So what does it take to retain, recruit, and re-activate anglers? How to best implement that three-pronged strategy, sometimes called “R3,” is what sport fishing groups and state agencies focused on getting more people fishing and keeping them casting want to know.
To gain more insight on the issue, a series of reports have been produced in the past year by Southwick Associates for the
American Sportfishing Association (ASA). One titled “U.S. Angler Population: Who Comes and Who Goes” takes a closer look at what they call sportfishing “churn”—that’s when anglers transition in and out of the sport from year to year.
“I think the most important thing we’ve uncovered is that our challenge may not be as much about getting people to take up fishing as it is about keeping people fishing from year-to-year,” said Mike Nussman, ASA’s president.
Here are some insights into anglers’ loyalty to sport fishing:
- Anglers’ participation is relatively stable from year to year, around 33 million people.
- Yet, it fluctuates greatly—roughly the same number of people joins and leaves the angling population each year.
- Close to half of all licensed anglers (46 percent) do not renew their licenses in any given year.
- Typical anglers buy a license about three out of every 10 years throughout their fishing lifetime.
- Diehard anglers represent only four percent of the estimated licensed anglers who purchase a fishing license every year for 10 years.
- Retained anglers, those who purchased a license in a given year and the previous one, are about 52 percent of the angling population.
- Recruited anglers, those who bought a license in a given year but not in at least five of the preceding years, are about 28 percent.
- Reactivated anglers make up about 18 percent, with two percent of records unidentifiable.
- Churn rate for women is still about 13 percent higher than the rate for men.
- Churn rates are lowest, about 39 percent, among the 55-64 age group and are highest, about 55 percent, among anglers 18-24 years of age.
- Churn rate among urban communities (about 10 percent of the angling population) is about 13 percent higher than anglers living in rural communities and about seven percent higher than those living in suburban communities.
“That shows how critical it is to reach out and really engage fishing license buyers every single year. Fortunately our community has the capacity to do that through efforts such as the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation,” added Nussman. “It also confirms we need to keep working on making fishing a better experience by improving access, quality and convenience.”
March Fish News by Capt. Chris D. Dollar