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1995 Survey of Recreational Fishing in Canada

Survey Highlights

Summary

Recreational fishing is an important economic activity in the natural resources sector. Over 4.2 million adult anglers fished in Canada in 1995. Of this total, almost 749,000 were anglers visiting this country, many for the sole purpose of recreational fishing. The estimated 4.2 million anglers covered in the survey fished for 55.5 million days and caught over 254 million fish of all species. Of the fish caught, just over 113 million (or 44.6%), were kept. Although fishing provided the focus of activity for anglers, the most important factors associated with their enjoyment of the sport are the lack of pollutants in the fish they caught and clean water.

In total, the angling population spent $7.4 billion in Canada in 1995 of which $4.9 billion was directly associated with their sport. Anglers spent over $2.5 billion on package fishing trips, accommodation, food, transportation, fishing supplies and other services directly related to their angling activities. These expenditures were further augmented by monies they spent on durable goods purchased to improve their access to the resource and their enjoyment of it. Investments in 1995 totaled close to $4.9 billion for such durables as fishing equipment, boats, motors, camping equipment and special vehicles. Anglers estimated that almost $2.4 billion of these investment expenditures were wholly attributable to their participation in angling.

Anglers further indicated that they were willing to spend on average $17.37 per day over and above their current expenditure levels for costs associated with fishing. The total additional amount anglers indicated they were willing to pay in 1995 was $964 million. Resident anglers accounted for 83% of this total. There were notable differences when comparing resident and nonresident anglers. Resident anglers indicated they were willing to pay approximately $16.35 per day compared to $21.52 per day for Canadian nonresidents and $25.77 per day for visitors to Canada.

Nonresident anglers made over three million trips for fishing and other reasons. Just over half these trips were made by visitors to Canada with the other half representing trips by Canadians to other provinces/territories. Overall, nonresident anglers fished on 58% of the trips they made, with visitors to Canada indicating fishing activity on almost 80% of their trips.

The framework of socio-economic and biological information provided by this survey will help managers of this resource better assess and manage fish resources. For example, the impressive catch and release results achieved over the past five years indicate that anglers understand better the need to conserve this fragile and important natural resource.

Comparisons with 1990

Due to major changes in methodology covering resident anglers in the province of Ontario (from a household survey to a licence-based sample), direct comparisons with 1990 are not possible. The comparisons provided below are based on the total results in both 1990 and 1995 excluding Ontario resident anglers (Appendix 5).

In general terms, therefore, there was a 6.6% decrease in the number of active adult anglers since 1990. Nonresident anglers decreased by only 1.2% whereas resident angling dropped by 9%. The number of days fished dropped by 9.7% although, on average, the number of days fished per angler dropped by only 3.4%. Similarly, even though the number of fish caught fell by 9.9%, the average number of fish caught per angler fell only slightly (3.5%).

The most important factor was the 19.3% reduction in the number of fish kept, indicating a continuing trend among anglers to practise catch and release.

There was a 5.2% increase in major purchases and investments. Although there was a drop of 14.5% in expenditures for boating equipment, this was more than balanced by increased spending on special vehicles and land and buildings. There was only a small increase of 3.3% in expenditures for such items as food, lodging, transportation, etc. However, expenditures on fishing supplies increased by 31.5% and purchases of package deals increased by 11.4%.

Angler Profile

There were 4.2 million active adult anglers in Canada in 1995 (Table 1). Of these anglers, 3.3 million were resident anglers (anglers who lived in Canada and who fished in their home province/territory). The largest numbers of these resident anglers were concentrated in Ontario and Quebec (Table 2), however, the participation rate, that is the proportion of the population taking part in recreational fishing, was highest in the Yukon followed by Newfoundland. Additionally, over 185,000 nonresident Canadian anglers (anglers who lived in Canada but who fished outside their home jurisdiction) and over 749,000 other nonresidents (persons who lived outside Canada but fished in this country) actively fished in 1995. British Columbia received 42.5% of the nonresident Canadians who fished in its fresh and salt water areas whereas 71.8% of the nonresident, non-Canadians fished in Ontario. Visitors, including those 185,540 Canadians who fished outside their home jurisdictions, made up 22.1% of the total adult angler population.

