Recreational Fishing - Sell the Fishing NOT the Fish..!

The popularity of recreational fishing has grown steadily over the past several decades. Pursuit of the social, psychological, and physical benefits of recreational fishing has created an industry focused on supplying the goods and services necessary to meet angler demand as well as ensuring satisfying recreational experiences.

How much does the regular anglers spend in a year? The expenditures of anglers have a significant economic impact, affecting local, state, and national economies. They sustain old jobs and create new ones. They support manufacturers, suppliers, and service industries. The total economic output of the recreational saltwater fishing industry is substantial and supports an extensive number of full and part-time jobs.

Recreational value by residents is measured by the total annual expenditures, estimated economic output, and estimated number of full-time jobs created. Total annual expenditures is the amount of money spent on a typical fishing trip (saltwater or freshwater) and the cost of replacing equipment. Estimated economic output is the total value of goods and services produced in an economy in order to satisfy a specified amount of final demand in a specified sector. The estimated number of jobs is the number of individuals employed in an economy per million dollars in final demand for a given sector.

Recreational value by tourists is measured by the estimated tourist expenditures on recreational fishing, estimated employment and wages, supported by spending by tourist anglers. The figure includes expenditures on food and drink, lodging, charter and boats, boat fuel, boat and motor maintenance, and all other expenditures including gasoline/petrol for automobiles.

People may realize that recreational fishing was important to economy, but how many really know just how important the recreational fishing is? To answer the question, we need to start collecting the statistics. The statistics collections for the recreational anglers value to the economic growth was long projected and calculated by some states in the US and Australia.

Anglers do what they do for the fishing, not the fish. The message is “SELL THE FISHING, NOT THE FISH”