The Middle River Group, LLC

fly fishing, conservation and politics.

tenkara, conservation, communications, politics

Key grip and trout wrangler at the Middle River Group, LLC. Playing Doc Holliday to the Wyatt Earps of the fish and wildlife conservation world. Deputy Director, Marine Fish Conservation Network. Guide and instructor, Mossy Creek Fly Fishing. Freelance outdoor writer.

AFFTA and ASA to Co-Locate Trade Shows

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Big news in the fishing industry world today. The American Sportfishing Association and the American Fly Fishing Trade Association announced today that both trade shows will now in under one roof in Las Vegas in 2013.

As an AFFTA board member I strongly supported this decision and am very excited about the IFTD show next year. Having been directly involved in the discussions leading up to this decision I know all options were fully explored and discussed and that co-locating with ICAST was clearly the best option available to AFFTA. AFFTA’s President Ben Bulis deserves special recognition for keeping the process running smoothly.

Here is the Joint Press Release with the details:

Alexandria, VA and Westminster, CO – September 14, 2012 – Today, the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) and the American Fly Fishing Trade Association (AFFTA) announced a partnership in which they would co-locate their trade shows in one venue in 2013. Both the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades, better known as ICAST, and the International Fly Tackle Dealer Show, known as IFTD, will be held July 10-12, 2013, at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nev.

Both ASA’s and AFFTA’s Boards of Directors voted unanimously to support the new partnership and co-locating ICAST and IFTD in the Las Vegas Convention Center next July.

“By joining forces with ICAST and ASA to bring IFTD to Las Vegas in 2013, we are collectively creating what will truly be the largest recreational fishing show in the world,” said AFFTA President Ben Bulis. “This is a tremendous opportunity for the fly fishing industry and AFFTA’s Board of Directors encourages all AFFTA members to take advantage of this opportunity to explore a new and innovative option to grow and improve our collective business interests.”

“ASA’s Board of Directors is pleased that AFFTA has decided to partner with ASA to create an expanded trade show venue that will have a positive impact on our entire industry,” said ASA President and CEO Mike Nussman. “By combining both shows in one venue, we can expand the business opportunities for both trade shows in terms of increasing international attendance as well as buyers and media located in the U.S. which will benefit both organizations. If an individual is on the fence about attending one show or the other or both; we’ve now eliminated that barrier.”

Both ASA and AFFTA will each manage its own trade show but will combine some functions, such as the show directory and having the same show hours, where it makes good business sense and benefits show attendees.

Bulis further said, “We feel that this is an exciting opportunity for our industry at the same time realizing that we will have issues such as future locations, dates or potential partnerships or integrations with other existing shows. All of that said, there is really no perfect answer; no solution that is going to please everyone. We do agree that we need to try something that is significantly different and we need to continue to explore new and innovative options to grow and improve our annual show event. Joining forces with ASA and ICAST while continuing to manage our own show, is a great option for fly fishing and for AFFTA.”

Jeff Marble, CEO, Frabill, Inc., and ASA’s Board of Directors chairman said, “From a business perspective, an alliance between our organizations – both of whom are dedicated to growing and expanding the sport of fishing – is something that is totally natural and something that makes great sense for both memberships.”

“What’s exciting is that IFTD is going to remain an independent, progressive trade show that is controlled and run by the fly fishing industry,” said Jim Klug, chairman, AFFTA Board of Directors and Director of Operations, Yellow Dog FlyFishing Adventures. “We will be able to continue to feature all of the elements that make IFTD great including retailer-specific forums and seminars, a large casting pond and a cohesive footprint that will keep fly fishing together in the same area. This is an opportunity to grow the show and provide a better overall experience and value to our members and show attendees.”

