Why is Soaring declining

This was copied from rec.outdoors.fishing.bass. It sounds like the very
same things that we talk about when we discuss the decline of our sport. I
am not saying it has answers, but it is interesting.
Fred


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Great read Bob.
Fishing license sales are declining which indicates a real decline in
fishing interest, i.e. less numbers of people are fishing. I suspect that
things are worse since our population is growing, the proportion of people
fishing is declining more rapidly than indicated by license sales decline.
Why is this so? A variety of possible reasons come to mind when combined,
could explain the decline..

1. Fishable water is being privatized - bought up, posted, acquired by
governmental agencies, restricted by land use rulings, dams being removed,
access fenced off, etc.
2. Competing demands for time - Soccer, GameBoy, offroading, skateboarding,
partying, RVing, home projects and a multitude of other in and outdoor
activities divert participation today from family and individual fishing.
3. Decline of the nuclear family - as divorce and separation disrupts
parent/child relationships, fishing is less of a priority on weekends or
other custody times.
4. Availability of more disposal income - Food needs drove fishing more in
the past than today.
5. Immigration - Illegal aliens cannot get fishing licenses and legal
immigrants probably have far less interest in fishing than other population
demographics..
6. Adversarial animal rightists - Are influencing the weak, timid and
non-iinterested into a non-fishing mentality.
7 Adversarial vegaterians - Translate their anti meat-pholosophy into a
non-fishing mentality.
8. Passing fad - The Yuppie infatuation with fly-fishng in the 1980's has
past us by.
9. No new rivers - God is not making any new rivers and environmentalists
and politicians are fighting adding dams and impoundments which limits new
water bodies with their rapid growth and abundance of fish in their early
years.
10.Waterbody management - Is NOT being managed to increase the number of
people fishng, but to reduce, constrict, limit and to conserve existing or
lower levels of people. Budget level maintenance is their primary goal.
Little funding exists for meaningful additional researh to stop decline in
fishing.
11. Fly in fishing is up - Since the demand for trophy and quality fishing
exceeds the supply of domestic US fishing, more people are not fishing
locally but flying out to exotic places around the world.
12. On water competition - Water skiers, kyakers, personal flotation
devicers, canoeists, hikers and many other types of on-the-water or
near-the-water people are degrading the solitiude many fishermen cherish and
running them off the water.

Bob, I'm sure there are other things which MAY contribute to the decline,
but these are suggestions for starters. You listed a number of things we
can do to slow the decline of fishing. They'll help. But I am convinced
fishing will continue to decline. I just hope there will be some quality
experiences left for my grandsons but I doubt it.

Good luck!
John

I was very dissapointed with an article in the latest _Soaring_
magazine. It was about the SSA membership decline and all about
attracting SSA *members* and retaining SSA *members* - nothing about
soaring. I humbly suggest that if the SSA focused more on promoting
soaring, much of the membership decline would be taken care of.

Tony V.

"Tony Verhulst" wrote in message
...


I was very dissapointed with an article in the latest _Soaring_
magazine. It was about the SSA membership decline and all about
attracting SSA *members* and retaining SSA *members* - nothing about
soaring. I humbly suggest that if the SSA focused more on promoting
soaring, much of the membership decline would be taken care of.

Tony V.


Astute observation, Tony.

Bill Daniels

Tony Verhulst wrote:


..... It was about the SSA membership decline and all about
attracting SSA *members* and retaining SSA *members* - nothing about
soaring.....

"nothing about soaring" should have been "nothing about attacting and
retaining soaring *pilots*". But, you get the drift.

Tony V

Tony Verhulst wrote in message ...
I was very dissapointed with an article in the latest _Soaring_
magazine. It was about the SSA membership decline and all about
attracting SSA *members* and retaining SSA *members* - nothing about
soaring. I humbly suggest that if the SSA focused more on promoting
soaring, much of the membership decline would be taken care of.

Tony V.


Guess we all read things differently.
My read is that we all need to introduce folks we know to the sport.
In doing so, we have 12000 or so direct sales people.
This will result in growing the sport, and helping to grow the society.

