CONTACT: Stephanie Dorezas FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
9/2/98
Of the states from Maine to Louisiana and Washington through California, Florida led in all measures of saltwater recreational fishing activity in 1997, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today.
Officials at NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service said that Florida has led in numbers of participants and numbers of recreational saltwater fishing trips for the ninth straight year -- since the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS) began in 1979. Florida had 4.4 million salt water fishing participants, which included over two million out-of- state tourists who took 24 million trips.
Florida also led in catch and harvest numbers with a harvest of 69 million fish weighing 69 million pounds, while 72 million fish were released alive. New Jersey ranked second for the number of trips, and California ranked second for the number of participants. Virginia ranked second for the number of fish released alive and harvest numbers. Louisiana ranked second in harvest weight.
In 1997, the top 10 species harvested in terms of numbers of fish were herring (harvested and used for bait), Atlantic croaker, spotted seatrout, pinfish, summer flounder, spot, black sea bass, bluefish, Atlantic mackerel and weakfish. In terms of weight, the top species were dolphin, striped bass, bluefish, red drum, king mackerel, summer flounder, spotted seatrout, sheepshead, Atlantic croaker, and black sea bass. Since the MRFSS was established in 1979 to provide comprehensive information on the importance and magnitude of salt water recreational fisheries, the fisheries service found that for some species, recreational fisheries harvest as much or more than the commercial fisheries. For nine of these top ten recreational species by weight, recreational fisheries harvested more than the commercial fisheries.
Top 10 leading states in numbers of participants and trips for 1997
Participants Trips
(thousands) (thousands)
State 1995 1996 1997 1995 1996 1997
Florida 4,317 4,092 4,449 23,641 22,107 24,035
New Jersey 927 997 874 4,956 5,500 5,470
California 1,697 1,481 1,486 6,640 5,707 5,138
North Carolina 1,276 1,150 1,327 4,992 4,605 4,789
New York 487 584 520 4,019 4,372 4,258
Massachusetts 688 597 837 3,368 3,290 4,138
Virginia 555 507 734 2,885 2,786 3,704
Louisiana 487 493 607 2,947 2,780 3,140
Maryland 870 893 718 2,947 3,027 2,912
Connecticut 295 387 327 1,347 1,528 1,132
Top 10 leading states in harvest and release for 1997
Number Released Number Harvested Pounds Harvested
thousands) (thousands) (thousands)
State 1995 1996 1997 1995 1996 1997 1995 1996 1997
Florida 66,473 58,235 71,661 63,741 53,414 69,304 66,482 56,027 69,432
Virginia 16,303 15,235 18,979 12,069 10,181 15,998 9,899 9,562 16,839
New Jersey 18,435 17,538 18,348 10,912 11,811 12,243 17,256 20,972 19,926
Louisiana 15,569 12,930 18,101 13,947 11,990 12,871 24,660 22,973 23,391
Maryland 9,806 9,566 15,274 5,782 5,776 6,084 7,384 8,019 8,240
California 12,473 11,022 10,903 13,708 13,359 10,602 21,638 15,881 18,351
N. Carolina 10,167 8,796 10,564 9,208 6,704 7,421 16,595 16,000 19,709
Massachusetts 5,801 6,331 8,090 4,289 3,565 4,094 8,915 8,923 9,868
New York 6,431 6,716 6,554 3,883 4,128 4,147 21,053 14,239 12,480
S. Carolina 3,713 2,642 5,271 2,880 3,129 3,350 3,556 3,828 4,494
1997 Recreational Harvest List
Species Numbers Species Weight
(X 1,000) (lb X 1,000)
Herring 35,647 Dolphin 22,746
Atlantic croaker 11,928 Striped Bass 16,452
Spotted Seatrout 8,972 Bluefish 14,494
Pinfish 8,361 Red Drum 12,811
Summer Flounder 7,178 King Mackerel 11,921
Spot 6,321 Summer Flounder 11,881
Black Sea Bass 5,696 Spotted Seatrout 10,808
Bluefish 4,779 Sheepshead 8,339
Atlantic mackerel 4,548 Atlantic croaker 8,078
Weakfish 2,809 Black sea bass 5,075
Texas, Hawaii, and Alaska are not currently included in the MRFFS because they conduct state surveys for their salt water recreational fisheries.
A complete listing of saltwater recreational fishing participation, effort and catch data is available through the Web page ( http://www.st.nmfs.gov/st1 ) of the Division of Fisheries Statistics and Economics, Office of Science and Technology.