CCA Washington Accomplishments

CCA Washington started its first Chapter in April 2007 and has since added over 5,000 active members and established 13 local chapters. To mobilize our growing membership toward the goals of conservation and sound fisheries management, CCA Washington retained a veteran state lobbyist during the legislative session in Olympia, a year round Fisheries Director, and now also employs two full-time staff. In partnership with sixteen other CCA state chapters throughout the US, CCA Washington also retains a full-time lobbyist in Washington DC working on our behalf. We're all working together to build CCA Washington into a powerful force for dynamic change that will help preserve and protect our marine resources for future generations.

Here are examples of how YOUR SUPPORT has led directly to change. In the last two years, CCA Washington has:

  • Proposed salmon harvest reform legislation (HB 2266) a conservation bill to foster development of selective, live capture commercial fishing gear for use in Washington waters;
  • Defeated SB 5127 which would have removed the current Fish & Wildlife Commission in retaliation for its recent active efforts to promote conservation over harvest and to advocate for science-based selective fishing reforms;
  • Actively participated in the North of Falcon process leading to one of the largest increase in mark-selective fisheries in Puget Sound in years: the addition of 11 area-months of sport fishing opportunity that will serve to meet both hatchery and harvest reform objectives;
  • Coordinated with CCA Oregon and CCA National to actively support the Northwest Straits Commission in attaining a $4.5 million federal grant to remove 3000 derelict gill nets from Puget Sound.
  • Advocating for harvest reform through active involvement in the revision process for the Puget Sound Harvest Management Plan.
  • An active participant in the WDFW Commission Hatchery and Harvest Reform Policy.
  • Actively participated in Columbia River Spring and Summer Chinook management through frequent meetings with agency officials, participation in Compact calls and meetings, and by holding the sole active recreational advisor seat in the Columbia River Fish Working Group process. Participation and strong advocacy in the CRFWG led to implementation of conservation-based harvest buffers that helped prevent excessive lower Columbia ESA impacts in 2009;
  • Ensured the Tokul Creek steelhead hatchery was kept open and consistent with HSRG protocols.
  • Blocked a proposed Lake Washington gillnet fishery;
  • Gained seats on the WDFW Sport Fishing Advisory Board and Columbia River Recreational Advisory Panel;
  • Launched a law enforcement rewards program intended to raise awareness regarding the conservation of endangered and wild salmon, steelhead and sturgeon on the Columbia River.
  • Established plans for three new Chapters in Washington State in 2010!

We Need You!
CCA Washington will not be successful in recovering our fisheries without your active involvement. Your continued commitment, whether to help raise funds or to gain new members, is building the organization that can take on entrenched special interests and put the needs of the resource first. This is a partial list of the work we've undertaken on behalf of the fish, and we are just getting started. CCA Washington will continue active engagement on various fronts to put conservation first, promote selective fishing, and help vitalize and restore Washington's precious marine resources.