Recreational Fishing

Canada

2000 Survey of Recreational Fishing in Canada
Survey Highlights

Nonresident Trip Characteristics

Nonresident anglers made over 3.5 million trips within Canada and fished on 52.4% of their trips (Table 7). Nonresident Canadian anglers fished on only 30.4% of their trips to other jurisdictions, while anglers visiting Canada fished on 69.2% of their trips, underlining the appeal of Canada as a fishing destination. Nonresidents spent a total of 12.8 million visitor days, of which over half (52.7%) were spent fishing. Day trips for fishing accounted for almost 30% of all fishing trips in 2000, but only 8% of all days fished.

Nonresidents visiting Canada, primarily visiting the province of Ontario, had a proportionately higher percentage of day trips than Canadians visiting other jurisdictions, reflecting the proximity of Ontario to large American border cities.

Almost 39% of Canadians fishing outside their home jurisdictions chose British Columbia as a destination with 21.2% fishing in tidal waters and 16.6% fishing in freshwater. Ontario was the second most popular destination with 24.3% of Canadian nonresidents fishing in the province and accounting for 27.6% of the days spent by nonresident Canadian on fishing trips.

Ontario was the destination on 71% of all nonresident, non-Canadian anglers' trips, 72% of their days spent in Canada and 76% of their days fished. British Columbia's freshwater and tidal water fisheries accounted for about 5% of the days spent by non-Canadians. A total of 7.6 million nights were spent by all non-resident anglers while fishing in Canada, with more than 5.4 million spent on overnight trips by non-Canadians. About 76% of these nights were spent in Ontario.