ContactsNicholas Throckmorton,
202-208-5634
Rachel F. Levin, 612-713-5311
Recruitment rates of
youngsters in hunting and fishing have stabilized after declining through
the 1990s, according to a new
report
based on preliminary data from the 2006 National Surveys of Fishing,
Hunting and
Wildlife-Associated
Recreation and information from previous surveys.
“
These rates are critical to the future of fish and wildlife conservation,” said
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall. “The North American
model of wildlife conservation, a system that keeps wildlife as a public
and sustainable resource, scientifically managed by professionals and agencies
such as the Service and state counterparts, is funded in large part by
hunters and anglers.”
“
From 1990 to 2000 there was a steady decline in the percent of kids living
at home who had ever participated in fishing and hunting,” said Service
economist Jerry Leonard, who authored the report. “During the last
five years this decline has stabilized. Now, 42 percent of our nation’s
youth have gone fishing and 8 percent have gone hunting at least once.”
The report also shows that many first time hunters and
anglers – about
33 percent of all first timers -- are 21 years and older.
Recruitment declined
the least among those with higher incomes, those living in less populated
areas of the United
States,
and those living
in the Midwest.
In contrast, the greatest declines were among people
with the lowest incomes, those living in urban areas, and those
in the
New England
and Pacific coastal,
Rocky Mountain and Southwestern states.
In the eastern North
Central section of the country, which includes Great Lakes states, the
report shows that
47 percent
of the nation’s youth
have gone fishing—a 17 percent decline from 2000—and
eight percent have gone hunting, a 14 percent decline.
In the western North Central
states, which includes the Upper Midwest, 61 percent
of children have gone fishing—a 14 percent decrease—and
15 percent of children have gone hunting at least once,
a drop of 35 percent since 2000.
The document, Fishing
and Hunting Recruitment and Retention
in the U.S. from 1990 to 2005, is available at <http://library.fws.gov/nat_survey2001_recruitment.pdf>.
It is based on a preliminary review of information
being compiled for the 2006 National Survey of Fishing,
Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation,
and on information collected during the 1991, 1996
and 2001 surveys.
The survey, conducted
every five years since 1955, is one of the nation’s
most important wildlife recreation databases. It is conducted at the request
of the National Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. The U.S. Census
Bureau collects the information and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
analyzes the results and writes the reports. The survey is considered to
be the definitive source of information concerning participation and expenditures
associated with hunting, fishing and other forms of wildlife recreation
nationwide.
Though recruitment rates of children have stabilized,
retention rates for fishing continued to decline
from 2000 to 2005. “In 1990, 65 percent
of anglers fished in the previous three years,” said
Leonard. “That
number fell to 61 percent by 1995, 60 percent by
2000 and 57 percent by 2005.”
Hunting retention
rates look better.
“
Hunting retention rates leveled off in the last five years,” said
Leonard. “During this period, the conservation
community maintained 43 percent of hunters
after losing 4 percent from 1990 to 1995 and
2 percent
from 1995 to 2000.”
This summer, the Service
expects to release information on the number
of people who fished,
hunted, and
observed wildlife
in
2006, and
the amount
of money they spent on these activities.
Representatives of the media interested in advisories and possible
announcements can
be included
on a media list
by sending an e-mail with name, affiliation,
e-mail address and phone number to <Nicholas_Throckmorton@fws.gov>.
The
National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and
Wildlife-Associated Recreation is funded
by an excise tax on firearms,
ammunition, archery and fishing
equipment, and a tax on small-engine boats
fuel under the Federal Aid in Sport Fish
and Wildlife
Restoration
Acts.
A wide range
of individuals
and
groups depend on the survey to provide
an analysis of hunting and fishing participation,
total
monies spent
on outdoor
recreation and demographic
characteristics of wildlife recreation
participants.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service is the principal federal agency responsible for
conserving,
protecting and enhancing
fish, wildlife
and plants and
their habitats for the continuing benefit
of the American people. The Service manages
the
96-million-acre
National
Wildlife Refuge
System,
which encompasses
545 national wildlife refuges, thousands
of small wetlands and other special management
areas.
It also operates
69 national fish hatcheries,
64 fishery
resources offices and 81 ecological services
field stations. The agency enforces federal
wildlife laws, administers
the Endangered
Species
Act, manages migratory bird populations,
restores
nationally significant
fisheries,
conserves and restores wildlife habitat
such as
wetlands, and helps foreign and Native
American tribal governments
with their
conservation
efforts.
It also oversees the Federal Assistance
program, which distributes hundreds of
millions of
dollars in excise
taxes on fishing
and hunting equipment
to state fish and wildlife agencies.
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