Recreational fishing trends in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin: a demographic analysis

Session: 13. - Building Relationships of Anglers and Scientists toward Sustainable Fisheries

Erin Burkett, Michigan Technological University, [email protected]

Abstract

Participation in recreational fishing decreased nationwide over the past 15 years. Recreational fishing is a socially and economically important activity in the Great Lakes region, and the implications of declining participation include decreased funding for natural resource and fisheries management programs and less income for local businesses and therefore state economies that depend on fishing-related expenditures. This highlights the importance of identifying past trends and creating accurate projections of future angler recruitment. Age-Period-Cohort (APC) analysis is a demographic research method that allows examination of the individual impacts of angler age, time period, and angler birth cohort on an individual’s likelihood to fish. This methodological approach is useful because each of these social factors influences fishing participation, management decisions, and policy goals in distinct but important ways. This talk will compare changes in fishing participation rates and results of APC analyses for fishing license sales data from 2000 to 2014 in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, and discuss how natural resource managers in these and other Great Lakes states can use this information to create more targeted marketing plans and outreach strategies.

1. Keyword
fishing

2. Keyword
management

3. Keyword
modeling

4. Additional Keyword
recreation

5. Additional Keyword
human dimensions