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In 2015-16 Indiana fishermen contributed 12.7 million to the fishery. Add in today's inflation numbers and you can quickly see how much money the little guy on the lake actually contributes.



Posted August 22nd, 2018 in  Fisheries ,  News The economic impact of the Illinois and Indiana Lake Michigan recreational fishery on the local economy was more than $44 million in 2015, according to Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) research. Recreational fishing supported 407 jobs in the two states.IISG funded two studies to estimate the economic value of the Lake Michigan fishery in Illinois and Indiana. At the  Illinois Natural History Survey  (INHS),  Sergiusz Czesny,   Craig A. Miller , and graduate student Elizabeth Golebie looked at how much anglers actually spend and estimated the impact of those dollars.They questioned anglers about their typical fishing trip expenses and found that shore-based anglers spent an average of $56 and boating anglers spent $255. Annual creel surveys, which are done in person along the shoreline, provided a point of contact so that the researchers could target their questionnaires to anglers who fish in Lake Michigan. In Illinois, INHS is responsible for the creel surveys along the shoreline in Cook and Lake counties. In the Indiana counties of Lake, Porter and LaPorte, the creel surveys are done by the state’s Department of Natural Resources.The researchers estimated the total economic impact of Lake Michigan non-charter anglers in Illinois waters at $22.4 million, providing 231 jobs. Indiana non-charter anglers contributed $12.7 million to the local economy, supporting 176 jobs in the three counties. Illinois charter fishing anglers were also included in this study and comprised the remaining economic impact that altogether totaled more than $44 million.