Take a friend soaring- try direct marketing.
UH

Hank Nixon wrote:

Tony Verhulst wrote in message ...

I was very dissapointed with an article in the latest _Soaring_
magazine. It was about the SSA membership decline and all about
attracting SSA *members* and retaining SSA *members* - nothing about
soaring. I humbly suggest that if the SSA focused more on promoting
soaring, much of the membership decline would be taken care of.

Tony V.



Guess we all read things differently.
My read is that we all need to introduce folks we know to the sport.
In doing so, we have 12000 or so direct sales people.
This will result in growing the sport, and helping to grow the society.

Take a friend soaring- try direct marketing.
UH
No there's a sensible thing to say - and it works too.
I have introduced many friends, acquaintances and work colleagues to soaring. So
far so good, our club is growing.

It helps to have an obsessive personality - soaring is never far from any topic
with me around. So far I have recruited an average of one new club member per
year - this year looks like it might be three... Over achieving here ;-)

It helps to have an obsessive personality - soaring is never far from
any topic with me around. So far I have recruited an average of one new
club member per year - this year looks like it might be three... Over
achieving here ;-)


I used to be like that- my wife called me the flying evangelist. I've
since learned that in a function room with 200 people, only one or two
have any real interest in soaring. It boggles my mind, but there it is.
When I meet some one they soon understand that I fly sailplanes and that
a ride is available at the drop of a hat. But, they have to ask.

Tony V.

Tony Verhulst writes
I used to be like that- my wife called me the flying evangelist. I've
since learned that in a function room with 200 people, only one or two
have any real interest in soaring. It boggles my mind, but there it is.

Got to confess, it is absolutely baffling.

I find friends and family are at first surprised and faintly bemused to
find that I've got myself mixed up in this game, but from then on they
all seem to develop the same glazed, listless expression whenever my own
eyes (inevitably) drift skywards or conversation so much as hints at
either flying or the weather.

Strange people, the lot of 'em.

--
Bill Gribble

/---------------------------------------\
| http://www.cotswoldgliding.co.uk |
| http://www.scapegoatsanon.demon.co.uk |
\---------------------------------------/

To give SSA its due; membership numbers are as good
a sampling as any to show the decline in the sport.
Changing a few nouns in the article would not make
much difference.

Soaring requires a lot of investment of time across
several years to make it more than a passing fancy.
(I've read that the average sailor owns a boat for
8 years, and then moves on to something else.)

Life has speeded up, both in the workplace and on the
domestic scene. Our society has opted for quick and
cheap in most of its pursuits; we want to be passively
entertained. Turn on the TV, do a backyard cookout,
and that's about it for a large portion of the populace.
Nobody does his own thing anymore; he wants someone
to do it for him.

The decline is not just in soaring but in all sorts
of non-income producing endeavors. We have become
passive and vicarious in our thrills. This shows in
the tremendous weight gain in the population.

On the other hand, maybe we need gliders that will
carry 325lbs. in each seat. ;-)


At 17:30 13 April 2004, Tony Verhulst wrote:
Tony Verhulst wrote:


..... It was about the SSA membership decline and
all about
attracting SSA *members* and retaining SSA *members*
- nothing about
soaring.....

'nothing about soaring' should have been 'nothing about
attacting and
retaining soaring *pilots*'. But, you get the drift.

Tony V

Nyal Williams wrote:
To give SSA its due; membership numbers are as good
a sampling as any to show the decline in the sport.
Changing a few nouns in the article would not make
much difference.

Agreed. But my intended point was that the vision was wrong. The focus
of the article was "how can we get the SSA to grow" where the focus
should have been "how can we get the sport to grow". The article is
bothersome because 1). it's the typical reaction of a bureaucracy
fighting for survival, and 2). the SSA forgot why it's there.

Tony V.


--

I [Huck Finn] asked Tom [Sawyer] if countries always apologized when
they had done wrong, and he says - "Yes; the little ones does."

Mark Twain