NMFS Northeast Fisheries Science Center

N         E         W         S

Volume I gives demographic and socio-economic information about marine recreational anglers, including such information as age, education, ethnicity, household income, trip length and boat ownership. The second volume estimates the value of access to marine recreational fishing in each state in the Northeast. Volume III predicts the rate at which different groups will participate in marine recreational fishing through the year 2025.

The statistical information was compiled to help fishery managers understand the impacts of management actions on recreational fishermen. Data analyzed in the reports were gathered as part of NOAA Fisheries’ Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey in 1994. Similar data were collected again in 1998 and are being analyzed by economists in NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center for publication in 2000. The federal agency is conducting similar studies of recreational fishing in the Southeast and on the West Coast.

The reports for the Northeast demonstrate the considerable value of recreational fisheries in this region, with estimates of value reaching hundreds of millions of dollars for Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. States with relatively small numbers of fishing sites (Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Delaware) have estimated values in the tens of millions of dollars.

The total number of marine recreational anglers in Northeast coastal counties is predicted to increase by an average of 1.5 percent per year through 2025 (due to an expected increase in population in these communities). The rate of participation, however, is expected to decrease slightly, with 10.4 percent of the population participating in 2025, as opposed to 11 percent participation in 1995.

The three volumes are titled: “A Summary Report of Methods and Descriptive Statistics for the 1994 Northeast Region Marine Recreational Economics Survey”; “The Economic Value of New England and Mid-Atlantic Sportfishing in 1994”; and “A Summary Report of Methods and Descriptive Statistics for the 1994 Northeast Region Marine Recreational Fishing Participation Survey”.