Remarks by Mike Nussman ASA President and CEO State of the Industry Breakfast July 13, 2016 Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida Good morning! To echo Dave comments, I also want to thank our exhibitors and in fact, all our members for your commitment and your support of our trade association and our industry by being here this week. I want to thank Thom Dammrich and the National Marine Manufacturers Association for partnering with us to host the first Marine Accessories Pavilion located within ICAST. This is the fourth year that we ve co-located with the fly fishing industry and IFTD. Like Dave, I challenge all of you to walk the entire ICAST and IFTD show floor. A show of this size can t be produced without the support of companies and organizations inside and outside our industry. Let s give a big round of applause for our generous show sponsors. Thank you! I also want to give a big shout out to our Sportfishing PAC supporters their names are on the screen they personally have given money to help ensure that our industry has a voice in Washington. Now Political Action Committees 1
may not be your favorite part of our political process, they certainly aren t mine, but they re a reality in doing business in this country. So I thank each one of these members for helping us step up our game! I saw a poll last month that won t surprise any of you The Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation asked anglers from across the U.S. to name their favorite fishing and boating spots in America. Of the 100 places they named, the top four on the list, 1,2,3,4, are in Florida. Of course we all know that Florida is the boating and fishingest state in nation. But too often we don t ask ourselves the simple question why is Florida so great for fishing and boating? Well, let me give you two reasons. First, the state is blessed with incredible natural resources, fresh waters and salt. And second, they have committed to strong management of those resources.! And I m pleased today to have with us 2 members of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the group that oversees this vital management. Would Commissioners Liesa Priddy and Robert Spottswood please stand! Commissioners, on behalf of all of us gathered here today, and in fact for the thousands of folks that will be on the show floor in a few hours, we say Thank You for your commitment to making Florida the nation s best fishing state! I also want to welcome Florida State Representative Heather Fitzenhagen and Senator Marco Rubio s Regional Director Thomas Self. Thank you for being with us this morning. 2
On the tables are stickers that say I Do! It s an innovative public education program launched by Florida s Fish & Wildlife Foundation that explains in simple terms why buying a fishing license is a conservation investment everyone can make. That s a great message and I d urge all of you to join I Do and buy a Florida fishing license. I have mine! As great as fishing and boating are in most parts of Florida, the national media has focused the country s attention on some areas of the state facing a real challenge. I m sure you ve all seen the photos of toxic algae that is decimating aquatic life just southeast of here. Restoring water quality to south Florida and its great fishing just has to be a top priority of this association. Commissioners, I realize that water management and Everglades restoration aren t within your jurisdiction, but I urge you to use your influence to move this important effort forward. As I understand it, Everglades restoration actually it s much bigger than that I ll call it South Florida water restoration, began in 2000, 16 years ago. And given the current schedule, the project will not be complete until sometime around 2045, 30 years from now. Pollution events like we re seeing on the news are becoming more frequent. For Florida s sake, for conservation s sake, for out sport s sake, we need to fast track this restoration effort. At 2:00 this afternoon, we are hosting a seminar in room 209A on the issues we re facing in Florida, including more details on the Everglades. If you want to learn more; I invite you to attend. Last year I outlined what our industry under the leadership of the Recreational Fishing and Boating Foundation - sees as key to getting more 3
people fishing and boating the R3 of recruitment, retention and reactivation. We ve had a year to think and talk about these concepts and refine what they mean. In particular, what they mean to each of you here this morning. There is no getting around the fact that our country s demographics are changing. Where people live is changing. Many people just don t have the generational knowledge the legacy of recreational fishing in their cultures or families. An entire generation the Millennials seems to have opted out of nature as easily as they opt out of emails. Can we invite them back in? You bet. Do we need to go younger and get more creative with our approach? Absolutely! Because our current customers baby boomer like me - are getting older. So, what s to be done? Before I turn the podium over to RBFF s president, Frank Peterson, I want to highlight three areas where we need to make progress. Number one on the list State fish and wildlife agencies have a huge role in our success. Whatever it takes - state agencies absolutely must step up their game and create a customer service experience where buying a fishing license and learning where to fish is as easy as ordering a car ride. We re working with a Mayberry model in an Uber world and that just doesn t cut it anymore. Number two on the list One day fishing programs are great for introducing kids and their families to fishing. I m betting that most of the companies in this room provide tackle for these fun and entertaining events. But how 4
many of them are actually creating life-long anglers? Do we really know? We need to! Right now, RBFF is developing best practices that spell out what kids programs need to do to create new anglers. If we tie these criteria to your donations, we should dramatically improve the quality of fishing education programs. For example, as a leader, Florida holds week-long fishing camps for young people that do, in fact, create anglers. And we re hearing great things about the growth in high school and college levels with competitive fishing. What can we do to supercharge this effort? The world has changed, we ve got to change! Which brings me to Number 3 The way we in this room sell our sport. For many years, we ve sold rods and reels and baits and tackle. We ve talked about ball bearings and breaking strength and such.and to tell you the truth, it s worked pretty well for baby boomers, and our avids. But will it work in the future? Today s consumer wants easy! We need to do a far better job in selling the sport and simplifying the beginner s experience. We need to provide better and more understandable where to and how to information. We need to sell to these new consumers. 5