CASTING COMMENTS
THE HEADLINE WE’VE BEEN WANTING
By Venable Proctor, Chairman, CCA National O
N DEC. 8, the front page of The Oregonian newspaper carried a headline that conservationists in the Pacific
Northwest have waited a long time to see: “Gill Nets Get Heave Ho.” That sim- ple headline summed up a tremendous amount of work by CCA’s chapters in Oregon and Washington as they contin- ue the battle to ban gill nets from the mainstem of the Columbia River, a goal that is so very close to being achieved. It seems obvious, but it is often
overlooked that the hallmark of an effective organization is not the ability to set worthy goals, but the ability to achieve them. Indeed, an achievement of any significance can usually be found only at the end of a long, wind- ing, bumpy road that has more than a few dead ends. For CCA, that road started in 1977
with the goal of eliminating the com- mercial gill netting that had decimated speckled trout and redfish stocks along the Texas coast. As an early member of the organization, I can remember the debates over the best way to achieve those goals. Those debates were heated at times, as some folks were sure that one route was the only way to go, while others felt an alternate route was better. Sometimes circumstances dictated what we had to do to simply survive. Sometimes we gambled and moved the ball forward considerably, other times we played it cautious and perhaps missed opportu- nities, and sometimes we went back- wards on the ebb of some unfortunate political tide. But organizationally, we always
kept the ultimate goal in sight. We held some aces in the hole, never bet all our chips on one hand, and played to win in the end no matter what. And we did.
6 Today, those events, and all the ups,
downs, defeats and victories, are all neatly condensed down into a relative- ly few short paragraphs in the CCA history book. You can’t truly appreciate the haze and uncertainty of campaigns like that until you’ve lived through them, as our members in Texas, Lou - isiana, Florida and elsewhere have. Without sounding too much like a griz- zled veteran, you can recognize fellow members who have been in the trench- es on a battle like that, and not just from their gray hair. And so, as an angler, a conserva-
tionist and a Texan with personal memories of the difficult conservation campaign that launched this organiza- tion more than 30 years ago, it fills me with pride to see the savvy battle being waged by our newest chapters in Oregon and Washington. Just a few short years ago, the thought of ever removing gill nets from the Columbia River seemed impossible and now those chapters are on the cusp of achieving historic changes to the management of their salmon and steelhead fisheries. To be sure, the path to that goal
looks very different today than the one that was envisioned when Gary Loomis came to make his fervent pitch for CCA to establish chapters in the Pacific Northwest in 2006. Gary, with his motto of “We must move faster,” was committed to moving mountains in order to save his beloved salmon and steelhead, and he became a one- man force of nature to recruit an army of members to do so. I can say with a fair degree of cer-
tainty that the path to this point has been too long for Gary. I can say that because it was too long for me and for many of us in Texas, Louisiana and Florida during our trials. I know how frustrating the debates on strategy can
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be — deciding what cards to play, how much to bet, when to hold and when to fold. I can identify completely with the uncertainty of finally committing to a specific course of action. I remember wanting it to all be done faster. But best of all, I can remember the
overwhelming satisfaction of having it all come together in the end and realizing that we were, finally, on the path to win. The historic vote by the Oregon Fish
and Wildlife Commission to ban gill nets is part of the plan proposed by Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber to priori- tize recreational fisheries in the main- stem of the Columbia River and elimi- nate the use of non-tribal gillnets in the lower Columbia’s mainstem after a short transition period. The Governor’s plan is unprecedented, and it was offered only in the wake of CCA Ore - gon’s successful efforts to put a gill net ban initiative on the ballot in Novem - ber. It has significant advantages over the ballot initiative, and none more so than that it provides for coordinated action by both Washington and Oregon to remove destructive gill nets from their shared river. As this goes to print, Washington’s fish commission is sched- uled to decide soon on similar rules, eliminating the destructive practice of gill netting from both sides of the river. This may not be the end of the bat-
tles in the Pacific Northwest, and may not even be the beginning of the end, but as the saying goes, it may be the end of the beginning. It is the result of an admirable effort by thousands of conservationists and anglers who are finding a way to achieve a seemingly impossible goal. On behalf of the anglers and conser-
vationists everywhere who have walked your path before and who will un - doubtedly follow in your footsteps — congratulations, and thank you.
TIDE
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