This is part of a message I received from Mike Gilchrist, Washington Chair of the Recreational Fishing Alliance...

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On Sunday, August 15th, the recreational fishing community
suffered a tragic loss. Randy Frye, a long-time advocate of
conservation and recreational fishing, and the West Coast
Regional Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance was taken
by a great white shark while diving for abalone near Fort Bragg, California.

Randy was a dear, dear friend and a valued colleague. The
recreational fishing community will be hard pressed to find such
an enthusiastic and knowledgeable advocate.

Our hearts go out to his family and loved ones. We at the RFA
are considering how to properly memorialize our friend and will
be in touch with all of you in the near future.

God bless Randy and Godspeed.

Michael Doebley

_________________________

About 4PM today Randy Fry of RFA was diving for abalone off of
Fort Bragg when a Great White knocked him with great force into
the air. The diver with him got back into the boat nearby which
had a third person on board. They quickly went to the scene, but
they could only find massive quantities of blood. No Randy. He
has still not turned up as of 8PM and the word we get is there
is no hope.

He will certainly be missed!

Randy has been a good friend and I am going to miss him so very
much. And he has been such a wonderful defender of our rights to
fish that all of us have learned to respect him and to respect
his constant effort on our behalf. I know we are now all feeling
his passing with deep sorrow.

Randy was the architect of my trip to Washington to get
appointed to the PFMC. He has fought long and hard with
California Fish and Game for better data. He has lead the fight
for sensible MPA's and has been a voice of reason and a source
of knowledge for all of us who fight for our fishery. His
participation on the Groundfish Advisory Panel brought well
balanced and carefully reasoned analysis to insure that we got
our share of the fish. His leadership of RFA has brought new
organization and strength to Northern California's recreational
angling community. He has been a giant among men as he has
fought for us and our right to fish. Seldom does one rise to
such a level of dedication and care for a cause. He is truly a
force and we must not let his efforts die.

I miss him so much now, and I know that I will miss him even
more as I fully realize the great loss he is to me, to
Coastside, to the diving community of which he was so much a
part, and to the entire fishery management teams on the Pacific
Coast. He is such a loss to us and to his family and friends.

He will be remembered fondly by all of us. Every time that I am
fishing I will remember that it was Randy's efforts that helped
insure that I am able to be there, on the water that he loved so
much.

Darrell Ticehurst


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As passionate as we all are about steelhead fishing and management, not to mention all other types of fishing, this seems like a good time to put it in its proper perspective...obviously there are more than a few things that are much more important.

Though I know virtually nothing about Randy Frye, it is clear that we all loss a passionate and effective advocate for recreational fishing.

It is also clear, and infinitely more important, that many folks have lost a valued friend and family member.

Lots of stuff seems like life or death at the time...but it's not.

Randy's story is.

Let's all take a bit of time to be thankful that we have friends, family, and fishing partners...and that even if we have disagreements about management and policies, at least we have something we love to argue about, and folks to argue about it with.

My heart and prayers go out to Randy's family and friends.

The RFA will have some sort of memorialization of Randy's life and service to recreational fishing...if I get any information about it, I will be sure to pass it on.

Fish on...

Todd