Something's Rotten in the State of Fishing

I started fishing in the late 1980's, and took to it slowly, in point of fact.

Hiking was my obsession then: I owned a weekend home in the Catskills at the time, and lived in New York City. Most weekends were spent on trails in the high peaks.

Fishing was something a good friend introduced me to. It was OK, but not something that truly caught my imagination. The biggest problem (other than my lack of skills) were the crowds on the famous Catskill streams. I hated fighting them, and I still do.

In the first 4 years of owning a fishing rod, I went out perhaps twice a year - despite being in the Catskills most weekends.

This changed for me when I was introduced to small stream fishing in NJ. This took my passion (hiking) and added an exciting new dimension to it (fishing). No crowds, beautiful scenery, peace and contemplation. Much closer than the Catskills (I'd sold the house). And as I entered my 40s, I didn't find slogging through the high peaks quite as enjoyable as I had a decade earlier. It started a new passion which I've maintained ever since.

I started fishing at at a time when participation in the sport was near its all time high. I've always thought about it as a growth sport. Turns out it's not, judging from fishing license sales.

Recently, I was able to collect resident fishing license sales statistics from 36 states for the years 2003-1993-1983. Collectively, these states had a population of 249 million people (so the sample base represents five-sixths of the country). It's actually hard to find these statistics online, because I suspect they're so grim.

In my sample, the number of resident licenses sold fell by 25.3% between 1983 and 2003. Keep in mind, though, that the populations of these same 36 states grew over the same period: from 201 million to 249. So in relative terms (as a percentage of total population), participation fell by 39.8%

In 1983, 9.2% of the entire poplation of these 36 states purchased a fishing license. By 2003, it had fallen to 5.6% Still a big number, but a worrisome trend.

Only three states showed an increase over this period: North Carolina, Iowa (?), and Utah.

The state with the largest absolute decline in licenses was California, where the number sold fell 47.8%, and where relative participation declined by 64.4%.

Why is this happening? I don't think it's hard to figure out. Baby boomers (my generation) are starting to get old, and fishing less. The generations behind us, raised on fast twitch video games and team sports, living in an increasingly suburbanized, homoginized world, don't take to fishing with anything like the regularity we did.

If the trends aren't reversed (or at least slowed), the conservation apparatus funded by license sales will continue to whither away...

Frankly, based on my own experience, I don't blame people for giving up fishing. Who wants to stand in a pool elbow to elbow with other fishermen? Even if it's now only 20 other people, instead of 25...

Most people don't know about the incredible resources that exist, largely unfished, even in some of our most densely populated states. If more did, hopefully a few more will join the sport and become advocates for the resources they now treasure.