A Little Goes a Long Way

By Bill Hitchcock, NCFA Communications Director and Tradewinds Editor

Any small businessman or housewife can tell you that saving a little money here and there really ads up. When you buy off-brand sodas or used office furniture you're always pleased to find money in savings when the kids need new shoes or the business is ready to expand.

On the same token, it's important to know when to spend a little extra on things that are important. Fishermen know that when faced with engine repair sometimes a few extra dollars can mean the difference between that engine lasting one year or 10 years.

Once we start streamlining our expenses it can be hard to loosen our purse strings for those important "extras." Like engine repair, work on the hull or perhaps some freezer maintenance. Preventative maintenance is always cheaper than reactive maintenance. Likewise, thinking ahead puts us in a better position to deal with crisis before they occur rather than always reacting on the spot to put out fires.

Supporting the North Carolina Fisheries Association can be a lot like remembering to perform preventative maintenance. It's easy to be lulled into a false since of security because, after all, you're legally allowed to fish right now. That's like saying "This oil was good enough when the motor came from the factory and it's good enough now."

The easiest way to perform preventive maintenance on your fishery is through the North Carolina Fisheries Association's ½ Percent Program. The brainchild of the late William Ellis Smith of Luther L. Smith & Son, the ½ Percent Program allows fishermen to become members without paying membership dues, but rather by contributing ½ of 1 percent of the net profit of their boat's catch.

Since it's implementation in 1991 the ½ Percent Program has been the primary source of growth for NCFA. That growth includes additional staff, the monthly newspaper, Tradewinds, and overall improved lobbying and industry support capabilities.

One of the best parts of being a ½ Percent member is that if you aren't making much money you don't give us much money. We all go through feast or famine together. After Jerry's editorial last month ("Put Up…or Shut Up!" Tradewinds, June 2001, Vol. 6, No.6) I heard from several people incensed by Jerry's claim that anyone not supporting their trade association is either cheap or stupid. After some discussion it turns out that nearly all the folks angered by the column were ½ Percent Members. But since they paid out so little money it hadn't occurred to them that they were members.

If you've been putting off performing preventative maintenance on your fishery to save a little money, now would be a good time to put a little of that cash into preventative maintenance. It's too late to fix the roof once a storm has come and gone.

There's hardly a fishery in North Carolina that someone hasn't tried to shut down at one time or another. And odds are somebody will try to shut your fishery down some time soon. Without a trade group in your corner there isn't much you can hope to do about it. 

So help us take care of our fisheries. Ask about the ½ Percent Program wherever you pack out. You'll pay only a few dollars a trip but, as I said before, a little goes a long way..