Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Economics Research Institute Study Paper

Volume

25

Publisher

Utah State University Department of Economics

Publication Date

2000

Rights

Copyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact the Institutional Repository Librarian at digitalcommons@usu.edu.

First Page

1

Last Page

54

Abstract

Results of a postal survey of participants in the 1997 central and lower Cook Inlet saltwater halibut and salmon sport fisheries are reported and compared with the results of the 1997 Alaska Department ofFish and Game (ADF&G) statewide sportfishing harvest survey and the 1998 ADF&G saltwater charter vessel logbook survey. Despite the use of different survey methods and instruments, responses to related questions correspond closely across all three surveys. Nonresident sportfishing accounted for 44%) of the 197,556 angler-days of effort in the lower and central Cook Inlet halibut and salmon saltwater sport fisheries during 1997. Effort levels by Kenai Peninsula Borough residents and other Alaskans were 25% and 31 % of the total respectively. Local residents, other Alaskans, and nonresidents exhibit differing demographic and economic characteristics and different catch rates, selected different fishing modes, and incurred different trip expenditures. Alaskan respondents were younger, lived with larger families, and had a lower average income than the average nonresident angler. Women comprised over a third of the Alaskan anglers, but scarcely more than a fifth of the nonresidents. Nonresidents, local residents, and other Alaskans accounted for 65%, 100/0, and 25% of the charger client-days, respectively. Nonresidents incurred higher average fishing trip specific costs than residents for similar trips. Likewise, fishing trip-specific expenditures were higher for charter clients than for private-vessel or shore-based fishers. Although 88% of the Alaskan respondents identified saltwater fishing as the primary purpose of their trip to the Kenai Peninsula, 56% of the nonresident respondents indicated their participation was incidental to their primary trip purpose. After adjusting for spending that would have occurred in the absence of sportfishing, we estimate that $34.1 million in expenditures can be uniquely attributed to the 1997 central and lower Cook Inlet halibut and salmon sport fisheries. These expenditures include $24.9 million in "new" money, money released into the Kenai Peninsula economy by individuals who reside outside the Borough. These same fisheries contributed $22.3 million and $23 .5 million in "new" money in 1998 and 1999, respectively.

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