Hello All,

As you may or may not have heard, we are looking to restart the Massachusetts Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA MA). The following announcement has been mailed to all current CCA members who live in Massachusetts.

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CCA Massachusetts Looking for Volunteers

CCA Massachusetts is seeking volunteers and members so that it can effectively address issues such as groundfish allocation. Anyone interested should contact Michael Flaherty via email at 'mflaherty@tidewise.com' or via phone at 617-729-3232.
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I wish to also extend that invitation here and to stress that we are starting from the ground up.

At this point, it does not matter if you are a current member of CCA or not. If you are a conservation-minded fisherman who believes it is important for there to be an active CCA chapter in Massachusetts, then please send your contact information to the email address above. There is much to be done before we can start a formal state chapter, and I encourage anyone interested to get involved.

Please feel free to pass this announcement along.

Sincerely,
Michael Flaherty
Wareham, MA

CCA Mission Statement

The stated purpose of CCA is to advise and educate the public on conservation of marine resources. The objective of CCA is to conserve, promote and enhance the present and future availability of these coastal resources for the benefit and enjoyment of the general public.

http://www.joincca.org/

In the past couple weeks I have received a good deal of feedback regarding the announcement to restart CCA MA. I do appreciate that and I'll try to address some of it here.

I had originally thought about posting a long response, but I decided to break it up so that each concern can be discussed on its own.

The hope is to have an open, candid, and mature discussion so that all those genuinely interested can learn what is involved in starting a state chapter from scratch - with our eyes wide-open and realistic expectations.

CCA MA FAQ #1:There is a concern about the original CCA MA's financial debt to the National organization that caused it to cease.

Let me be clear. That debt has been forgiven. We are starting out with a clean slate with zero debt.

CCA MA FAQ #2: There is another concern that all the money that is raised within a state chapter is sent to Texas.
That is not true, but I could see why folks might conclude that. Here is how it works...

First the short answer:

When you pay $25 to CCA for your "Standard Membership", 100% of that does go to CCA National. This cost is actually well below what many other national organizations charge that work on fishery issues.

Beyond that, all of the money that the state chapter raises on its own with banquets, raffles, and such stays in that state. All of it, with one exception: Each active East Coast state is billed for the services of CCA's representative at the ASMFC. That bill to each state differs based on the size of its membership. Without going into more detail on that, it is estimated that the bill to MA would be somewhere less than $10,000. The details still need to be worked out on when CCA MA would start to be billed for this (after a banquet or 2??). But make no mistake about it. If CCA MA can not consistantly raise at least this much money on its own, then it will not be a viable chapter.

Now the long answer:

Again when you pay $25 to CCA for your "Standard Membership", 100% of that does go to CCA National. However, of that money $10 is actually sent back to each member in the form of a subscription to Tide magazine, which is CCA's award winning newsletter.

To help further illustrate this, there is what is called an "Associate Membership" which only costs 15$. With this membership comes along all of the benefits of the Standard Membership. It is $10 cheaper because the only difference is it does not include a subscription to Tide magazine.

Standard Membership $25 Benefits include one year of membership,
window decal, 2 bumper stickers and one year subscription to
TIDE magazine.

Associate Membership $15 Can only be purchased by a spouse or family member living in the same household with a current $25 standard member. Benefits include membership card, window decal, 2 bumper stickers.

Source:
http://www.ccamembership.org/
So when you think about it, CCA National only receives $15 of your membership dues. Among many things, that $15 dollars funds full time lobbyists in Washington and all of CCA's nation-wide objectives. It also pays the cost of sending one executive board member from each active state chapter to Texas for national board meetings - 3 times a year (air fair, hotel, etc). Clearly, this is where the states with smaller memberships benefit from the ones with larger memberships (TX, LA, etc).

Now back to state raised funds. As was mentioned above, all funds that each state raises on its own stay within the state except for the bill to pay for CCA's ASMFC rep. Currently that position is filled by #^&#^&#^&#^& Brame. For those familiar with the older model, this is NOT a regional Executive Director position. Rather this is a coast-wide represntative who works with the active state chapters and speaks on our behalf at ASMFC meetings.

So when you think about it, the money spent on the ASMFC rep position does not go to Texas at all. It goes back to all of the active Atlantic state CCA chapters.

I hope this helps clear up the confusion on where funds go. Please let me know if it does not.

mflaherty@tidewise.com