First Flounder: Creating the Next Generation of Conservationists
This year has been an amazing one of the flounder front.
New regulation changes sure to bring some aid to this beleagured fishery, breakthroughs in captive rearing and stocking and a level of interest flounder have never seen in Texas have greatly inspired me to say the least.
None of them however is exciting to me as my First Flounder Program.
Camryn Ard with her first flounder.
Each parent (or kid) who sends in a pic of someone 18 or under with a flounder gets a certificate recognizing their catch and their photo posted in the First Flounder Gallery. The response has been great both in the number of entries and the response of the youngsters and parents. On the surface this might seem simplistic but it is not. The goals are twofold: recognize kids who are spending time outdoors and create the next generation of flounder stewards/conservationists.
Nowadays we are literally at war with video games, the Internet and a general sense of laziness in society over our children's future. Compared to past generations, very few of this one are spending time outdoors and to see this all you have to do is look around. In my neighborhood the only thin kids (and I mean this with all sincerity) are the skaters who cruise around the church parking lot across the street. The rest of them are chunky to obese and while we love all kids here at flounderrevolution, this is symptomatic of kids who never go outside and move around. Yes, there are chunky kids who fish but there are tens of millions who are too lazy to even see the light of day. I am talking about the kids who never leave the couch because their parents let them stay there.
For the kids who do actually get outside it is very important to recognize their achievements and this is my way of doing it.
The grander part of this scheme is to create the next generation of flounder conservationists. You never know what a simple act of getting a cool certificate in the mail and their picture put on the Web can do for a kid. That might just spark the next person who takes up the cause of flounder and takes it to the next level. Somewhere out there is a future Texas Parks and Wildlife Commissioner, fisheries biologist, outdoor writer and so on. By letting kids at a young age know this fishery is important we stand a chance of building a foundation for it in the future.
This is the importance of the First Flounder.
My goal is to send out 50 certificate this year but I would love to shatter that. If you have photos of a youngster in your life with a flounder (it doesn't have to be their first) send it to me at cmoore@fishgame.com, along with details of the catch and a mailing address. We'll post the pic and send out the certificate asap. Check out our First Flounder gallery by clicking here.
Thanks for your help and be ready. I've been busy lately but there is LOTS to come shortly including some major additions to First Flounder for the kids and a true dream come true.
New regulation changes sure to bring some aid to this beleagured fishery, breakthroughs in captive rearing and stocking and a level of interest flounder have never seen in Texas have greatly inspired me to say the least.
None of them however is exciting to me as my First Flounder Program.
Camryn Ard with her first flounder.
Each parent (or kid) who sends in a pic of someone 18 or under with a flounder gets a certificate recognizing their catch and their photo posted in the First Flounder Gallery. The response has been great both in the number of entries and the response of the youngsters and parents. On the surface this might seem simplistic but it is not. The goals are twofold: recognize kids who are spending time outdoors and create the next generation of flounder stewards/conservationists.
Nowadays we are literally at war with video games, the Internet and a general sense of laziness in society over our children's future. Compared to past generations, very few of this one are spending time outdoors and to see this all you have to do is look around. In my neighborhood the only thin kids (and I mean this with all sincerity) are the skaters who cruise around the church parking lot across the street. The rest of them are chunky to obese and while we love all kids here at flounderrevolution, this is symptomatic of kids who never go outside and move around. Yes, there are chunky kids who fish but there are tens of millions who are too lazy to even see the light of day. I am talking about the kids who never leave the couch because their parents let them stay there.
For the kids who do actually get outside it is very important to recognize their achievements and this is my way of doing it.
The grander part of this scheme is to create the next generation of flounder conservationists. You never know what a simple act of getting a cool certificate in the mail and their picture put on the Web can do for a kid. That might just spark the next person who takes up the cause of flounder and takes it to the next level. Somewhere out there is a future Texas Parks and Wildlife Commissioner, fisheries biologist, outdoor writer and so on. By letting kids at a young age know this fishery is important we stand a chance of building a foundation for it in the future.
This is the importance of the First Flounder.
My goal is to send out 50 certificate this year but I would love to shatter that. If you have photos of a youngster in your life with a flounder (it doesn't have to be their first) send it to me at cmoore@fishgame.com, along with details of the catch and a mailing address. We'll post the pic and send out the certificate asap. Check out our First Flounder gallery by clicking here.
Thanks for your help and be ready. I've been busy lately but there is LOTS to come shortly including some major additions to First Flounder for the kids and a true dream come true.
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