Survey: Sportfishing Participation Remains Strong
Participation steady, spending up slightly over past decade.
by Forbes Darby
Alexandria, VA—Preliminary figures recently released from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Census find sport fishing’s popularity has remained strong over the last decade. The government survey found that over 34 million Americans over the age of 16 fished in 2001, statistically the same number as fished a decade ago.
"It really speaks volumes about the quality of sport fishing that with so many activities competing for people’s free time, recreational angling remains the top outdoor sport across America," noted Mike Nussman, president and CEO of the American Sportfishing Association.
Two years ago the fishing and boating industries, led by the ASA, instituted a campaign to promote fishing called Water Works Wonders. The goal is to increase awareness and participation. "It’s still too early to see dramatic nationwide results, but states that have bought strongly into the campaign have seen some very positive gains in license sales," says Nussman. "By the time the next survey comes around, we hope to see a significant boost in the number of anglers."
The 2001 government survey also tracked angler spending and found that expenditures on tackle, trips and other expenses associated with sport fishing, rose only slightly over the past decade ($35.6 billion in 2001 compared with $31.2 billion in 1991). "The economic picture in 1991 and 2001 was very similar," explains Nussman. "At both times the country was involved in a war and suffering through a recession so we expected these spending numbers to be consistent." Record high spending was reported in 1996 when nearly $43 billion worth of goods and services were purchased by anglers taking advantage of that year’s economic boon.
In 1996, the ASA released a report on the economic importance of sport fishing that pegged the overall economic impact of sport fishing at $108 billion. This number takes expenditures and measures how they effect other sections of the economy — a term some economists call the "ripple effect". The figure provides a more realistic picture of how sport fishing dollars positively impact local and national economies.
ASA plans to take the final government data from 2001 and prepare a similar economic impact of sport fishing report to be available in September. The study will contain information on jobs, taxes and other key indicators of sport fishing’s worth to the economy.
