The AFFTA Fisheries Fund awarded $20,000 to support eight projects across the country. Selected from an impressive field of worthy applicants, these projects work to manage and conserve our fisheries, create more advocates for protecting our aquatic resources, and bring more people to our sport.
“The Fisheries Fund is pleased to support the efforts of these organizations working to conserve, restore, and enhance our fisheries,” says Tom Bie, Fisheries Fund Chair, “and we look forward to continuing to support such important work in the future.”
Education
Catch-and-Release Best Practices Toolkit (Nation-wide)
Keep Fish Wet (http://keepfishwet.org)
Develop a toolkit for fly shops, guides, and lodges to help educate their clients and customers about science-based best practices for catch-and-release. Kits will include a mix of physical, digital, and reference items (e.g., posters, stickers, website content, videos).
Watershed Education Course (Western Oregon)
Salmon Drift Creek Watershed Council (http://www.salmondrift.org)
Develop and teach a community-education course through the local community college comprised of environmental science and field-based learning about watershed function, native species, and restoration. Project is part of a larger effort to elevate the collective knowledge of citizens as a means to effectively engage them in supporting and promoting fisheries and habitat restoration.
TU Costa 5 Rivers Rendezvous (Midwest)
Trout Unlimited (http://www.tu.org/5rivers)
An active network of over 100 college clubs, 5 Rivers facilitates a social environment that teaches leadership skills, promotes conservation, and builds community through the sport of flyfishing. The Midwest Rendezvous is a regional meet-up for clubs in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and Iowa that gives these college flyfishers and conservationists an opportunity to participate in educational and conservation programming.
Research and Management
Identify and map pre-spawning aggregation sites and juvenile bonefish habitat (Location: Florida Keys)
Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (https://www.bonefishtarpontrust.org)
A core component of the Florida Keys Initiative is to identify, protect, and restore key juvenile habitats, important flats, and spawning sites—addressing an ongoing challenge for effective fisheries management.
Fish Habitat Mapping and Community Science. (Southeast Alaska)
Trout Unlimited (http://www.americansalmonforest.org/community-science.html)
Ongoing effort to collect fish-habitat data for state-wide catalog of waters important for anadromous fish. This community science data- collection effort—The Fish Habitat Project—works to add unrecognized waters to the catalog of known anadromous fish resources of Alaska, which in turn receive an increased level of protection. At present the catalog is incomplete and many important water bodies are left unprotected.
Habitat Restoration and Protection
The 3rd Annual LoCo Trash Bash (Central Texas)
Cleanup the Colorado (https://www.facebook.com/cleanupthecolorado)
Project on the Colorado River downstream of Austin to reduce the amount of trash in the river, create awareness and inclusion among the various recreational user groups, and educate the greater community on the amount of trash going into the river and its effect on wildlife and fish habitat.
Lower Deschutes River Stewardship Project (Western Oregon)
Native Fish Society (http://www.nativefishsociety.org)
Support ongoing stewardship activities focused on fisheries and riparian improvements on the Lower Deschutes River and tributaries within the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation. Activities include repairing fencing in sensitive riparian areas; building fence ladders to improve community river access removing invasive plant species and trash from riparian areas.
Helping Wild Trout by Reducing Sedimentation in the Davidson River (Location: North Carolina)
Trout Unlimited (http://www.tu.org)
The Davidson River is one of western North Carolina’s premier wild trout waters. Project will reduce erosion and sedimentation through maintenance of existing stormwater cross-drains on trails and decommissioning illegal campsites along the river’s banks. Reducing sedimentation will directly benefit the trout fishery by improving habitat for aquatic insects and spawning.
“Each project reflects the spirit of conservation and stewardship that the Fisheries Fund was created to support.” adds Brent Bauer, Chair of the Fund’s Science and Policy Committee, “and we’re proud to play a small role in helping them do great work.”