# 30th annual CCA Corpus Christi banquet



## Scoootr

RE: 30TH ANNUAL CCA BANQUET DONORS NEEDED!





The local Corpus Christi volunteers of the Corpus Christi chapter of Coastal Conversation Association (CCA) are now in the process of planning the 30th annual CCA banquet slated for Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at the Bayfront Plaza Convention Center on 1901 Shoreline Dr. in Corpus Christi Texas. Each year at the banquet host a shindig for over 1,600 outdoor hunting & fishing enthusiast. This event has been the largest fundraiser in Corpus for the last 16 years straight grossing over $325,000 each year with help of everyone from local hunters & fishermen to Corporate Sponsorships.



The monies raised go right back into the local community on such things like the replacement of antiquated equipment at the CCA/AEP Marine Hatchery Development Center in Flour Bluff, fund $10K for an environmental impact study on the opening of Cedar Bayou, $19K purchase of new lab equipment for the U.T. Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas, CCA Corpus Christi is involved in the community in other ways partnering with many other businesses and organizations in providing funding to ensure the success of the 4th annual abandoned crab trap cleanup (picked up over 22,746 derelict traps since 2002. CCA Corpus was the founder of the Bay Debris Clean-up project removing over 1,150 tons of debris from bay systems from Aransas Pass to Baffin Bay. We have also assisted in the purchase of night vision equipment/goggles, VHF radio equipment, state of the art binoculars, digital projector and cameras, laptops, infrared flashlights, for local Texas Game Wardens here in Nueces & Kleberg counties. CCA has awarded over 30K in scholarships, & 13K in TPWD flounder study equipment. CCA has purchased $200K in shrimp license buyback program.



The reason I send this to you is because we need your help. I would like to follow up with you to see if you would like to donate to our live or silent auction. It is a great way to get your name out in front of this audience as well as support a great cause. The average person that attends spends over $300.00 dollars that night! Your donations may be tax deductible too.



I look forward to talking with you in the next week to ten days.



Thank you,

Scott "Scooter" M. Ponton
Banquet Chairman
CCA Corpus Christi
361-694-7000


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## Angler 1

This should be very interesting to say the least.


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## Mullet Masher

pass the popcorn please


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## rodwade

I will NOT be attending CCA's function. I've also pulled the sticker off my car. I love how I get invited to "events" to raise money, but couldn't get an email or online poll asking how we wanted to be represented.


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## Haute Pursuit

I pulled my comment because I don't want to denigrate someones event. Even though I have many questions for them. I'll catch them in Sugarland sooner or later...


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## Scoootr

CCA Texas is a marine resource conservation organization. Since its creation in 1977, CCA has supported science-based resource management. When the science called for it, recreational fishermen made sacrifices to help important species like redfish and speckled trout recover and today we are reaping the benefits with our world-class fisheries. It is no different with red snapper today. By supporting the federal regulations in state waters, CCA Texas is confident that we will reap the rewards of a healthy red snapper fishery for all of us to enjoy.


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## rodwade

Scoootr please provide me with any "Science" CCA's research was based upon. TPWD, and other researchers seem to think differently. 30 years of Trawl data show snapper on the rise AND that our resources are not overfished at the 4 fish limit. Recent and published data show snapper have high site fidelity. Texas's fish stay in Texas and Florida's stay in Florida. We are not talking Redfish or Speckled trout, you can only ride that coattail so long. If you want to really make a difference try making red snapper a game fish, banning commercial sale.


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## Mont

Scoootr said:


> CCA Texas is a marine resource conservation organization. Since its creation in 1977, CCA has supported science-based resource management. When the science called for it, recreational fishermen made sacrifices to help important species like redfish and speckled trout recover and today we are reaping the benefits with our world-class fisheries. It is no different with red snapper today. By supporting the federal regulations in state waters, CCA Texas is confident that we will reap the rewards of a healthy red snapper fishery for all of us to enjoy.


just in case you haven't heard, CCA lost this time. They lost members, support, confidence and were one of two votes supporting the change. TPWD was smart enough to realize we don't need any more federal involvement in our fishery.


