New Report Shows U.S. Fishing Participation Rate Holding Steady

Forty-six million Americans, or 15.8 percent of the U.S. population ages six and older, participated in fishing last year according to the 2015 Special Report on Fishing recently released by the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF). Produced in partnership with the Outdoor Foundation, the report details the state of fishing participation throughout the country in 2014, offering detailed information on participation by gender, age, ethnicity, income, education and geographic region.

“We are pleased with the findings of this report, including the 2.4 million newcomers who tried fishing for the first time in 2014,” said RBFF President and CEO, Frank Peterson. “Fishing remains a popular outdoor activity and with increasing numbers of newcomers, we look to growing overall participation in the future, securing critical support for state conservation efforts.”

Now in its seventh year, the report provides a comprehensive look at overall trends in participation. The report also looks into barriers, motivating factors and preferences of key groups while also identifying opportunities for engaging new audiences. As both foundations look to tap into the growing youth and Hispanic populations, special attention is paid to these segments of the U.S. population in the report.

“Recreational fishing is an essential piece of America’s outdoor tradition, often leading children to a love of the outdoors and a healthy, active lifestyle,” said Chris Fanning, executive director of the Outdoor Foundation. “We hope this report will help the fishing industry — and the entire outdoor industry — engage young fishing participants and ultimately create the next generation of passionate outdoor enthusiasts.”

REPORT KEY FINDINGS:

Outdoor Activity – Among adult outdoor participants, fishing is the second most popular outdoor activity
Newcomers – More than 2.4 million people, had their very first fishing experience in 2014
Women anglers – Over 47% of first-time fishing participants are female
Social – Nearly 82% of fishing trips involve more than one person
Youth – Fishing participation as a child has a powerful effect on future participation – more than 85% of adult anglers fished as a child, before the age of 12
Future Participants – Almost 4.3 million youth (11%) would like to try fishing, a growth opportunity for the industry
Number of outings for Hispanic participants – Hispanic Americans fishing participants average 25.8 days on the water per year; over six days more than the average for all fishing participants (19.4 days)
Spontaneous – 81% of fishing trips are spontaneous or planned within a week of the trip
Motivation – Spending time with family and friends continue to be the largest reason to participate in fishing, specifically, 72.2% for ages 6-12 and 66.8% for ages 13-17

To download the report, visit the Take Me Fishing Resource Center.