Take Me Fishing is a national campaign started by the nonprofit organization Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF) to actively encourage participation in recreational boating and fishing and thereby increase public awareness and appreciation of the need to protect, conserve and restore the natural aquatic resources

Natural resource

Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems....

 of American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 waters.

Core to the campaign is the TakeMeFishing.org website which serves as an online resource for all things boating and fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

. It includes information on the various species of fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

, types of boat

Boat

A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...

s, how to fish, fishing gear, and how to tie knots. It includes information on state fishing regulations, boat safety

National Safe Boating Council

The National Safe Boating Council is a membership organization with over 330 U.S. and Canadian members committed to reducing boating accidents and enhancing the boating experience...

, boat registration, where to purchase fishing licenses, and even maps on the best places to boat and fish (by state). It serves as a resource "that offers hints and tips on how to get kids out onto lakes and rivers and bays, but no Web site can duplicate the thrilling immediacy of the tug of a little fish at the end of your line, which is addictive in its own way."

The Anglers' Legacy program is also integral to the Take Me Fishing campaign. Anglers' Legacy Ambassadors are asked to make a pledge to share their love of fishing with at least one new person each year in an effort to preserve the sport of fishing and boating for future generations.

In 1998, the U.S. Congress passed the Sportfishing and Boating Safety Act. The Act required the Secretary of the Interior to implement a national outreach and communication plan to address participation issues associated with recreational fishing and boating, while ensuring public support for aquatic resource conservation. Through the efforts of the Sportfishing and Boating Partnership Council (SFBPC), the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF) was created as "a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization" to implement the plan.

Honors

• 2011 W3 Gold Awards (Homepage, General Interests/Variety, Lifestyle Mobile Website, Sports & Recreation)

• 2010 Davey's Silver Awards (Branding, Education, Lifestyle)

• 2010 W3 Gold Award (Charitable Organizations/Non-Profit, General Interest/Variety)

• 2010 ASAE Gold Circle Award (Issue-Specific Website)

• 2010 Webby Official Honoree (Education)