A new campaign is set to help the fishing industry during the uncertainty of COVID-19.
The Coronavirus pandemic has sent disruptive ripples across the outdoor industry. Across the United States, fishing seasons have been shut down, guide services stopped, and sales have dipped at local stores.
The timing could not have been worse with the start of spring fishing seasons in many areas. That is why Gunpowder Inc. has started a new campaign to help the fishing industry through these difficult times.
It is called "Fish for Each Other," and it is designed specifically to provide support and news related to fishing and COVID-19. This includes the start of the hastag #fishforeachother and the launch of the website fishforeachother.com. They even created a badge to add to social media posts to show support.
"Our culture, and our livelihood, is rooted in the outdoors and fishing industry," Gunpowder Founder Ryan Chuckel said in a press release. "They're our clients, our friends and our family. We created Fish for Each Other to provide a centralized location for people, like us, to find ways to help our fishing brothers and sisters. So many folks are already doing amazing things to support the industry we love. This is simply our way of connecting the dots between those doing good and those who want to help. While the future is uncertain, there's no doubt in our minds that, with all of our help, the fishing community will bounce back, stronger and more unified than ever."
Fishing charters are being hit hard by the social distancing guidelines in place in many states. Most are under orders not to operate in any capacity. Since some guides depend on spring fishing as larger part of their income each year, it causes huge financial trouble when trips are being cancelled in the great numbers being seen right now. However, Gunpowder notes all aspects of the fishing industry are being hit hard right now.
"Another area of the sportfishing industry equally hard hit are tackle shops, who rely heavily on consistent traffic from anglers," the press release reads. "While services such as online sales and curbside pickup of tackle have helped, it is not enough to replace sales lost by the decreased activity and travel."
To help with that aspect, the site is linking to small tackle shops and charters who are still finding ways to do business. That might be via drive-up services, online orders or by observing strict social distancing guidelines in shops that are still open.
Fish for Each Other hopes to help everyone they can in the fishing industry. The website will host the latest news concerning the pandemic and angling in general. They also have a page full of links that takes you to state-by-state updates from state wildlife agencies. There are also donation pages to make contributions to help fishing guides who have had the season cancelled due to the virus.
The campaign also plan to share inspiring stories and content coming out of this crisis to help keep people's spirits up in a time of uncertainty.
To put things in even more perspective, fishing has a huge impact on the economy many people don't realize. In Minnesota alone it contributes nearly $1.8 billion every year. The men and women in the industry can use all the help they can get.
Check out fishforeachother.com for more information and ways you can donate or get involved to help these small businesses.
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis Youtube channels.
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