My association with sport fishing as an avid angler, fishery scientist and advocate-activist spans more than forty years. Most of my working years were with the Sport Fishing Institute (SFI) located in Washington, D.C. In 1949, members of the sport fishing industry founded SFI on the principle that by fostering enhancement and maintenance of healthy, abundant and accessible fishery resources, the sport fishing industry would thrive and prosper. The "sport fishing industry" is a broad term, which includes companies and individuals that provide goods and services to anglers. Fortuitously, in the three decades following the creation of SFI fishery resources expanded and the number of anglers doubled. It was easy to make the association of attractive fisheries and increased participation. The industry was caught up on the "Field of Dreams" concept. Field of Dreams is a 1989 movie that depicted an Iowa farmer that builds a baseball field to attract baseball heroes of past, based on voices that the farmer heard saying, "Build it and they shall come." Well, he builds it and they came. As a sport fishing industry metaphor, through good management build healthy, vibrant fishery resources and anglers will show up.

There was good reason to accept the premise. In the years between 1955 and 1980, the number of anglers, as measured by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Surveys of Fishing Hunting and Wildlife -Associated Recreation, increased at an average rate of approximately three percent per year. What caused the phenomenal growth of the 1955-1980 period? An increase in the number of fishable waters (created through either reservoir construction or improved water quality), more leisure time, population increases, and greater disposable income. All are cited as factors contributing to this growth.

The tremendous public investment in the creation of reservoirs (tens of millions of acres built for purposes other than fishing) throughout the United States and the clean up of grossly polluted waters supported the Field of Dreams concept. At the same time, fishery scientists/mangers, using dedicated funds such as fishing license fees and Sport Fish Restoration Act (Wallop-Breaux) funds did an outstanding job of managing the fishery resource. The result has been a healthy, attractive fishery resource. Anglers, in addition to largely paying their own way to pay for fisheries management through user-pay taxes, have developed a strong conservation ethic and have become citizen stewards of the fishery resource specifically, and aquatic resources in general.

In the modern history of sport fishing, which begins after World War II to the present, there have been tremendous advancements in fishing equipment (just think about a fully outfitted bass rig). It is not surprising that fishery science and the development of management techniques share that period. From the early 1950s through the 1970s, intensive management of existing fishery resources came into play in an ever-increasing role. Fishery managers armed with research findings employed a variety of management techniques. Closed seasons, size at harvest limits, slot size limits, number of fish harvested, catch-and-release, improved access to under-fished waters, introduction of exotic species, and reclamation (removing existing undesirable species/population with chemicals and stocking desirable species), stocking hatchery raised fish and increased habitat protection were among the management tools applied. The implementation and success of those techniques required the full cooperation of anglers.

Of the techniques mentioned, catch and release provides an example of how anglers responded to a simple management technique. The first science-based fishery management scheme that involved catch and release was instituted in Michigan in 1952. The scheme was applied to high quality trout streams with naturally reproducing populations, requiring the release of all trout caught and anglers were restricted to the use of flies and artificial baits. An important part of that experiment was that post-hooking mortality was identified and measured. It also identified the need for the proper handling of hooked fish to keep post-hooking mortality at a low and manageable level.

Catch and release has spread to almost all sport fisheries, fresh and salt water. C & R has spread from trout to largemouth and smallmouth bass, striped bass and muskellunge. It is even a popular technique in the walleye fishery although their flesh is highly prized table fare. Anglers recognize that if released the fish will grow and reproduce as well as being there to catch again. A great value of the C & R technique is it imparts a respect for the fish by the angler. Animal rightists have objected to C & R as cruel. The fact is, fish are subject to a wide range of predators including man, fish live in a "cruel" environment. If they survive an encounter with a predator, they enrich their species gene pool. As for cruelty, it is ludicrous to assume fish experience pain levels similar to humans (anthropomorphism).

Although fish participation levels have declined over the past decade, fishing continues to be a favorite pastime in the United States. Recently the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service released the findings of their 2001 National Survey. In 2001, 16% of the U.S. population 16 years old and older spent an average of 16 days fishing. Comparing results of the 2001 Survey and the 1996 Survey reveals that the number of all anglers declined 3% and overall fishing expenditures fell 17% -- a 16% drop in trip and a 22% drop in equipment expenditures. From 1991 to 2001, the number of all anglers declined 4% and expenditures increased 14%. Saltwater fishing increased 22% but freshwater fishing declined by 6%.

The decrease in sport fishing participation began in the late 1980s and continued in the 1990s. The Field of Dreams concept embodied in the spectacular sport fisheries in Great Lakes (Pacific salmon and walleye) did attract anglers but not enough new recruits to maintain the peak numbers attained in the period 1950 through the 1980s. Factors of the 1990s such as decreased leisure time, family structure, competing entertainment and other factors identified by social scientists led to the reduced numbers. I see it not so much as a decrease of interest in angling but as a leveling off to sustainable levels of participation commensurate with the fishery resource. Participation numbers will stabilize when the number of new anglers (recruits) equal those leaving the ranks through mortality or a lack of interest (dropouts).

In my professional capacity as a sport fishing advocate-activist, I touted angling as an activity with great economic development potential, particularly in rural areas. That remains true to the present. Without doubt, anglers spend a great deal of money and as stated earlier, there is an identifiable industry ascribable to sport fishing. The magnitude of angler expenditures and its industry are large and command a great deal of respect by legislators and government regulators. The political position attained by economic strength provides an opportunity for anglers and their attendant industry to obtain the attention of governments (state and federal) which have the responsibility to manage and protect the common property fishery resource.

The SFI staff closely followed the Fish & Wildlife’s National Surveys, done every five years beginning in 1955to 1985 then 1991, 1996 and 2001. Looking at annual fishing license sales showed a trend of decreasing participation in the late 1980s. It was apparent that there was need for more than an attractive fishery resource to attract anglers. The general assessment was, and I think true today, that the fishery resource was in a condition to support increased angling activity. Fishing tackle manufacturers concerned with decreased participation, focused on the need for a sportfishing marketing/promotion campaign. The states, suffering from decreased license sales, their prime source of income, reluctantly got on the marketing bandwagon.

The Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (RBFF), was established in 1998 to implement the National Outreach and Communication Program. The Sportfishing and Boating Safety Act of 1998 (amending the Sport Fish Restoration Act, a.k.a. Wallop-Breaux) for the first time permitted "outreach," a euphemism for promotion, using Wallop-Breaux dollars. The effort dedicated $36 million of Sport Fish Restoration Program funds for a five-year national outreach and communication (a.k.a., promotion) effort. The RBFF is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase participation in recreational angling and boating and thereby increase public awareness and appreciation of the need for protecting, conserving and restoring this nation's aquatic natural resources. (www.rbff.org)

Sport fishing is big business and a favorite pastime of millions of Americans. But to many of us it is our "sport." We are ethical in respecting our quarry, fishing laws and regulations and how we interact with other users of the aquatic resource. We are competitive at the amateur and professional level fishing in tournaments targeting almost any species that can be taken by rod and reel, from carp to tuna. We are proud to have our names in the record books maintained by the International Game Fish Association (www.igfa.org) or the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame (www.freshwater-fishing.org). Some of us (only about 5% of all anglers) join special interest fishing organizations and clubs and get involved is sport fishing issues. No matter how we choose to express our interest in fishing, we are citizen stewards of the fishery resource and we love to fish.

Copyright 2003 Gilbert Radonski All Rights Reserved
gcrgmr@mail.clis.com