The proper name of the club is Courtenay and District Fish and Game Protective Association (CDFGPA), which is rather long and reflects the historic start of the club, when a long name told much about the group and we hadn’t entered the time of short, zippy names.
Be that as it may, the CDFGPA has a current membership in excess of 2,500 paid up members. Over the past year the club has seen some major changes in the executive, and this column is an attempt to recognize the excellent work Dale Frame the president and his executive team are doing in leading the club through a difficult period of unplanned transition in leadership due to the sudden passing of the president and vice-president in the space of 24 hours.
At the club's November meeting, after the approval of the agenda and adoption of minutes, we quickly came to Shirley Leggett’s Treasurer's Report and her finance committee’s 2013/2014 executive-approved budget, presented by Shirley and Chris Baker, a director on the executive and member of the finance committee.
Volunteerism is a major force in the operation of this large, integrated outdoor association we know as the CDFGPA. In all my decades of involvement with fish and game clubs I cannot recall seeing such a stellar example of volunteerism as I saw on Monday, Nov. 4 in this budget presentation. Volunteerism involving hands-on activities as in gathering salmon eggs for the club’s hatchery, building archery facilities, involvement in skeet or trap shooting, or family fishing are fun things that have a lot of social interaction.
Putting together a budget of approximately three quarters of a million dollars to run the increasingly complex operations of the CDFGPA is not my idea of a fun social activity. It is the hard, dedicated work of professional accountants, volunteering their skills in advancing the goals and aspirations of a wide variety of activities in this magnificent organization. To pull it off they had to have the support of the CDFGPA executive – Shirley Leggett, Chris Baker, Dale Frame, and committee chairpersons. A sincere thank-you from this column.
To give you an idea of the complexity of the budget; listed here from the budget summary are the committees and administrative operations the budget dealt with in clear detail: Archery, Cowboy Action, Black Powder, Shotgun Ranges, Rifle, Pistol Ranges & Indoor Ranges, Hall, Bar, Kitchen, Campground, Boat Ramp and Wharves, Conservation, Watershed, Sport Fishing, Property Operations, Business Administration, Membership, Special Events and Contingency.
The budget contained 10 pages of closely printed, detailed figures and notes of the various activities listed above. Needless to say, discussion on the proposed budget took up the major portion of a long evening. With the aid of a well-prepared visual presentation on the wide screen, Shirley and Chris did an excellent job answering questions under the able chairmanship of president Dale Frame. A few queries were referred to the executive committee, but by-and-large all questions were answered. Again – I repeat – thank-you to all concerned for a job well done.
• • •
The Sport Fish Advisory Committee (SFAC) Area 14 – Comox Valley – general meeting at the Courtenay Fish and Game Club is Friday, Nov. 15 at 6 p.m. The general public is encouraged to attend this timely meeting and express their concerns about our saltwater fishery. While this notice is too late to facilitate adding items to the agenda it is my understanding that concerns from the general public will be addressed.
The following is a partial list of agenda items:
1. Status of the last motions sent from the SFAC to the south coast Sport Fishing Advisory Board.
2. Up-to-date hatchery reports from Area 14 – Little River, Oyster, Puntledge River, Little/Big Qualicum Rivers, Tsolum River, Black Creek.
3. Halibut 2013 season review/2014 future considerations for rules.
4. Update on our coho motion – one wild/one clipped retention update.
5. Salmon Review 2013 – Brad Beaith.
6. Groundfish/shellfish report – Chuck Ashcroft.
7. Prawn and crab update.
8. Minimum clam size proposal.
9. Lingcod/rockfish update.
10. Herring update.
11. Conservation and protection report.
New Business:
Glass Sponge Reef Conservation Initiative, Strait of Georgia.
Union of Environmental Workers Local 20147 Report.
Public Boat Ramp Comox Harbour – Reduce congestion and increase safety.
See you at the meeting.
Ralph Shaw is a master fly fisherman who was awarded the Order of Canada in 1984 for his conservation efforts. In 20 years of writing a column in the Comox Valley Record it has won several awards.