Recreational Fishing

Canada

2000 Survey of Recreational Fishing in Canada
Survey Highlights

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Angler Profile

There were 3.6 million active adult anglers in Canada in 2000, a decrease of 14% from the 4.2 million in 1995 (Table 1). Of these anglers, 2.7 million were resident anglers (anglers who fished in their home province or territory). Male anglers make up 75% of resident adult anglers, 81% of Canadian nonresident anglers and 86% of all non-Canadian nonresident anglers. On average, active male anglers were somewhat older than active female anglers, 46 years of age compared to 43. Active non-Canadian anglers were older than both residents and visiting Canadian anglers, averaging 50 years for males and 49 years for female anglers.

The largest numbers of resident anglers were concentrated in Ontario and Quebec (Table 2), however, the participation rate, that is the proportion of the population taking part in recreational fishing, was highest in Newfoundland and Labrador followed by the Yukon. Additionally, almost 174,000 nonresident Canadian anglers (anglers who lived in Canada but who fished outside their home province or territory), and over 774,000 nonresident foreign anglers (persons who lived outside Canada but fished in this country) actively fished in 2000.

British Columbia's share of nonresident Canadian anglers, was 37.7%, the highest among jurisdictions. Ontario's share of foreign anglers was 72.8%, maintaining it's status as the most popular fishing destination for non-Canadians.

Approximately 82% of nonresident anglers were foreigners, mainly Americans coming from the East North Central and West North Central census regions of the United States (Figure 1, Table 3). The remaining nonresident anglers were Canadians who fished outside their home provinces and territories, with almost 64% of these anglers coming from the prairie provinces.