Economy: Recreational Fishing - An American Pastime

From hoisting halibut from the depths of Alaska's frigid waters to fly fishing for tarpon in the shallows of the Florida Keys, our nation's coastal waters offer a large diversity of habitats and species for those seeking a saltwater recreational fishing adventure. This bounty supports a popular outdoor activity for over 12 million Americans annually.

$19.5 billion

Amount spent by saltwater anglers in 2009; representing $73 billion in total economic impact and supporting over 327,000 U.S. jobs.

Source: NMFS, 2011c

71 million

Number of marine recreational fishing trips taken in the U.S. in 2010.

Source: NMFS, 2011d

60%

Percent of the 357 million marine
recreational fish caught that were
released alive in 2010.

Source: NMFS, 2011d

197 million

Estimated total
weight (in pounds) of 143 million fish harvested in 2010.

Source: NMFS, 2011d

Alternative content

Get Adobe Flash player

Download Recreational Fishing Interactive Map and Data (2.13mb)

Source: National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Science Technology, 2010
Note: Harvest by weight are not available for Alaska and Texas.

About this Topic

Saltwater recreational fishing is a popular outdoor activity for over 12 million Americans annually in the United States. Marine recreational fishing data is summarized for each state and is broken down by numbers and pounds of fish harvested and released (catch and release), years harvested (1981 to 2009), and species harvested. This data, provided by the National Marine Fisheries Service, shows that in 2009 over 212 million pounds of fish were harvested (compared to 289 million pounds in 1981). A little fewer than four million fish were caught in 2009, and of those, almost 60 percent were released alive. Florida led the nation in both pounds and number of fish caught. All of this data can be downloaded in comma separated value format. Download Recreational Fishing Data (CSV). In addition, two Management Success stories are presented; one on Improving Data Collection: The Marine Recreational Information Program and the other on Rebuilding the Striped Bass Fishery on the Atlantic Coast. Finally, there is also a Case Study presented, titled Goliath Grouper - History Sheds Light onto Recovery Goals.