Table 1: Numbers and Characteristics of Anglers.
  Resident Nonresident Canadian Nonresident Non-Canadian Total
Total Active Adult Anglers 3,285,840 185,540 749,260 4,220,640
Males 2,482,873 158,169 644,333 3,285,375
  average age 42 45 49 44
Females 790,082 27,180 103,365 920,627
  average age 40 43 48 41
Unspecified 12,885 191 1,562 14,638

Table 2: Participation of Active Resident Anglers by Jurisdiction.
Jurisdiction Active Resident Anglers
Number %
Nfld. & Lab. 122,677 3.7
P.E.I. 11,380 0.3
Nova Scotia 57,941 1.8
New Brunswick 64,694 2.0
Quebec 1,026,743 31.2
Ontario 1,039,581 31.6
Manitoba 120,599 3.7
Saskatchewan 132,955 4.0
Alberta 219,807 6.7
B.C. Freshwater 294,439 9.0
B.C. Tidal 181,209 5.5
Yukon Territory 6,292 0.2
N.W.T 7,523 0.2
Total 3,171,270 100.0

Male anglers were dominant, making up 75.6% of resident adult anglers, 85% of Canadian nonresident anglers and 86% of all non-Canadian nonresident anglers. Approximately 80% of nonresident anglers were foreigners, mainly Americans coming from the East North Central (32.3%), West North Central (24.1%) and mid-Atlantic census regions of the United States (Figure 1). The remaining nonresident anglers were Canadians who fished outside their home provinces/territories, with 61.1% coming from the prairie provinces (Table 3).

Table 3: Origin of Nonresident Licensed Anglers.
Jurisdiction/State Census Group Total Number
Canadian
  Maritimes 9,165
  Quebec 15,946
  Ontario 40,018
  Prairies 121,443
  British Columbia 9,927
  Territories 1,016
  Other 1,303
  Canadian Total 198,818
Non-Canadian
  New England 14,875
  Mid Atlantic 131,322
  East North Central 244,825
  West North Central 182,705
  Mountain 29,236
  Pacific 85,783
  South Atlantic 26,929
  East South Central 10,398
  West South Central 18,559
  Hawaii 531
  Alaska 1,783
  United Kingdom 3,034
  Europe 6,630
  Africa 42
  Asia 297
  Australia/Pacific Region 312
  Other 955
  Non-Canadian Total 758,216
All Nonresident Anglers 957,034
Figure 1: Regional Distribution of United States Residents Who Held Canadian Angling Licences in 1995

Regional Distribution of United States Residents Who Held Canadian Angling Licences in 1995

Fishing Effort

In Canada, fishing is a major recreational activity. Adult anglers fished a total of 55.5 million days in Canada in 1995 (Table 4). Over 42% of these days were spent in Ontario with Quebec second at 19.6%. Almost 88% of this effort was expended by Canadian anglers fishing within their respective provinces/territories, while 2.5% of this effort was expended by Canadians visiting other provinces and 9.5% by foreign anglers visiting Canada. Resident anglers fished an average of 14.9 days, nonresident Canadians fished an average of 7.6 days and foreign nonresidents fished an average of 7.0 days. Most of this fishing activity (93.7%) took place in freshwater.

Table 4: Angling Effort (in Angler Days) in Freshwater and Saltwater.
Waters Resident Nonresident Canadian Nonresident Non-Canadian Total
Freshwater 45,881,704 1,208,295 4,912,771 52,002,770
Saltwater 2,954,785 202,302 347,322 3,504,409
Total 48,836,489 1,410,597 5,260,093 55,507,179
Average Days Fished 14.9 7.6 7.0 13.2

Harvest

In 1995, anglers caught over 254 million fish of all species and retained just over 113 million of them (Table 5 and Table 6). Resident anglers caught 86% of the fish retained in 1995 and they kept on average almost 30 fish each over the year. Nonresident Canadians retained an average of 9.5 fish each in other provinces/territories, while visiting anglers retained an average of 18.6 fish each for the year.

