CCA helps present Ford’s Fishing Fronteirs airing on the Outdoor Channel. Hosted by Flip Pallot, this show offers viewers a blend of powerful visuals with sweeping natural vistas, 3D animations and original storytelling. Each show features an ensemble of today's most respected authorities on conserving, protecting and landing these captivating species.
|
|
FEATURED NEWS
|
A new day for menhaden management
For the first time in history, there will be reductions in the harvest of Atlantic menhaden after a vote in November by the Menhaden Management Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC).
|
|
STATEWIDE
FLORIDA
Oyster mat construction
Members of the Orlando Chapter, along with volunteers from The Orlando Kayak Club, recently helped Dr. Linda Walters and her students from the University of Central Florida drill oyster shells, make oyster mats, and pot mangrove and Spartina plants. The team of volunteers managed to have a wonderful time while making new fish habitat and restoring depleted oyster bars and mangrove shorelines. All of the restoration projects will be taken to the areas in and around the Mosquito Lagoon area and placed by more volunteers in the coming months.
The 21 UCF students, along with about 250 volunteers, set several unofficial records, with 296 mats created in just four hours, 61 buckets of oyster shell drilled, 1,500 red mangrove seeds potted and 100 shoots of Spartina potted.
|
|
|
MAINE
The Striper Sessions
The highlight of the fall season was The Maine Striper Sessions, a concert benefiting CCA Maine held at the Port City Music Hall in Portland. Conceived and coordinated by Adam Taylor, a Portland attorney who serves on the CCA Maine board, the concert featured The Jason Spooner Trio and the Pete Kilpatrick Band. Both donated their performances gratis to promote the mission of CCA Maine, as did Rob Evon, owner of the music hall venue. An enthusiastic Friday night crowd of 300-plus rocked to several hours of foot-stomping music and kept bartenders and waitresses hopping.
|
OREGON
Carcass Toss
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife put a call to the local Tualatin Valley Chapter to help return some early Trask River Hatchery salmon back into the local watersheds.
If you would like to become involved and help with one of these future carcass seeding projects, contact the local chapter at tualatinvalley
@ccapnw.org
and you will be put on a call list. It’s a great way to spend a few hours with family and friends and our fisheries are better for their effort.
|
SOUTH CAROLINA
More Work for Habitat
CCA SC’s Topwater Action Campaign (TWA) is now in its fifth year and its continued growth means great things for the state’s marine resources. The chapter has set its sights on expanding the projects as well as the recycling goal for this year’s oyster roast season. Volunteers established a goal of recycling another 10,000 bushels of shells along the coast between November 2011 and March of 2012. In conjunction with the recycling efforts, shell bagging events have been added to the list of projects in preparation for the summer when the shells are placed for the establishment of new oyster reefs.
|
VIRGINIA
Wins for Striped Bass
Striped bass were recently designated Virginia’s State Saltwater Fish, thanks to CCA Virginia and some motivated schoolchildren. As a result of passage of Virginia State Senate Bill 940, the striped bass officially became the state’s State Saltwater Fish this summer.
CCA Virginia State Chairman Larry Snider and Vice President for Governmental Affairs Frank Kearney initiated the process in the summer of 2010 through discussions with Sen. John Miller. CCA Virginia believed the designation would further aid the public in understanding the ecological and economic value of this hallmark species and assist in conservation efforts.
|
|
LOUISIANA
Floating Islands Project off to a successful start
CCA’s Floating Islands Project, completed in September, is off to a fast start as discovered by project managers found during a recent inspection. The Floating Islands' matrix, which is made of recycled plastic, is comprised of native plant species and will allow them to grow a root system to the water bottom. The plants will trap sediments and eventually grow toward and tie into the remaining marsh, strengthening it into a sustainable, flourishing mass.
Second Artificial Reef Construction Begins in Lake Pontchartrain
The Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) of Louisiana and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) will begin construction today on a new artificial reef in the northern portion of Lake Pontchartrain. The reef – named the “Dudley and Kim Vandenborre Reef” and located in St. Tammany Parish – honors the man who approached CCA Louisiana with the idea to use the material from the damaged Twin Spans to build artificial reefs in Lake Pontchartrain. The I-10 Twin Span bridges were severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The 4-acre reef, located in Lake Pontchartrain at permitted sites between the Interstate 10 and La. 11 bridges, will create an ideal habitat for all sorts of marine species, including speckled trout, redfish, drum and flounder.
|
|
|
GEORGIA
Chapter donates pump to hatchery
CCA Georgia has donated a desperately needed pump to the Richmond Hill Fish Hatchery. The pump, termed a “tempering pump,” is used in the acclimatizing phase of the hatchery process.
“This pump will be used to acclimate fish to the body of water in which they will be stocked,” says Chris Harper, Richmond Hill Hatchery manager. “This is a critical step in the stocking process because if the fish aren’t acclimated properly, they could go into shock.”
GA's first oyster shell recycling center
Coastal Conservation Association Georgia has begun the construction of 10 Oyster Shell Recycling Centers along the Georgia coast in cooperation with the Coastal Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
“We plan to have 10 Oyster Shell Recycling Centers built by springtime ranging from Savannah down to Camden County,” says Harry Lowe, chairman of CCA Georgia’s Habitat Committee Chair. “This is an ambitious project. Thanks to the incredible teamwork and assistance of the state’s Coastal Resource Division, our project timeline was compressed from one year down to a few months. The identification of suitable sites, all the way to the permitting for the construction, was facilitated by our colleagues at CRD. They have been a great group of folks to work with, and we look forward to partnering with them on more projects in the future.”
|
|
|
ALABAMA
Bayou Cour reef construction underway
Thanks to the combined efforts of the Alabama Department of Marine Resources and the Coastal Conservation Association, the massive 34-acre Bayou Cour Reef is nearing completion in Mobile Bay in close proximity to the mouth of the Bon Secour River.
“We anticipate the new reef to be a good place for speckled trout and redfish,” said Marine Resources Director Chris Blankenship. “It is being built on an old relic oyster reef and the water will be five feet deep over the outside ring of limestone and somewhat deeper inside the ring. The reef should be totally finished by the first of next year.”
The reef will be the largest permitted inshore reef in Alabama waters to date.
|
WASHINGTON
Crab lawsuit dismissed
Earlier this year, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Thomas McPhee ruled against the commercial crabbing industry's request for a preliminary injunction to block implementation of WDFW's Puget Sound Dungeness Crab Policy and associated rules. CCA Washington is pleased to report that in an order filed on Oct.14, the Court dismissed the case and ruled that the commercial fishing industry failed to show that WDFW violated the law in adopting a policy change giving recreational crabbers increased fishing opportunity and crab harvest while potentially reducing commercial harvest levels.
|
TEXAS
CCA project funding hits new height
CCA Texas recently committed $52,000 to fund eight summer interns for TPWD coastal operations.
CCA Texas also commited $10,000 to provide hatchery equipment to further spawning and stocking for Chester Moore’s Flounder Revolution initiative. Additionally, CCA Texas will partner with the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program for $70,000 as a part of a $375,000 project that will help provide freshwater from the Nueces River to nourish the environmentally critical Nueces delta.
“It is an incredible period in the history of CCA Texas,” said Robby Byers, CCA Texas Executive Director. “With our project funding at all-time highs, the potential to conserve and enhance our shared marine resources has never been greater.” |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
