Give recreational angling its due

James Jones’ “Commercial, recreational saltwater fishing generated $214 billion in 2014” article (June 12) presented data in the Outdoors section that relied on NOAA’s Fisheries Economics of the United States 2014, which is part of the Economics and Sociocultural Status and Trends Series published in May 2016.

What is easily missed is the data that reports on Mississippi. NOAA has been criticized for conveniently neglecting the economic and sociocultural impact of recreational fishing, thus the reason for this letter.

Commercial and recreational fishing are not mutually exclusive. Recreational anglers realize that commercial fishing has a place in our economy, but that place is no longer assumed to be preeminent, especially in Mississippi. The data supports this contention.

For example, the total economic impacts of the Mississippi seafood industry (without imports) added a value of $102,217,000 and 4,704 jobs to the state.

Contrast that with recreational fishing where the state’s total economic impacts were listed at $247,281,000 with 4,174 jobs.

Recreational angling also attracted 94,000 out-of-state anglers, 171,000 from the Coast and 62,000 not from the Coast, which amounts to 327,000 recreational anglers. Can anyone deny the impact this has on our tourism industry alone?

The challenge is to decipher this data for a closer study. NOAA has a history of bias toward commercial fisheries, and this data indicates the value of recreational angling. Our policymakers should consider this data – and then perhaps their decisions will fulfill our commitment to protect our marine resources to the best benefit of Mississippi’s citizens and economy.

This story was originally published July 2, 2016 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Give recreational angling its due."