Table 5: Fish Caught, by Species.
Species Resident Nonresident Canadian Nonresident Non-Canadian Total
Trout 52,943,547 1,036,953 2,074,767 56,055,267
Walleye 25,315,886 1,463,410 19,493,513 46,272,809
Perch 37,106,747 736,554 4,547,213 42,390,514
Northern Pike 15,808,454 964,295 11,524,695 28,297,444
Bass 16,514,013 429,333 5,353,748 22,297,094
Smelt 13,000,874 3,518 57,158 13,061,550
Shellfish 5,395,760 249,787 622,170 6,267,717
Salmon 4,005,132 281,094 569,841 4,856,067
Whitefish 1,788,173 52,978 125,384 1,966,535
Kokanee 741,158 66,258 37,428 844,844
Charr 397,707 48,668 38,854 485,229
Mackerel 443,437 1,500 612 445,549
Grayling 410,258 75,369 126,656 612,283
Flounder 107,856 0 0 107,856
Cod 104,734 1,084 325 106,143
Other 21,799,349 326,925 8,142,842 30,269,116
Total 195,883,086 5,737,725 52,715,206 254,336,017

Table 6: Fish Retained, by Species.
Species Resident Nonresident Canadian Nonresident Non-Canadian Total % Kept
Trout 33,812,171 333,073 480,624 34,625,868 61.8
Walleye 12,555,880 502,736 3,654,681 16,713,297 36.1
Perch 17,346,070 134,967 2,058,030 19,539,067 46.1
Northern Pike 4,321,874 169,935 1,280,900 5,772,709 20.4
Bass 3,144,411 40,288 746,703 3,931,402 17.6
Smelt 8,942,630 3,518 57,158 9,003,307 68.9
Shellfish 4,245,715 167,629 559,582 4,972,926 79.3
Salmon 1,733,212 155,535 290,580 2,179,327 44.9
Whitefish 865,008 15,746 48,673 929,426 47.3
Kokanee 505,057 40,830 26,797 572,684 67.8
Charr 137,670 8,631 8,636 154,937 31.9
Mackerel 314,093 1,037 373 315,503 70.8
Grayling 60,515 11,914 18,224 90,653 14.8
Flounder 31,526 0 0 31,526 29.2
Cod 52,018 836 206 53,060 50.0
Other 9,647,162 115,855 4,781,484 14,544,501 48.1
Total 97,715,012 1,702,530 14,012,651 113,430,193 44.6
% Kept 49.9 29.7 26.6 44.6  

Almost half of all fish were caught in the province of Ontario. However, the overall proportion of fish retained in Ontario was 34.4% indicating that catch and release was being actively practised in the province in 1995. All provinces and territories west of Ontario (with the exception of B.C. tidal waters) also had a low percentage of fish kept, whereas in the eastern provinces (except for New Brunswick) the percentage kept was higher.

In terms of species harvested (Figure 2), trout accounted for 30.5% of all fish retained, followed by perch (17.2%), walleye (14.7%), smelt (7.9%) and northern pike (5.1%). For both nonresident groups, walleye was the most harvested species accounting for 26.2% of the foreign angler catch and 28.6% of the nonresident Canadian catch. On average, anglers retained 44.6% of the fish they caught. Resident anglers kept 49.9% of the fish they caught; nonresident anglers, 29.7% and foreign anglers, 26.6%. In general, anglers kept a higher proportion of shellfish (79%), mackerel (71%), smelt (69%) and kokanee (68%) and a lower percentage of pike (20%), bass (18%) and grayling (15%).

Figure 2: Proportion of Total Fish Retained by Anglers
A pie chart depicting the proportion of total fish retained by species

Nonresident Trip Characteristics

Nonresident anglers made over 3 million leisure trips in Canada and fished on 57%, or 1.8 million of their trips (Table 7). Nonresident Canadian anglers fished on only 35% of their trips to other jurisdictions, while anglers visiting Canada fished on 78% of their trips. A total of 12.6 million days were spent in all jurisdictions by nonresident anglers with just over half (52.5%) of these days spent in Ontario. Nonresident anglers fished in all jurisdictions for 6.7 million of these days (53%), with foreign nonresidents accounting for 5.3 million of these days and Canadian nonresidents for 1.4 million. Day trips for fishing accounted for almost 25% of all fishing trips in 1995, with nonresidents visiting Canada having a proportionately lower percentage of day trips than Canadians visiting other jurisdictions.

