Coastal Conservation Association
Description
The Coastal Conservation Association is a grassroots, non-profit membership organization of recreational saltwater anglers working to conserve marine resources and protect anglers’ access to them.
It began after commercial overfishing along the Texas coast decimated redfish and speckled trout populations. A group of concerned anglers formed the Gulf Coast Conservation Association in 1977, and within a few years helped get gill nets outlawed and redfish and speckled trout declared game fish in Texas. The movement spread, and by the mid-1990s chapters existed along the Gulf Coast and the South and Mid-Atlantic; Washington and Oregon chapters followed in 2007 and a California chapter in 2015.
CCA now has chapters across 17 coastal states spanning the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts. It works at national, state and local levels to advise and educate the public on marine conservation, and its network runs scientific studies, marine-science scholarships, artificial reef projects, fish hatcheries and habitat monitoring. It has also used a legal defense fund to challenge net bans, fishing restrictions and bycatch rules in court.
Similar organizations
The Nature Conservancy is a global environmental nonprofit working to protect land, water and wildlife.
Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland, known as BUND, is a German environmental and nature conservation association.
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