ICAST and IFTD 2013 Show Dates and Hours
Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas

ICAST Show Hours IFTD Show Hours
Wednesday, July 10 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Thursday, July 11 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Friday, July 12 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

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The American Sportfishing Association (ASA) is the sportfishing industry’s trade association, committed to looking out for the interests of the entire sportfishing community. We give the industry a unified voice speaking out when emerging laws and policies could significantly affect sportfishing business or sportfishing itself. We invest in long-term ventures to ensure the industry will remain strong and prosperous as well as safeguard and promote the enduring economic and conservation values of sportfishing in America. ASA also gives America’s 60 million anglers a voice in policy decisions that affect their ability to sustainably fish on our nation’s waterways through KeepAmericaFishing™ , our angler advocacy campaign. America’s anglers generate over $45 billion in retail sales with a $125 billion impact on the nation’s economy creating employment for over one million people.

The American Fly Fishing Trade Association (AFFTA) is the sole trade association for the fly fishing industry.  AFFTA’s mission is to promote the sustained growth of the fly fishing industry.  We work to grow consumer demand for fly fishing goods and services, enhance the growth and professionalism of fly fishing businesses, and provide a clear, loud voice to elected officials and government agencies for the protection, enhancement and restoration of fish and fish habitat.


 

The Sportsmen’s Act of 2012

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Back in June, Senator Jon Tester, (D-MT) introduced the Sportsmen’s Act of 2012 and during consideration of the Farm Bill was able to get it attached as an amendment and included in the version that passed the Senate.

If you are following the news the Farm Bill has been tied up in the U.S. House and prospects for passage are very uncertain. Anyone who knows Senator Tester would not be surprised to hear him referred to as tenacious. And in this case that tenacity is serving sportsmen and conservation well. The word on the Hill is that Tester’s bill might actually get a vote in the Senate before they beat a hasty retreat to wait out the results of the elections.

The Sportsmen’s Act of 2012 is a smorgasbord of legislative items that can go a long way to improve the fish and wildlife habitat that makes up the prime venues for hunting and fishing in this country.  Senator Tester deserves our thanks and your Senate should hear from you asking them to support The Sportsmen’s Act of 2012. Use this link to send a message to your Senators courtesy of the folks at Keep America Fishing.

Details on The Sportsmen’s Act of 2012

Courtesy of Senator Tester’s office.

Hunting, Fishing and Recreational Access

Making Public Lands Public:   This section requires that the 1.5% of annual LWCF funding is made available to secure, through rights-of-way, or the acquisition of lands, or interests from willing sellers, recreational public access to existing federal public lands that have significantly restricted access to hunting, fishing, and other recreational purposes.  Access is the number one issue for Sportsmen.  Finding places to recreate and the loss of access are the top reason sportsmen stop hunting and fishing.  In an agency report to Congress (in 2003) found 35 million acres of public land had inadequate access.

Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act:  This section amends the Pittman-Robertson Act by adjusting the funding limitations.  This allows states more funds available for a longer period of time for the creation and maintenance of shooting ranges.  The bill encourages federal land agencies to cooperate with state and local authorities to maintain shooting ranges.

Polar Bear Conservation and Fairness Act:  This bill allows for the Secretary to authorize permits for re-importation of legally harvested Polar Bears from approved populations in Canada before the 2008 ban.

The Hunting, Fishing and Recreational Shooting Protection Act:  This section specifically excludes ammo and fishing tackle from the Toxic Substances Control Act, leaving decisions about tackle to State Fish and Game Agencies and the Fish and Wildlife Service, who currently regulate ammo and tackle.  The EPA has denied petitions to regulate tackle and ammo under TSCA in 1994 and again in 2011.  This codifies that the EPA does not have the ability to regulate tackle.  This includes a savings clause for local, state and other federal regulations.

Bows Transported through National Parks:  This provision clarifies the 2007 legislation, and will allow bows to be transported across national park lands.  Currently, firearms can be legally transported, but not bows.  This poses a practical problem for bow hunters who want to legally hunt on Forest Service or BLM lands, but must cross National Park Service Lands.

