How do we value recreational fisheries?In my time working for
Michigan Sea Grant
, I have been involved in a few projects related to the economics of fishing. Most have focused on demonstrating the (substantial) economic impacts of people traveling to pursue fishing as a recreational activity. For tourism to generate economic impacts in a community, people must travel and spend money. This is one way to look at things, but it considers the angler only as a consumer, ignoring the importance of fishing to the angler who saves money by fishing close to home.When we talk about the value that fishing provides to society, we are really limiting our frame of reference if we view fishing only as an outdoor pastime akin to golf or hiking. In tourism studies, these other forms of recreation are considered “substitution behaviors” that anglers would engage in if fishing wasn’t available. I would argue that only hunting, gathering, and perhaps gardening would potentially qualify as substitutions for fishing for one simple reason: They all provide food.Returning to the salmon fishing example, an economic impact study would have ignored the substantial economic benefits provided by procuring fresh, local fish for my family. Before being cleaned, the total weight of Chinook salmon caught was 61 pounds. Fillet yield for Chinook salmon is 0.55, which means that I harvested roughly 35.55 pounds of fillets that evening. If you were to buy Chinook salmon harvested from the Great Lakes, you would pay $18 per pound through one of the few online retailers that offers the option. Wild Alaskan Chinook is a much more expensive substitute, while farmed salmon or other less desirable species can be less expensive. Still, using Great Lakes fish prices as a reference suggests that I offset my grocery costs by $639.90 with a few hours of fishing.You might think that salmon is an exceptionally expensive, but Great Lakes panfish command even higher retail prices. Great Lakes bluegill fillets sell for $24.95/lb. and yellow perch retail for as high as $32.50/lb. Although coldwater salmon and trout certainly get a lot of attention from Great Lake anglers, warmer bays and connecting waters like Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River offer fantastic fishing for panfish and gamefish like walleye, pike, bass, and catfish.Everyone is aware of the rising price of groceries over the past few years, and seafood is no exception. In most households, store-bought seafood is not a staple food. It is reserved for special occasions, entertaining company, or perhaps consumed in larger quantities by those who are health conscious and have the means to afford it. The average household income for frequent seafood buyers is $26,000 higher than that of people who never buy seafood. The average price per pound of seafood at the grocery store is now over three times that of chicken or pork. In May 2024, Circana found that the retail price of seafood was $9.43/lb.—quite a bit lower than prices for most Great Lakes fish.In Michigan, we put a high premium on the fish species we can catch in local waters. It is part of our regional culture, and likely stems from the experiences many of us connect to the act of catching and harvesting fish for personal use. When I lived in Mississippi, this was very evident. Few people knew what a walleye was, and walleye were not available at supermarkets or restaurants. Instead, catfish were the fish of choice for rich and poor alike. One could make the argument that a cheaper substitute, like farm-raised tilapia, could serve as the basis for determining grocery cost offsets from harvesting Great Lakes fish under a recreational fishing license, but I would argue that our regionally available species command a high price precisely because of their unique contribution to our shared outdoor heritage in the Great Lakes state.Retail value of fillets harvested by Great Lakes anglers in MichiganWith the help of folks with Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), I determined the total weight of fish fillets harvested by anglers fishing under a recreational fishing license in Michigan waters of the Great Lakes. Creel surveys conducted by DNR staff served as the starting point, since these surveys are used to calculate the number and weight of fish harvested.Published yields for different species were then used to determine the weight of fillets. When published values were not available, the yield of another species of similar shape was used as a surrogate (e.g., bluegill for pumpkinseed sunfish) or determined by a colleague with extensive experience in fish processing. Finally, retail cost of skin-on fillets of Great Lakes species was determined by searching online. When multiple vendors offered the same species at different prices, the average price was used. Surrogate species were used for comparable species in some cases (e.g., Chinook salmon for coho, channel catfish for bullhead).All told, anglers fishing under recreational fishing licenses in Michigan harvest over 4.6 million pounds of fillets worth over $40 million from the Great Lakes on an annual basis (see Table 1). This doesn’t include the harvest of fish from inland lakes and rivers, either. When you consider that roughly 70% of trips taken by Michigan anglers are taken on inland waters, it is clear that the $40 million figure is only the tip of the iceberg.Considering that there were roughly 1.18 million licensed recreational anglers in Michigan in 2023, we could divide the total fillet value by the number of licenses and say that the average Michigan angler harvests $33.90 worth of Great Lakes fillets per year. This seems like a good place to start in terms of demonstrating the value of food procured through recreational fishing in Michigan, but it does not tell the whole story. Inland fisheries are likely to contribute even more to offsetting the cost of buying seafood at retail prices. Inland fisheries are also generally, but not always, less expensive to access.Fishing beyond funSalmon fishing in river mouths provides one low-cost option for tapping into the abundance of our Great Lakes fisheries, but there are plenty of others. Shore anglers in Michigan have a wealth of options for low-cost access, from piers and public parks to state and national forest land. Even so, a lack of publicly accessible shoreline is an issue in some areas.A new effort is underway to shine a light on “
Fishing Beyond Fun
,” which aims to focus more research attention on shore fishing for Great Lakes species. Eventually, this may lead to a more comprehensive understanding of gaps in access. The effort should also improve our understanding of the benefits that fishing provides, not only in terms of food value but also in terms of mental health and strengthening community, cultural, and family ties.Recreational angling provides over $40 million in fish fillets for anglers each year. Most probably don’t think too much about the dollar value, though. The experience of harvesting food from local waters gives us a sense of connection to our environment and sharing that food with loved ones completes a cycle that is as old as humanity itself.
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