reason why fund raising efforts and events should not be supporting local Clubs(recreational anglers) and staying right here in Virginia!

RBA

[David Nobles]

Its a shame that Bob Allen has failed to give all of the facts with respect to CCA VA. First of all CCA VA is not going away and is still operating. While we have had some set backs with respectto our operations CCA VA is still at work on behalf of VA's recreational fishermen and other interested citizens.
Bob wants you to belive that there are only a handful of people in CCA VA making decisions. In some ways he is correct. But these are the people who are willing to donate their time (nobody in our volunteer groups receives any payment for their services) to accomplish what many of you still expect us to do and that is fight the fight that it takes to make a difference. When it comes time to make a committment to be involved in a fisheries management committee teleconference, or a communications committee call, or go to the state legislature to lobby for an issue, we don't see many hands being raised by people willing to help us. Out of the almost 1600 members of CCA VA today, not many are really willing to participate as active members and this is true of many organizations such as CCA. Many of these members will help when it comes time to sign a petition or write a letter to a legislator and this is a very important part of grass roots organizations.
Of recent interest to many of you in the VA Beach-Hampton area, CCA VA was very active in working on behalf of the Blue Fish Rock reef project as well as other current issues at VMRC. And on these types of issues CCA VA does its best to get the information out to our membership as well as other interested groups to get as much input into making the CCA position as possible.
About 10 years ago the cobia and spade fish limit delima started. CCA VA went to as many saltwater angling clubs as we could identify and ask for their input on the limits being offered for these two species. The final outcome of this process revealed that the majority of those who repsonded agreed with the 1 cobia and 6 spadefish limits being sought. CCA VA sent the results of this process to VMRC and recommended that they set the limits as specified to both recreational and commercial fishermen. This was a consensus of angling clubs and not just CCA VA. If you have a bone to pick with anyone on the cobia deal, ask the associate commissioners at VMRC why they did what they did. I'll give you the reason so you won't have to waste your time. There were only a very few commercial fishermen targeting cobia (less than 5 I believe). The lions share of cobia were actually being caught by many recreational anglers that were targeting the species. I won't make any comment on whether VMRC was right or wrong in that decision. You be the judge. But don't blame CCA for that one. I can only look at the fishery we have on cobia right now and it certainly seems as though we have an excellent one. By the way, how many of you were participating members of those clubs that were given the opprtunity to voice their opinions on these issues?
As far as membership money goes, here is how it works with CCA. Your $25.00 membership goes to the national office where it is used to pay staff and all of the other things it takes to run a national organization, such as the Tide magazine that is one of the highest rated conservation magazines in the country. It goes to pay our attorneys/lobbyists who work at both the state and national level for CCA. Each year a budget is submitted using expected CCA membership growth as one of the criteria in making up the buidget. When the membrship numbers exceed expectations and there is a surplus, then some of the money is returned to the states based on the percentage of the membership that each individual state represents.
All of the money that is raised in each state at local fund raising events stays in the state. This is money used to pay the states executive director, office expenses, printing and mailing of newsletters and all of the things it takes to run a state chapter. So for your inquiring minds, VA's operating budget normally runs in the $120,000.00 range per year. We have now almost 1600 members times $25.00 equals $40,000.00. A typical newsletter mailing that in the past CCA VA was able to put out 4 times a year cost CCA VA about $2000.00 per issue for $8,000.00. Salaries and the cost of carrying an employee with benefits ate into this budget real quick. Fundraising results were down and therefore the executive director postion was terminated until such time as money is available. CCA VA will continue to operate.
Some additonal information on membership may be of benefit here. CCA now totals 98,000 and growing members mking us the largest conservation organization in the country. Of this number over 40,000 members hail from Texas, therefore making Texas the largest contibutor to the national budget. The Texas state chapter doesn't receive any money from other states membership money. They don't need to. They wrote the book on banquet fundraising. Loiusianna & Florida follow closely behind Texas . When the anglers in the other member states of CCA become as impassioned as those states then we will see growth in all states. CCA VA is not unlike many of the other states, all of which have had their problems but have managed to rebuild and make progress. CCA VA will do the same.
As far as Bob's comments about going to bed with environmentalists, CCA VA teamed with the Environmental Defense Fund, The National Coalition for Marine Conservation and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to form Menhaden Matter in order to mass enough "clout" to bring about some change in menhaden fisheries managment. This group succeeded in doing just that and the results of this effort have put the first ever harvest limit on menhaden, specifically in the Chesapeake Bay. I won't delve into all of the implications of this but it was no small feat. As far as the money from PEW and the Teddy Rosevelt Conservation group goes, we all basically had a common goal which was and is proper management of a species. We currently have no other issues in common and therefore no ties to them.
Bob would also like you to think that CCA Va operates behind closed doors. This is not the case. The doors are open to anyone who wishes to participate. Join CCA and get involved. You think our communications stink??Then if you have some expertise in this area join us and help us. Interested in fisheries management, then join us and participate on the Fisheries Management Committee. It's your opportunity to be involved and have your voice heard. CCA's mission is about conserving , protecting and restoring our marine fisheries for the benefit of all users of the resource with the ultimate goal of leaving something for our children and grandkids that is at least as good as it is today and hopefully better. Go to Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) (http://www.joincca.org) to join and contact CCA VA at ccava@cox.net if you are interested in being an active player on any one of the committees. Just remember that it will take some of your time to participate. This is true for all organizations, be it CCA or the Federation of Angling Cubs that Bob is trying to revive. And don't get upset and quit when you are particpating in a decision making process and the final outcome doesn't suit you.
I will not post any more responses on this subject on this board. If you would like to know more about CCA VA contact me at ccava@cox.net and I will do my best to answer any questions you have.

