Recreational Fishing

Canada

2000 Survey of Recreational Fishing in Canada
Survey Highlights

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Investments

In 2000, anglers invested almost $4.3 billion in boats, motors, camping gear, special vehicles, real estate and other durable goods (Table 9, Figure 4). Of this total, they estimated that $2.3 billion was directly attributable to their fishing activities.

Resident anglers accounted for 92.8% of the total. Special vehicles such as ATV's and campers remain the most popular investment items totaling over $1.7 billion, of 42% of their total expenditures. These expenditures averaged almost $1,500 per active angler. Non-resident Canadians spent $78 million out of a total of $130 million on land and buildings. Expenditures for boating equipment and special vehicles accounted for an additional $22 million. The average expenditure per active angler was almost $750. Non-Canadian anglers spent almost $123 million out of almost $180 million of their investments on land and buildings (68%). In addition, these anglers spent almost $40 million on boating equipment (22%). The average expenditure per active anglers was almost $225.

Most investment expenditures were made in the province of Ontario (31.2%), followed by Quebec (25.7%), British Columbia (17.0%) and Alberta (11.3%).

Anglers were asked to estimate what percentage of each investment expenditure category was wholly attributable to their recreational fishing activities. Resident anglers indicated that $2.1 billion, or 53% of their total investment expenditures were directly related to recreational fishing activities. When comparing categories of investment, although special vehicles represented the majority of total investment expenditures in 2000, the attributable amount of purchases related to boating equipment surpassed special vehicles, accounting for 32% of the total, compared to 28% for special vehicles. Similarly, nonresident Canadians estimated that $58 million (45% of the total) was wholly attributable to recreational fishing. As was the case for total investments, land and buildings represented the main category for wholly attributable investment expenditures. For non-Canadians, the attributable amount was over $131 million (73% of the total), with land and buildings remaining the principal investment category. In total, anglers estimated that $2.3 billion, or 53% of their total investment, was attributable to their recreational fishing activities (Table 10, Figure 5).