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## Scoootr

· 1979, the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council (Gulf Council) determined that red snapper stocks were overfished. An estimated 87 percent drop in recreational harvest from 1980 to 1984 prompted the Gulf Council to create its "Reef Fish Management Plan." This program became law in 1984 and was implemented by National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in the late 1980s.

· To reach the desired stock number, fisheries managers continued to tighten the belt of commercial and recreational anglers yet were unable to implement bycatch reduction devices (BRDs) to reduce commercial Gulf shrimpers' impact on juvenile red snapper numbers. A 1990 congressional mandate prevented BRDs from being required in federal waters.

· Reauthorization of the Magnuson Act into the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1996 includes components needed for the prevention of overfishing, addressing the issue of bycatch, and rebuilding overfished fisheries. A floor amendment allowed the Gulf Council to now treat shrimp-fishery bycatch like any other in the country.

· An amendment added to the law changed the recreational red snapper "allotment" to a "quota." The law requires NMFS to close a fishery when its "quota" is reached. Thus, this change in terminology resulted in the 1997, 1998, and 1999 recreational closures for red snapper when the total allowable catch (TAC) was reached.

· In 1998, the Gulf Council passes an amendment to require BRDs for shrimp trawls in federal waters. The Texas Shrimp Association sued in opposition to the bycatch reduction requirements and CCA intervened in the lawsuit to ensure that the shrimp industry would have to do its part.

· In late 2004, CCA's consultant to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council alerted the organization to the upcoming red snapper stock assessment and warned that the results were likely to be dismal enough to warrant a reduction in the Total Allowable Catch (TAC). At the same time, recreational and commercial anglers had stayed at or below their quotas for the previous three years.

· The problem? Shrimp trawl bycatch reduction devices (BRDs) mandated in 1998 were supposed to reduce bycatch of red snapper in the shrimp industry by at least 40 percent. However, studies in early 2004 by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) revealed that BRDs had achieved only a 12 percent reduction. Noncompliance by the shrimping industry was cited as the main reason for the BRDs' failure to achieve the target reduction. Every year more than 80 percent of juvenile red snapper are caught and killed in shrimp trawls at an average size of 4 inches.

· In response, CCA petitioned the Secretary of Commerce in March of 2005 to put emergency measures into effect to end the overfishing of red snapper by the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fleet to prevent recreational anglers from having to bear the brunt of red snapper recovery measures yet again. The measures include bycatch quotas, areas closed to shrimping, seasonal shrimping closures and effort reduction measures, to achieve significant bycatch reduction on the order of 60-80 percent.

· In June of 2005, the Department of Commerce conceded that shrimp trawl bycatch is the largest source of red snapper mortality in the Gulf and that current efforts to reduce bycatch have fallen well short of targeted goals.

· In July of 2005, the Southeast Data, Assessment and Review (SEDAR) Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper Advisory Report finds that found that the shrimp fishery in recent years has annually taken roughly 24-45 million red snapper, mainly from the western Gulf. Recreational and commercial fisheries combined which target red snapper have taken roughly four million of the fish annually. Further, the Report states current spawning potential is estimated to be less than 5 percent of unfished levels in both the eastern and western Gulf.

· Around this same time, the National Marine Fisheries Service releases Amendment 22 to the Reef Fish Management Plan, also known as the Red Snapper Rebuilding Plan. Citing its failure to include any bycatch reduction standards or regulations for the shrimp industry to prevent overfishing of red snapper, CCA filed suit in United States District Court in Houston. 

· CCA's petition before the Secretary of Commerce was denied shortly after the government published Amendment 22, despite almost 8,000 supporting comments from Gulf Coast CCA members.

