AFTCO’s 10% Pledge delivers $426,465 cash to conservation causes

Award-winning US apparel supplier AFTCO donated $426,465 in cash to fishing conservation causes last year through its 10% Pledge to Protect and Conserve initiative.

The company and the Shedd family that owns it also donated approximately $400,000 in product and employee time to support the causes it believes in. Its largest contributions in 2022 went to its longstanding conservation partners: Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute (HSWRI), Coastal Conservation Association (CCA), Center for Sportfishing Policy (CSP), International Game Fish Association (IGFA), FishAmerica Foundation, Captains For Clean Water and B.A.S.S. Nation.

Three projects that were new for AFTCO last year included the IGFA Great Marlin Race, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and the North Carolina B.A.S.S. Nation. Each received $25,000.

IGFA Great Marlin Race (IGMR)

Recreational anglers, armed with cutting-edge satellite tag technology, have been deployed to tag the billfish they catch. These tags transmit data to researchers to help them learn more about the biology of the species and how they interact with their environment.

Understanding where these fish go and how they utilise their habitat provides invaluable data to scientists and resource managers to help ensure long-term billfish conservation.

AFTCO said that IGMR has fundamentally changed the way that scientists, anglers and policy-makers understand billfish.

Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR)

AFTCO helped stock 300,000 largemouth bass into the Ohio River, Kentucky River and several other waterways across the state of Kentucky.

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and North Carolina B.A.S.S. Nation (NCWRC)

AFTCO recently send the first of four annual payments of $25,000 to be used towards developing an aquatic plant propagation greenhouse (below). This will help produce the specific type of vegetation needed to improve bass habitat in North Carolina and will potentially increase the NCWRC’s vegetation production by 400% to 500%.