Table 7: Trip Characteristics of Nonresident Anglers.
Characteristics Nonresident Canadian Nonresident Non-Canadian Total
Trips - All Reasons 1,518,443 1,520,952 3,039,395
Fishing Trips 546,959 1,213,641 1,760,600
  - % of all trips 36.0 79.8 57.9
Days Spent for All Reasons 4,725,859 7,625,163 12,351,022
Days Fished 1,410,597 5,260,092 6,670,689
  - % of all days 29.9 69.0 54.0
Day Trips for Fishing 168,330 265,277 433,607
Total Nights Spent on Fishing Trips 2,376,820 5,732,864 8,109,684

Canadians fishing outside their home jurisdictions chose B.C. tidal waters 23.2% of the time with Ontario a close second at 21.7%. Ontario accounted for 25.6% of nonresident Canadian days spent on trips while B.C. freshwater placed second with 18%.

Ontario accounted for 75% of all nonresident, non-Canadian anglers' trips, 69% of their days spent in Canada and 76% of their days fished. The second most popular area was B.C tidal waters with percentages of 7.1% of all trips, 10.1% of all days spent and 6.6% of days fished. More than 8 million nights were spent on overnight trips for fishing in 1995 with 70.6% of these nights accounted for by non-Canadian anglers.

Expenditures and Investments

A considerable amount of economic activity is generated by those who go fishing as a recreational pursuit. While expenditures alone do not provide an accurate measure of the economic value of the fishery, they do indicate the direct economic impact of recreational fishing.

In 1995, anglers spent $2.5 billion on goods and services directly related to their angling activities (Table 8). Resident anglers spent $1.75 billion of this amount, or $533 per angler. Canadian nonresidents spent $124 million, or $666 per angler, and foreign nonresidents spent $655.7 million, for an average of $875 per angler. The breakdown of expenditures shows that Ontario accounts for approximately 40.6% of all expenditures followed by Quebec at 22.8%, B.C. tidal waters at 11.1% and B.C. freshwater at 8.7%.

Table 8: Expenditures Directly Attributable To Recreational Fishing (in Cdn. $).
Expenditure Resident Nonresident Canadian Nonresident Non-Canadian Total
Food and Lodging 591,355,168 43,494,958 226,386,736 861,236,862
Transportation 695,348,968 35,688,538 107,520,378 838,557,884
Fishing Services 127,080,678 9,177,966 51,400,294 187,658,938
Fishing Supplies 164,161,883 6,284,340 23,122,652 193,568,875
Packages* 155,585,132 27,940,868 242,035,596 425,561,596
Other 18,889,866 1,083,326 5,195,749 25,168,941
Total 1,752,421,695 123,669,996 655,661,405 2,531,753,096
Average Per Active Angler 533.33 665.51 875.42 599.85

Ontario residents account for 33.1% of all expenditures by resident anglers followed by Quebec at 30.6%. Nonresident Canadians favoured British Columbia with 35.5% of their total direct expenditures allocated to fishing in tidal waters and another 16% to fishing elsewhere in the province. Nonresident non-Canadians spent an overwhelming 65.5% of their direct expenditures in Ontario.

Food, lodging, transportation and package deals accounted for 82% of expenditures made by resident anglers (Figure 3), while nonresident Canadians and foreign anglers spent 87% of their expenditures on these items.

Figure 3: Proportion of Expenditures Attributable to Recreational Fishing
Pie charts depicting the proportion of Expenditures Attributable to Recreational Fishing

Visiting foreign anglers purchased fishing packages worth $242 million (almost 57% of all packages) or 37% of their expenditures (Table 8). Ontario received 41.8% of these expenditures in packages, Quebec 23.6% and B.C. tidal water 18.3%.

An expenditure component of major importance is the money anglers spend for durable goods in support of their fishing activities. In 1995, anglers invested over $4.8 billion in boats, motors, camping gear, special vehicles and other durable goods (Table 9).