· In August and September of 2005, hurricanes Rita and Katrina slam into Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas, decimating the shrimp fleet and commercial fishing infrastructure. The impact of the hurricanes on shrimping effort is difficult to gauge, but it is undoubtedly significant. While effort in the coming years will surely be down significantly, decades of over-capitalization of the shrimp fleet have left their mark on red snapper populations. Additionally, it is very likely effort will trend back to its pre-hurricane levels in the absence of any meaningful regulations to right-size the fleet.

· In May of 2006, citing the government's history of failure to restore red snapper populations in the Gulf of Mexico, CCA files a motion for summary judgment that asks U.S. District Court in Houston to order the National Marine Fisheries Service to establish significant regulations on shrimp trawl bycatch to recover Gulf red snapper stocks.

· In August of 2006, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council elects to delay any action plan for the recovery of red snapper until January 2007. The delay stemmed from the refusal of the National Marine Fisheries Service to support the inclusion of measures to reduce shrimp trawl bycatch as a part of a proposed red snapper recovery plan. CCA has insisted that red snapper TAC and reductions in shrimp trawl bycatch are measures that must be considered at the same time.


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## Mont

are you able to to anything beside copy and paste?


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## rodwade

Wow you posted all that and not a SINGLE research based reason why CCA wants REC limites changed from 4 fish...... Here are just a few of the things supporting otherwise.

*An evaluation of the benefits of artificial habitats for red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, in the northeast Gulf of Mexico

SZEDLMAYER, S.T. Marine Fish Laboratory​
Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquaculture​AuburnUniversity 2008​*
*Christin L. Pruett -** Eric Saillant - **John R. Gold*​Historical population demography of red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) from the northern Gulf of Mexico based on analysis of sequences of mitochondrial DNA - 2005

​*Eric Saillant John R. Gold* 
Population structure and variance effective size of red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) in the northern Gulf of Mexico*

*Fischer, A. J., M. S. Baker Jr., and C. A. Wilson.* 
2004. Red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, demographic structure in the northern Gulf of Mexico based on spatial patterns in growth rates and morphometrics. Fish. Bull. 102:593−603.

*Gallaway, B. J., J. G. Cole, R. Meyer, and P. Roscigno.*
1999. Delineation of essential habitat for juvenile red snapper in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 128:713−726.

*Gold, J. R., E. Pak, and L. R. Richardson.* 
2001. Microsatellite variation among red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) from the Gulf of Mexico. Mar. Biotechnol. 3:293−304.


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## Scoootr

sure! It's apparent that the that info has not been seen. Why are you confused?


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## Scoootr

btw, I respect all the views & opinions here. Not dissing anyone........


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## Scoootr

I don't carry that data around in my pocket Waderod. Let me try to get some data for us helping all better understand. More info/data would be good so all the blogers can make an informed opinion...


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## rodwade

Scoootr, just wanted to make sure you remembered about getting us "some data" I eagerly await any peer reviewed research documenting support for CCA's stance.


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## Scoootr

you bet! reason for for that is folks need to be informed with valid information


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## Scoootr

Don't worry. I'll be circling back around with it


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## rodwade

Still circling?


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## chicapesca

Guys, this is ridiculous. Are you going to turn every post that mentions CCA into this? If you are trying to squelch CCA on the Upcoming Events forum, you are doing a good job. Some people are just members and are not involved in the politics. Is this going to turn into a discrimination thing? Hmmmm...


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## chicapesca

Haute Pursuit said:


> I pulled my comment _because I don't want to denigrate_ someones event. Even though I have many questions for them. I'll catch them in Sugarland sooner or later...


Thank you Blake, that is what I am talking about.


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## Pocboy

I thought this was where we post "upcoming events". If you anti CCA people want to continue this arguement then do it where it belongs. If y'all want to sneak around ambushing people's threads then you are losing all credibility for your arguement and it goes back to my earliest comments that this has nothing to do with snapper, but some previous grievance with CCA.


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