Rick Cunningham

CCA Annual Fish Stocking Amber Capps – amberc@landings.org Executive Assistant to the Public Works Director Fishing in our lagoon system has undoubtedly become increasingly popular over the last several years and even more so during these quarantine times! The Skidaway Island Chapter of Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) volunteers have been a long-time partner of the Association who generously provide their time, expertise and donations towards lagoon programs, events, and projects.  Over the years, CCA has raised $400,000 in donations which has attributed to the growing number of residents who fish in the Landings’ lagoons. Fish stocking is one of the annual programs that CCA volunteers participate in and fund which typically occurs in the spring or early summer when water temperatures are cooler and fewer predators such as otters and cormorants frequent the lagoons.  Last month, a total of 5,500 3-4-inch blue gills were stocked in the following lagoons: 14, 22, 26, 66, 106 and 149. Prior to the selection of lagoons for the fish stocking program, the following programs are completed to collect the appropriate data for stocking: Juvenile Seining – Nets are used to sample species of fish in each lagoon to determine how many young fish are […]

CRD adds two vessels to offshore artificial reefs Brunswick, Ga. (June 5, 2020) The Georgia Department of Natural Resources’s Coastal Resources Division on June 3, 2020, added two new vessels to artificial reefs about 20 miles offshore of St. Catherines Island. (Click here for a video.) Sales of the “Support Fish Habitat” license plate funded the project, along with the Coastal Conservation Association of Georgia. “These vessels will provide essential fish habitat off Georgia’s coast and will eventually become populated with corals, sponges and other marine life,” said Paul Medders, the Artificial Reef, Habitat Enhancement and Boating Access leader for DNR’s Coastal Resources Division . “In about two years, these reefs will become prime fishing spots for offshore anglers, as well as a unique place for SCUBA divers to visit.” The first vessel, an 82-foot shrimp trawl named the Frank and Marie, sank at reef CCA-JL 22 nautical miles east of St. Catherines Island. It rested on the seafloor at 2:40 p.m. in about 64 feet of water. The Frank and Marie joins New York City subway cars, steel structures and other materials at reef CCA-JL. The second vessel, the 180-foot Tangiers Island, sank in 70 feet of water at […]

We were proud to partner on this project with the Coastal Resources Division (CRD). In this video, CRD Marine Biologist Cameron Brinton discusses how biologists and technicians placed more than 3,700 bags of oyster shell along the riverbank in an effort to recruit new, wild oysters. Oyster reefs are essential fish habitat, filter water and help stabilize banks against erosion. Learn more about CRD’s artificial reef program at www.CoastalGaDNR.org/HERU. CRD video by Tyler Jones. Watch the video HERE!

Frustrated anglers might have a three-day season or no season at all in 2020 Washington, D.C. – March 6, 2020 – At the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council meeting this week, NOAA Fisheries announced recreational anglers from North Carolina to Florida could have a three-day 2020 red snapper season but may end up with no season at all. Since 2010, the recreational sector has been allowed to harvest red snapper in South Atlantic federal waters a cumulative total of 37 days despite increasing abundance of fish. Under the current regulatory framework, a recreational South Atlantic red snapper season of three or fewer days is prohibited. Changing that framework requires a rulemaking period which is in its early stages. Over the last decade, anglers have been baffled by NOAA Fisheries’ decision to radically limit public access to red snapper despite the plentiful number of fish they are encountering on the water. In 2018, the South Atlantic red snapper recreational sector Annual Catch Limit (ACL) was set at 29,656 fish. In the same year, NOAA Fisheries’ Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) estimated that 3,174,288 red snapper were released alive by Florida anglers in the South Atlantic alone. Using the accepted 28.5% recreational discard mortality rate, the number […]

Courtesy of the Public Works Department and Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) The Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) and the Association’s Public Works Department work together to implement the fishery management program throughout our lagoon system. That includes fish stocking, salinity testing, electrofishing, juvenile seining, amenity improvements and the installation of lagoon structures for fish habitat. Each year CCA samples 30 lagoons by seining or electro-fishing on alternate years to determine population density and fish size. Sampling this year determined that the fish in nine lagoons (Lagoon 31, 122, 27, 70, 86, 51, 142, 131 and 145) were below average weight and required a better food supply. CCA purchased and stocked over 14,200 small blue gills to help increase largemouth bass and crappie size and improve the fishing experience in those lagoons.  To date, CCA’s generous donations have resulted in well over 220,000 fish being stocked in our lagoon system. The Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) Skidaway Island Chapter is entirely dependent on donations, most of which come from homeowners in The Landings. In addition to managing the fishery program, CCA also produces The Landings Lagoon Guide that identifies which lagoons are freshwater and which are saltwater (brackish). The Guide also includes fishing […]

  Call to Action   Hold Canadian-Owned Menhaden Harvester Accountable Anglers sign petition to uphold non-compliance finding against company ignoring Chesapeake Bay conservation measures Omega Protein, the sole commercial harvester of East Coast menhaden, has brazenly announced that it knowingly went over its menhaden quota by almost 35 million pounds. The foreign-owned company harvested 67,000 metric tons (147,668,000 pounds) of menhaden from Virginia waters of the Chesapeake Bay and has been unapologetic about its intentions to no longer abide by the harvest cap lawfully set by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). For this reason, the ASMFC voted unanimously in October to find the state of Virginia out of compliance with its menhaden fishery management plan. Virginia is the only East Coast state that still allows reduction harvesters in state waters. Commercial harvest of menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay has been under intense scrutiny for decades due to its concentrated removals of a critical food source for striped bass and other important sportfish in their primary spawning grounds on the East Coast. Some studies indicate the menhaden fishery could be reducing striped bass populations by as much as 30 percent. Anglers have applauded the ASMFC for its decision to find the […]