National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation (Fish Stories)

by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Penny Hill Press Inc

Description The 2011 Survey revealed that over 90 million U.S. residents 16 years old and older participated in wildlife-related recreation. During that year, 33.1 million people fished, 13.7 million hunted, and 71.8 million participated in at least one type of wildlife-watching activity including observing, feeding, or photographing fish and other wildlife in the United States. The focus of the National Survey is to estimate participation and expenditures of persons 16 years old and older in a single year. These estimates are based on data collected in the detailed phase of the 2011 Survey. They are compa-rable to the estimates of the 1991, 1996, 2001, and 2006 Surveys but not to earlier Surveys because of changes in methodology. A complete explana-tion is in Appendix C. While the focus of the Survey is to estimate wildlife-related recreationists 16 years and older and their associated expenditures in a single year, informa-tion collected in the Survey screen can be used to estimate the number of anglers and hunters who were active over a five-year window of time. Because many do not participate every year, the following estimates may be more representative of the number of individuals considered to be anglers and hunters in the United States: 49.5 million individuals fished and 19.7 million hunted over the five-year period from 2007 to 2011. The Survey screen also provides some information about 6- to 15-year olds' participation which was calculated by using data from the Survey screen. Assuming their proportions of partici-pation were the same in 2011 as in 2010, the following estimates were calculated: Of the 6- to 15-year-olds in the U.S., 1.8 million hunted, 8.5 million fished, and 11.7 million wildlife watched in 2011. More information about this age group is provided in Appendix B. For the rest of this report all information pertains to participants 16 years old and older, unless otherwise indicated. There was a considerable overlap in activities among anglers, hunters, and wildlife watchers. In 2011, 69 percent of hunters also fished, and 28 percent of anglers hunted. In addition, 51 percent of anglers and 57 percent of hunters wildlife watched, while 29 percent of all wildlife watchers reported hunting and/or fishing during the year. Wildlife recreationists' avidity also is reflected in the $144.7 billion they spent in 2011 on their activities, which equated to 1 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. Of the total amount spent, $49.5 billion was trip-related, $70.4 billion was spent on equipment, and $25.1 billion was spent on other items such as licenses and land leasing and ownership. Sportspersons spent a total of $89.8 billion in 2011-$41.8 billion on fishing, $33.7 billion on hunting, and $14.3 billion on items used for both hunting and fishing. Wildlife watchers spent $54.9 billion on their activities around the home and on trips away from home.