Idaho Salmon bring millions to economy

[David Johnson]

Idaho Statesman
Salmon season brings in millions to economy
F&G presents fishing survey to commission
By Roger Phillips
http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/d...s/193058.shtml

Salmon anglers spent a lot of money in Idaho this year, and they were
happy to do it.

A survey by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game found salmon anglers
spent at least $46.2 million last spring and summer during the most
successful salmon season in recent memory.

The results of the survey were revealed Friday at the Idaho Fish and
Game Commission´s meeting in Boise.

The survey found anglers spent an average of $371 per fishing trip and
61 percent said the trips "were worth more than they spent."

Expenditures were counted only on items spent directly on the trip, such
as supplies, lodging, transportation, groceries and restaurants.

Anglers harvested 43,300 salmon out of a run of 140,860 hatchery fish.

F&G found that 48 percent of the salmon anglers surveyed by random
sample caught fish.

The 2001 salmon run was four times larger than the 1997 run, which was
the last year there was a significant salmon season.

And the 2001 harvest was 12 times larger than the 1997 harvest, and
anglers spent nine times more hours fishing, and seven times more money,
the survey found.

It also found that 87 percent of the anglers were Idaho residents, and
they came from almost every county in the state.

"We really had folks statewide fishing during the salmon season," F&G
anadromous fish manager Sharon Kiefer said.

Most fishing took place on the Clearwater River and provided a
much-needed influx of money to the economically depressed area.

"It picked up the economy lost from other endeavors," Commissioner Alex
Irby of Orofino said.

Kiefer said the key to the success was the 135-day salmon season.

The Little Salmon River, which was the second-most popular fishing spot,
remained open for 107 days straight, compared with 58 days in 1997.

The Boise River ranked seventh for angler effort out of about 12 areas
that had salmon fishing.

The salmon season preceded Idaho´s record steelhead return, which has
anglers returning to the Snake, Salmon, Clearwater and Boise rivers.

The F&G commission approved an extension of increased bag limits for
steelhead. Limits will continue to be three fish per day, nine in
possession and 40 total throughout the spring of 2002.

About 245,000 steelhead have crossed Lower Granite Dam in Washington,
which is the last dam the fish cross before reaching Idaho.

That is the largest run since counting started at the Columbia/Snake
River dams in 1938.

[Tagster]

Guess that we need to try harder!!! Way too many fish getting through! :smile:

I remember fishing these rivers when I was a kid, the fishing was awesome!! I am glad to see that our eastern brethren are able to enjoy some of what we get...


Tag

[FM2]

What great news for Idaho, I wonder what the numbers are for Oregon and Washington, anyone know?

[Bubzilla]

Pretty illustrative of the potential utilatarian value of healthy salmon runs to the Northwest's economy. The figures provided just from this year indicate that those who've claimed healthy salmon runs could produce a sport fishery worth hundreds of millions in annual income to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho are more than likely correct.

Nobody ever seems to appreciate this fact, but sport fishing can be the highest economic use for the resource--greatly surpassing the amounts generated by commercial fishing. More importantly, preserving the runs in order to guarantee a viable sport fishery can be far more cost effective than those opposed to many proposed measures will ever admit.

In a similar sense, it was shown in Baldwin vs. Montana that hunting and fishing was the single greatest contributor to Idaho's economy back in the 70s--larger than even agriculture. That is, hunting and fishing generated more dollars in Idaho than any other income producing activity. I'm sure the agricultural interests that strive to maintain the transport and irrigation subsidies on the Columbia and Snake would argue otherwise, but managing the Columbia and Snake for anadromous species first, power, irrigation, and transport last, would undoubtedly do more for the economies of rural Oregon, Washington, and Idaho than any other endeavor.