David L. Nobles

Note: the comment at the beginning of this about the size of CCA should have said largest fisheries conservation organization, not largest conservation association.

[BigJim]

Yep, it's all our fault for not supporting the organization to begin with! (What a crock!) Why doesn't the CCA accept any responsibility for its own problems including its loss of membership? How can the rest of us be at fault for your having an organization which we cannot in good conscious belong to?

For years Bob tried to convince me to join the CCA. Now he is on my side of the fence. Personally, I believe that if the CCA lost yet another 1600 paying members we would probably all be better off.

[Bob Allen]

The drop in renewals from VA anglers has been dramatic:

When CCAVA was at their height...there were 2400 members...now in a few short years there are ALMOST 1600....I guess that means there are less than 1600!! I do not see a great future for an organization that has lost ALMOST 1,000 dues-paying members in a few short years.

RBA

[Tinsquid]

Bob
Let’s go back to your original post. You use the word eminent; it’s probably a Freudian slip on your part. I think deep down you really do admire those CCA folk. After all, eminent means “outstanding in performance, rank or attainment.”

[Bob Allen]

Maybe it was a Fruedien slip: Yes, I do admire the guys...I was once one of them...we all worked hard...accomplished a great deal...Virginia anglers do not want to lose what we have gained when Bob Pride, , richard Welton, John Bello, David Nobles, Larry Snyder and all the Tidewater and Eastern shore guys were so active(about 40 or 50 of them)...Yes, I do admire them...; somehow CCA Va and CCA National just got lost...fund raising became their overriding motive for their existance...driven by the unbreakable bond between CCA National and CCA VA...

One former state officer recently argued with me lightly about my opinions on CCA --than near the end of our pleasant conversation, where we differed a some items discussed, he bent close to me and asked If I had ever been to one of the work sessons in Louisiana(or texas) for chapters officers..."no," I replied....he leaned a little closer and said ; "it is all about money"...they teach how to do fund raisers, capture dues, ...he said: "Not a word about conservation"!!!!....He was defending CCA VA and CCA National...then in the final analysis he agreed with you and me. RBA