The Coastal Conservation Association of Oregon, an advocacy group for fish and fishing, is looking to start a chapter in the mid-Willamette Valley.
An organizational meeting is planned at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, at the Holiday Inn in Corvallis, 781 NW 2nd St.
“We have about 20 people who are committed to establishing the chapter,” said Chris Cone, CCA’s state executive director, who is based in Clackamas. “We have 64 CCA members within the area – Corvallis, Lebanon and Albany. What we’re trying to do is bring everyone together and create a new chapter which will watch over this area and the fisheries surrounding it.”
The nonprofit CCA was founded in 1977 along the Texas Coast by 14 recreational anglers concerned about overfishing that had decimated redfish and speckled trout populations. Since then it has grown to 17 coastal state chapters spanning the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic seaboard, and the Pacific Northwest. CCA chapters in Washington and Oregon opened in 2007, largely through the efforts of Gary Loomis. The first Oregon CCA president was Stan Steele of the Corvallis area.
Currently, Oregon has 11 chapters, including one in the southern Willamette Valley, based in Eugene.
According to its website, http://www.joincca.org, the organization has “participated productively in virtually every national fisheries debate since 1984,” defending net bans in court and fighting for implementation of bycatch reduction devices; supporting pro-fisheries legislation; and battling “arbitrary no-fishing zones.”
CCA has also engaged in funding scientific studies and marine-science scholarships; building artificial reefs; creating finfish hatcheries; initiateing hydrologic and contaminant studies; monitoring freshwater inflows; supporting local marine law enforcement; and more, according to its site.
Cone said the Oregon CCA works closely with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, state government officials and the state fisheries commission to “create better fisheries for Joe and Jane Fisherman.”
Accomplishments within Oregon have included protection of nearshore ocean fisheries from “sweeping arbitrary closures,” banning gillnet use and making recreational angling a management priority on the mainstem lower Columbia River, maintaining hatchery fish for harvest and addressing predation issues.
“Some people think of us as the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation or the Ducks Unlimited of salmon,” Cone said. “We’re pretty well respected with government officials, which seems to be to our benefit. We’re not disrespectful in the way we do things. We use the system to create change.”
Although much of the organization’s early work in Oregon has been seen as “Columbia-centric,” he said, “the only reason for that is because that’s our first, biggest battle that we’ve won. We address issues around the whole state.”
Other organizations, Cone said, have also worked for change, with varying results.
“We are quickly becoming the most effective fisheries group in the Pacific Northwest,” he said. “We’ve accomplished something that others haven’t been able to accomplish. Our model works for creating change.”
He said people “unhappy with the way fishing and hunting opportunities are managed” are encouraged to get involved.
“It’s time for them to join an organization like ours and help create change for their local fishery or local hunt. If all the license-holders in the state of Oregon were to get together and come into CCA or some such organizations, the state of fisheries in Oregon would improve 100-fold. There would be no doubt that change would happen.”