Economy Down, Fishing License Sales Up

Note from the editor:  I found this article interesting.  It talks about the economy down and fishing license sales are up.  I thought to myself, this is a no-brainer; why wouldn’t fishing license sales be up when the economy is down? – people will generally find things to do when they are out of work and need to put food on the table.  One angler can catch a lot of fish for the small fee of a license vs. purchasing meat at a store.  An angler can basically recover his license fee in a few trips.  I would imagine hunting license sales are up as well.

A recent survey of 11 states’ fisheries agencies indicates that although the economy tanked in 2009, fishing license sales shot up at an historic rate.  As of Sept. 1^st, 2009, the states registered a 7.7 percent increase in the number of licenses sold year-to-date.

According to Southwick Associates, the firm that analyzed the data, license sales increased at a faster rate in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the second quarter, Increases of 20 percent or more were common in the first quarter.  However, a larger volume of sales occurred in the second quarter, the peak period for license sales nationally. 

“Not since the 1970’s have we seen a single-year increase in fishing license sales like we’ve seen so far in 2009”, says American Sportfishing Association president and CEO Mike Nussman.

Such findings are encouraging because, through the purchase of fishing licenses and special excise taxes on gear and boat fuel, hundreds of millions of anglers’ dollars each year are collected and funneled to states for conservation and recreation.

Article Source:  North American Fishing (NAF) – which I just got a free subscription to read and survey….thank you NAF!