Billfish Conservation Act:  This section prohibits the sale of Pacific-caught billfish, except in the State of Hawaii, in order to respect traditional fisheries.  Billfish (marlin, sailfish and spearfish) populations have declined severely due to overfishing by non-U.S. commercial fishing fleets who harvest billfish as by-catch while targeting other species. More than two decades ago, the United States banned the commercial sale and harvest of Atlantic-caught billfish.  Catch-and-release recreational angling for billfish generates many millions of dollars in economic benefits to the U.S. economy each year.

Report on Artificial Reefs in the Gulf of Mexico:  This section requires report on the Idle Iron program in order to develop more coordination between agencies and states.  This will assure that the interests of recreational fishermen are incorporated into the program.

Habitat Conservation

National Fish Habitat Conservation Act:  This section creates a national voluntary grant program to protect and improve fish habitat by improving water quality and quantity across the nation.  This section builds on current partnerships to restore waterways and provides an organic statue to authorize the work that the Fish and Wildlife Service is currently performing into one program with an advisory board.

Migratory Bird Habitat Investment and Enhancement Act: This section amends the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act so that the Secretary of the Interior, beginning in 2013 for three year periods, can set the amount to be collected for Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamps.  It will require the Postal Service to collect the amount established by the Secretary for each Stamp that is sold for a hunting year.

Permanent Electronic Duck Stamp Act: This section would grant the Secretary of the Interior permanent authority to authorize any state to issue electronic duck stamps.  It also outlines electronic duck stamp application requirements.

Joint Ventures Authorization:  This section creates an organic statute for the Joint Ventures program housed in the Fish and Wildlife Service. The Joint Venture program was established within the Fish and Wildlife Service in 1987.  This language allows FWS to provide financial and technical assistance to support regional migratory bird conservation partnerships, develop and implement plans for the protection and enhancement of migratory bird populations to support migratory bird conservation.

Reauthorizations

North American Wetlands Conservation Act Reauthorization (NAWCA):  This section reauthorizes the North American Wetlands Conservation Act for another five years. NAWCA is a voluntary land-owner friendly initiative that uses incentives to provide valuable matching grants that leverage federal dollars to protect habitat that is critically important for migratory birds, such as ducks and other wildlife.  Over the last 20 years, NAWCA has completed over 2,000 conservation project to protect 26.5 million acres of habitat.  This voluntary program has over 4,500 partners and has leveraged nearly 3 dollars for every dollar spent by the federal government.

Partners for Fish and Wildlife:  This provides provision reauthorizes the Partners for Fish and Wildlife program through 2017.  This program works in a non-regulatory, cooperative fashion to help private landowners with habitat restoration on their property. This cost-share program focuses on improving wetland, riparian, in-stream, fish passage, sage-steppe, grassland and aquatic habitats that provide benefits to migratory birds, threatened or endangered species, and other sensitive and declining species.

Neotropical Migratory Birds Reauthorization:  This extends the authorization for the Neotropical Migratory Bird Act which allows for voluntary conservation of critical bird habitat with 28 Projects in 26 Countries in 2012. This program leverages four dollars of matching funds for each dollar spent by the federal government.

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Reauthorization:  This section reauthorizes the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), a non-profit that preserves and restores our nation’s native wildlife species and habitats. Created by Congress in 1984, NFWF directs public conservation dollars to the most pressing environmental needs and matches those investments with private funds. Since its establishment, NFWF has awarded over 11,600 grants to more than 4,000 organizations in the United States, investing a total of $2 billion for conservation.

Multinational Species Conservation Fund Reauthorization: Section reauthorizes appropriations to carry out the African Elephant Conservation Act, the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act of 1994, the Asian Elephant Conservation Act of 1997, The Marine Turtle Conservation Act of 2003 and the Great Ape Conservation Act of 2000 for FY2012-FY2017.  This will also allow for a five year extension on the corresponding postal stamps.

Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp Reauthorization Act: This section would amend the Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp Act of 2010 to require such stamps to be available for an additional four years; and provide five versions depicting African or Asian elephants, a rhinoceros, a tiger, a marine turtle or a great ape.

Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act Reauthorization (FTFLA): This section reauthorizes the BLM’s authority to sell land to private land owners, counties, companies and others for ranching, community development and various projects. This “Land for Land” approach creates jobs and generates funding for BLM, USFS, NPS and USFWS to acquire critical in-holdings from willing sellers. The sales revenue allows agencies to acquire high priority lands with important wildlife habitat value and recreational access for hunting and fishing.

Nutria Eradication and Control Act:  This section would amend the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide financial assistance to Maryland, Louisiana and other coastal states for a program to eradicate and control nutria populations.

Streamside Tenkara Seminar

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Mossy Creek Fly Shop owner Colby Trow with a nice ‘bow using a Tenkara USA Ito

Are you interested in tenkara fishing on spring creeks? Then join us for the Mossy Creek Fly Fishing Streamside Tenkara Seminars. The first one is this Friday, July 27th, from 6:00 – 8:00 PM. We will have another one on Wednesday, August 22nd, from 6:00-8:00PM. Colby, Brian and I will be giving presentations and demonstrations on using a tenkara outfit for fishing on spring creeks.

As a guide for Mossy Creek Fly Fishing I know that experience and knowledge is as important to our customers as the products we sell. It is as much a reason for our success as the high quality gear and accessories we offer. We are always looking for fun and innovative ways to share that knowledge with our customers both new and old. This year, tenkara has exploded in our region. Tenkara outfits are the hottest selling items in the store. Not a day goes by when we don’t get asked about it.

During the summer our local spring creeks are a spectacular fishing option. On the water we manage, big bugs and big fish are the rule. Using a tenkara outfit has proven to be an exciting and highly effective way to catch big browns and ‘bows.

This “hands-on” seminar will give you a chance to:

* Cast the full range of Tenkara USA rods and learn which rod is best for different fishing conditions.

* Learn about the different types and lengths of line and which one is best to use for various fishing conditions.

* Learn about setting up your tenkara outfit for spring creeks.

* Learn the “go-to” flies for the various summer spring creek hatches.

* Learn tips, tactics and techniques for successfully fishing spring creeks.

To sign up, call the store at 540-434-2444. The cost is $35 person at time of sign up with Visa or Mastercard, first come – first served.

Space is limited to 15 participants so register early!

 

 

Guest Post – Are You Ten-kurious?

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Tenkara fishing on a Montana spring creek

Editor’s Note: My friend Ben Bulis, who is running the American Fly Fishing Trade Association, wrote about his recent adventure with a tenkara rod. I asked if he would let me use it as a guest post on Dispatches. He agreed. Enjoy.

Are You Ten-kurious? I was, and I tried it! Tenkara… What is it? Tenkara (translated: “from the skies” or “from the heavens”) is the traditional method (no reel) of Japanese fly-fishing used by commercial fishermen in the mountains of Japan to catch Yamame, Iwana and Yamago. Tenkara originated in Japan more than 200 years ago, the rods, originally were made of long bamboo/cane poles.

Tenkara has been making it’s emergence in the U.S. market since 2009, thanks to Daniel Galhardo, owner of San Francisco based Tenkara U.S.A. Temple Fork Outfitters recently announced they too would be manufacturing a Tenkara rod and RIO now offers a Tenkara line.

I’ll be totally honest; I was more than a little skeptical about fishing without a reel! I have to say, I really have been enjoying the simple approach to fishing, and its effectiveness has made me a believer, Tenkara is here to stay. Learning a new method of fishing and pushing the limits on the size of fish I can catch, is what I like about it! With that being said, Tenkara, will never be able to replace my assortment of rods and reels, it’s just another tool in my quiver.