Table 9: Major Purchases or Investments Attributable (in Whole or in Part) to Sport Fishing (in Cdn. $).
Purchase Resident Nonresident Canadian Nonresident Non-Canadian Total
Fishing Equipment 248,784,695 4,337,515 6,500,673 259,622,884
Boating Equipment 1,016,144,574 15,108,117 10,296,425 1,041,549,117
Camping Equipment 431,175,923 3,763,008 2,689,433 437,628,363
Special Vehicles 1,848,544,322 4,890,644 3,020,001 1,856,454,967
Land-Buildings 1,043,946,420 64,947,952 38,433,614 1,147,327,986
Other 114,319,295 1,645,285 3,535,001 119,499,580
Total 4,702,915,229 94,692,521 64,475,147 4,862,082,897
Average Per Active Angler 1,431.27 509.57 86.08 1,151.98

Virtually all this investment was made by resident anglers who accounted for 96.7% of the total. Just over 38% of the monies invested in durable goods was spent on special vehicles such as ATV's. campers and other such vehicles which in recent years have become extremely popular with anglers.

Ontario (29.5%), Quebec (28.4%) and British Columbia (21.5%) were the main locations for investment. Newfoundland anglers spent the highest proportion of expenditures on special vehicles, followed by New Brunswick (46%) and Quebec (44%). Only B.C. tidal water anglers spent more on boating equipment than on special vehicles.

Residents indicated that 48.3% of their investment expenditures were directly related to recreational fishing activities; nonresident Canadians, 44.9%; and, other nonresidents, 72.7% (Figure 4). This adds up to $2.4 billion or 48.6% of the investments (Table 10).

Table 10: Major Purchases or Investments Wholly Attributable to Recreational Fishing (in Cdn. $).
Purchase Resident Nonresident Canadian Nonresident Non-Canadian Total
Fishing Equipment 248,784,695 4,337,515 6,500,673 259,622,884
Boating Equipment 741,404,651 11,686,017 8,115,605 761,206,273
Camping Equipment 198,388,985 1,676,828 1,211,010 201,276,823
Special Vehicles 614,813,766 2,670,344 1,428,021 618,912,132
Land-Buildings 375,005,235 21,005,442 27,003,826 423,014,502
Other 93,124,594 1,126,587 2,611,548 96,862,729
Total 2,271,521,926 42,502,734 46,870,683 2,360,895,343
Figure 4: Proportion of Purchases or Investments Made by Anglers in Canada, Attributable to Recreational Fishing
Bar chart depicting the proportion of Purchases or Investments Made by Anglers in Canada, Attributable to Recreational Fishing

Overall, anglers spent a total of $7.4 billion (Tables 8 and 9) on expenditures and investments related in whole or in part to their angling activities in 1995. It is estimated that over $4.8 billion, or 66%, of these total outlays was wholly related to their angling pursuits.

Willingness to Pay

Active anglers were asked "if your fishing costs had been higher in 1995 due to increased costs for gasoline, accommodation, supplies and other services, at what additional daily cost would you have decided not to fish?".

Anglers across Canada were given choices from $1.00 to a category of "more than $100".

While over 35% of anglers indicated they were unwilling to pay any additional amount (Table 11), results showed than $10 and $20 per day were the most common responses, accounting for close to a third of all active anglers (and almost 50% of those anglers who indicated a willingness to pay more). The average daily amount indicated by residents was $16.35; by nonresident Canadians, $21.52; and, by other nonresidents, $25.77. The overall average was $17.37 per angler per day.

Table 11: Willingness of Active Anglers to Pay Additional Costs for Fishing in Canada in 1995.
Additional Cost Per Day (in Cdn. $) Resident Nonresident Canadian Nonresident Non-Canadian Total
No additional amount 36.7 36.4 28.9 35.3
Less than $10.00 11.7 7.2 7.1 10.7
$10.00 17.9 14.8 13.7 17.0
$20.00 15.0 13.6 16.2 15.2
$30.00 6.1 6.1 8.0 6.4
$40.00 2.8 2.4 3.5 2.9
$50.00 5.5 9.4 9.6 6.4
$60.00 0.7 0.6 1.5 0.8
$70.00 0.5 1.0 1.4 0.7
$80.00 0.5 0.9 1.3 0.7
$90.00 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.1
$100.00 1.7 4.9 4.6 2.3
More than $100.00 0.8 2.6 3.9 1.4
Total Additional Cost $798,533,568 $30,398,791 $135,485,363 $964,417,721
Average All Active Anglers $243.02 $163.84 $180.83 $228.50
Average per Day Fished $16.35 $21.52 $25.77 $17.37

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