DOGE Cancels ‘Take Me Fishing,' Even Though It Was Funded by Anglers

Yahoo

4 hours ago

This month the Department of Governmental Efficiency canceled funding to the nonprofit organization that offers learn-to-fish programs all across America. As a result, the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation has been forced to pause programs like Take Me Fishing and events with state fish and game agencies.
Grant funding for many conservation-based organizations was frozen earlier this year, and sources say RBFF and other fishing industry stakeholders struggled to receive clarity on the funding. As a result, RBFF had to furlough eight of its 16 employees on June 6, just days before the Department of the Interior announced it was terminating the grant award, which the agency has been receiving and distributing since 1998.
'We kept some [employees] in place because we were hopeful the funds would come through, but we're not sure what that looks like now that we received a termination letter,' says RBFF chief operating officer Stephanie Vatalaro. 'At some point soon, we'll run out of the remaining funds and those of us left will move on.'
While RBFF did receive $13.7 million in federal funding in 2024, according to the organization's most recent financial statement, none of those funds come from general taxpayer dollars. Instead, the RBFF is funded through the much-celebrated excise tax on fishing tackle and boating equipment. In fact, the RBFF was established to cooperate with the USFWS in compliance with a federal law established 27 years ago; RBFF has worked closely with the sportfishing industry and state agencies to grow fishing participation and reinvest in the outdoor economy.
RBFF says its has helped increase fishing participation to record-high levels last year and contributed to the sportfishing and boating industries, which both contribute $230 billion apiece in economic impact, along with nearly 2 million total jobs and billions in tax revenue.
'Alarmingly, in just the past few months since RBFF's funding has been terminated, fishing license sales are down 8.6 percent across 16 states, representing the loss of over $590 million in angler spending and 5,600 jobs,' RBFF told Outdoor Life in a statement. 'These figures signal that the industry and the economic activity it drives could be at severe risk.'
The grant funding terminated by DOGE cannot help offset the national debt without an act of Congress.
'The industry really looks to RBFF to promote fishing,' says American Sportfishing Association public affairs manager Rob Shane. 'Participation is huge for the industry because license sales and the self-imposed excise tax dollars really fund a lot of the conservation that happens at the state and tribal and territory level. With less people fishing, you're going to have less fishing licenses, you're going to have less excise taxes on sportfishing equipment. And all that is going to result in less, or lost access to fisheries — both in the form of physical access … and access in the sense that people aren't going to know how to fish. [This will eventually] result in less access, less conservation dollars, less habitat restoration, less stocking, less research — less you name it.'
On June 10 the Department of the Interior officially terminated the RBFF's grant in a letter that appeared to emphasize that the awarded funding 'no longer meets program goals or DOI priorities.'
'We were working very hard behind the scenes, with members of Congress, their staff, and staff at Interior to figure out where the funding was, whether it was going to be released, and when it was going to be released. That time table kept getting pushed back and back and back,' says Shane. 'That was our frustration in some respects, this all happened without any transparent or open communication with RBFF and with the industry.'
At least one lawmaker on the DOGE Caucus told Fox News, which broke the story of the grant funding cuts Monday, that she had taken issue with RBFF's $2 million contract with Disney and a $5 million contract with a Minnesota creative agency, Colle McVoy.
'I am proud to have exposed bloated overhead costs and worked with Secretary Burgum to ensure tax dollars collected to boost fishing are not siphoned into the pockets of slick D.C.-based consultants,' Senate DOGE Caucus chairwoman and Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst (R) told the outlet.'There's more pork in the sea, and I am going to keep fishing for it!'
She also objected to the salaries of some RBFF executives, which range from $102,000 to $274,900 at the highest level, and are comparable (or in many cases, substantially less than) the salaries of other conservation org executives. Ernst's own salary, which is funded by general taxpayers, is $174,000 annually.
