Press Releases

The Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF) is pleased to announce the 2019 grantees for its State R3 Program Grants, now in its fifth year. With the goal of helping achieve 60 in 60, the program provides funds to sustainable and replicable angler and boater recruitment, retention and reactivation (R3) initiatives and plans that focus on increasing fishing license sales and boat registrations. Additionally, RBFF has entered agreements with two state agencies on R3 plans this year.

Overall, 11 programs in 10 states are being supported with grant funds. RBFF is providing approximately $180,000 in R3 grants this year. The 10 state agencies are contributing more than $720,000 in project funds and in-kind support, bringing the total amount of funding support to more than $900,000 for these R3 programs.

The following state agencies and programs will be supported with grant funds in 2019:

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission

• R3 Fishing Plan

Idaho Department of Fish and Game

• Idaho Millennial Fishing Campaign

Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife

• Indiana Nonresident Angler Retention and Reactivation

Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife

• Targeting Fishing Crossover Activities with Paid Search

Michigan Department of Natural Resources

• Michigan Angler R3 Plan
• Michigan Millennial Social Media Marketing

Nevada Department of Wildlife

• Nevada R3 Marketing Plan

Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation

• Oklahoma Multi-Phase License Evaluation Project

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

• Geofencing Digital Marketing with Tennessee

Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries

• Refer-A-Friend to Fish

Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department

• Vermont Nonresident Marketing Campaign

The 2019 State R3 Program Grants support state agency R3 programs in two focus areas: enhancing the capability of agencies to develop and implement effective angler/boater R3 efforts, or implementing angler/boater retention or reactivation strategies to help increase participation to 60 million anglers in 60 months. Proposals were reviewed and selected by RBFF staff and a Proposal Review Working Group made up of industry Board members, Federal agency and NGO representatives.

RBFF looks forward to working with these agencies to implement effective methods for recruiting, retaining and reactivating anglers and boaters, and sharing the learnings in the future.

For more information, please contact Stephanie Hussey, State R3 Program Director.