Tenkara, with its simple approach and ease will in my mind, be a gateway to introduce non-anglers children and adults, to the sport of fly-fishing. Anyone can cast a Tenkara rod effectively in less than 10 minutes! Both of my young children have picked up my Tenkara rod and have caught fish within 15 minutes on the river.

If you have the Tenkara itch, go ahead and scratch it!

Outdoor Recreation Means Business

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For too long those of us in the outdoor recreation industry have been given a pat on the head and told to “go play outside” by the politicians and policy makers alike. We have been treated as “hobbyists” who don’t really count when it comes to the U.S. economy. Well thanks to a new report, The Outdoor Recreation Economy from the Outdoor Industry Association we can now tell those folks that outdoor recreation means business. And it is time we did.

Play Outside, It’s Good Business

The outdoor recreation economy is serious business. It is responsible for:

  • 6.1 million direct American jobs
  • $646 billion in direct consumer spending
  • $80 billion in combined state, local and federal tax revenue

What concerns me and should concern you, is our elected officials – at all levels of government – give short shrift to that economic activity. They ignore those numbers in favor of other industries who, with their better funded advocacy efforts, have convinced policy makers and politicians that their sector is more important than ours.

When that happens the infrastructure that supports the outdoor recreation economy suffers. We see public land and the recreational opportunities they provide relegated to second class status.

So where does the outdoor recreation economy stack up compared to other sectors? Here are a couple of comparisons:

The $646 billion in direct consumer spending annually is greater than:

  • Pharmaceuticals ($331B)
  • Motor vehicles and parts ($340B)
  • Gasoline and other fuels ($354B)
  • Household utilities ($309B)

When it comes to employment the more than 6 million American jobs that are directly dependent on outdoor recreation is greater than:

  • Real Estate, Rentals and Leasing (2.0M)
  • Oil and Gas (2.1 M)
  • Information (2.5M)
  • Education (3.5M)
  • Transportation and Warehousing (4.3M)
  • Construction (5.5M)
  • Finance and Insurance (5.8M)

What is important to understand is these comparisons are based on direct economic impact and do not include indirect, implied, multiplier or ripple effects. If those effects were included the economic impact would be substantially larger. According to the report, when outdoor recreation related spending ripples through the economy it creates $1.6 trillion in economic impact and 12 million jobs.

Habitat = Opportunity = Economic Activity.

“Preserving access to outdoor recreation opportunities protects the economy, the businesses, the communities and the people who depend on the ability to play outside.” — OIA’s Outdoor Recreation Economy Report, June 2012.

What underpins this economic activity is the network local, state and federal public lands and waters. A network as important to the economic viability of this country as the other public works infrastructure such as the schools, water treatment, roads and airports we depend on.

When the policy makers and politicians demean our public lands they show either their ignorance (to be charitable) or there political bigotry (more likely). While politicians can be expected to say what they think will get them elected, ignorance has no place in policy making. This report is a powerful, factual tool that should be part of every debate on the value of our public lands and the importance of conservation of those resources.

A National Outdoor Recreation System.

“Outdoor recreation can grow jobs and drive the economy if we manage and invest in parks, waters and trails as a system designed to sustain economic dividends.” — OIA’s Outdoor Recreation Economy Report, June 2012.

Recreational venues in our nation, such as seashores, forests, parks, and wilderness, must be recognized for the important role they play in the economy. These public venues form the foundation of a national outdoor recreation system. Our policy makers should invest more, not less in these important assets to our nation’s economy.

This new report arms us with facts that must be used to show our elected officials just how important outdoor recreation is to our economy. These are undeniable economic, social and health benefits that are no longer “nice to have,” they are a “must have.”

You can help spread the word by emailing the report (here’s the link) to your elected officials. Just tell them: “Outdoor recreation means business,read this!”

Tenkara in the parking lot

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Last week I had the chance to do some tenkara demonstrations at The Sole Source’s Outdoor Adventure Fair.

Here is a short video of one of the casting demos.

 

Thanks to the folks at The Sole Source for sharing the video!