The Missouri Chapter of the American Fisheries Society presents the Letter of Recognition to: Denise Otto for creating and coordinating the GO FISH! program to increase angler recruitment in Saint Louis, Missouri. She devised GO FISH! to be different from one-day fishing events in three major ways: it is run solely by volunteers, participants are evaluated frequently to assess program effectiveness, and GO FISH! is based on multiple contacts with each angler.

Denise designed GO FISH! to be multi-faceted, offering a variety of programs called “Hooks” covering a wide range of fishing skills, knowledge, and techniques and aquatic conservation; each building upon the completion of the previous “Hook”. This allows knowledge and skills to be honed, thus boosting angler confidence and the desire to continue fishing. GO FISH! is offered at four Conservation Fishing Centers in St. Louis Region to reach its target audience – 8 to 15 year-old urban and suburban youth.

Denise worked with O&E, researched curriculums and angler recruitment programs in other states and was innovative in writing the program’s curriculum and evaluation models. She worked with RMDC’s Resource Science Division to utilize the point of sale system to track recruitment successes. Denise recruited, trained and coordinated a network of 60 volunteer angler instructors and coaches and four part-time hourly employees, as well as cultivated 13 corporate and angling club sponsors to implement GO FISH! She incorporated existing Urban Fishing Clinics and Therapeutic Fishing Clinics (from the St. Louis Urban Fishing Program) into GO FISH! by coordinating participants from 44 therapeutic and children’s groups, utilizing volunteers and saving MDC money.

Denise led GO FISH! to during its first two years, with accomplishments which included: 368 programs were held and 4,618 angler contacts were made with the help of 65 volunteer angler instructors. Denise has constructed GO FISH! to be a national model for angler recruitment and retention, which should ultimately lead to increased conservation awareness by young anglers.

For her commitment to conservation, sound resource management, cooperative spirit, enthusiasm, and efforts to recruit new anglers in Missouri, the Missouri Chapter of the American Fisheries Society is proud to recognize Denise Otto’s contributions with the Letter of Recognition.