Ernst's office did not respond to a request for comment Monday; neither did the DOGE Caucus. But to Vatalaro of RBFF, those contracts have historically proven essential to help her team fulfill the terms of the grant they've been awarded for nearly three decades. For instance, a PSA about fishing — the Find Your Best Self campaign created by that Minnesota-based creative agency — won Best Total Campaign in AdWeek last year.
'If you're running a national integrated marketing campaign, it's absolutely critical to have an agency on board. We are a small group of 16 people. It extends our staff and gives us knowledge we don't have … We also have what's called a corporate alliance agreement with Disney. We know that youth are super important to fishing participation.'
Research by RBFF, which also specializes in key research for the sportfishing industry, has shown that 'if you don't start fishing by the age of 12, it's basically not going to happen as an adult,' says Vatalaro.
'If you want to reach kids, Disney is the place to go. They're all watching their programs, there is an advertising component, and there are fishing locations inside Disney World where guests can [get a] charter and go bass fishing, and they get packet of information so when they go home, they have resources to learn to fish … If you look at a Nike or Coca Cola, they'd probably spend what we spend in a year on, I don't know, one Easter campaign.'
Vatalaro notes that the RBFF is already subject to extensive oversight and accountability.
'One thing that's been challenging for us is we have been put in a light that we may not jive with agency priorities … We're governed by a 25-member board made up of state and industry leaders. We undergo annual audits, federal reporting, quarterly meetings with our federal partners — and we feel like we've done a very good job of meeting their needs and being as efficient as possible.'
It's also not immediately clear how much, if any, of the funding cuts were related to what officials deemed frivolous expenses, or if the grant termination was related to the Trump Administration's executive order to roll back Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programming. RBFF programming includes opportunities for urban fishing and a Spanish-language version of Take Me Fishing, called Vamos a Pescar. (In addition to federal funding through sportfishing excise taxes, Vamos a Pescar is partially funded by a George H.W. Bush education fund that Bass Pro Shops helped establish.) Vatalaro says the only communication RBFF received from DOGE was the agency's June 10 letter.
Marine Retailers Association of the Americas president Matt Gruhn says he was 'deeply disappointed' to see the termination of the grant, which RBFF has 'successfully executed for more than 25 years.'
'RBFF has been a responsible steward of these boat fuel taxes paid by our industry from the very beginning with oversight from the very stakeholders that paid into the fund that RBFF's grant originates from,' Gruhn told OL in an emailed statement, 'as well as passing every audit with flying colors.'
The fishing industry stands to lose much more than they gain with feds clawing back a few million dollars in contracts, according to sources. Currently 95 percent of boats sold in America are made in America, according to RBFF, and the boating industry alone creates $26.9 billion in tax revenue.
RBFF hopes to reapply for the same grant with a refined proposal that the organization tailored to meet DOGE's concerns, but they have not yet had an opportunity to do so.
'We're prepared to meet the priorities of the current administration, who is looking for efficiency, lower costs, etcetera. It's just bee a little disappointing we haven't had that opportunity,' says Vatalaro. 'At the end of the day, we all want the same thing. Which is a stronger outdoor economy, broader participation, and really robust conservation funding for that next generation of participations. So we'd like to collaborate and keep things going so we can do even more in the future.'
In the meantime 27 years of institutional knowledge is at risk, points out Shane. While the American Sportfishing Association isn't opposed to innovation or shaking things up, the RBFF has successfully reinvested in the sportfishing industry — and developed a thriving working relationship with all 50 state agencies and the industry. That will take time to recreate, says Shane, which the fishing industry may not have to spare.
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'We just saw Congress try to sell off millions of acres of public land without transparent or appropriate processes, and it was hunters and anglers and other sportsmen who show up for something like that and tell them 'No.' And if we lose those hunters and anglers over the course of how many years before that proposal comes up again? The fewer people you have who care about those resources and participate in those resources, fewer people are going to stick up for those resources when that proposal comes back. Because we know it will.'