The Great Lakes Charter Fishing Industry In 2011

In support of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study (GLMRIS), the Ohio State University Sea Grant Extension Office led a survey of charter captains in the Great Lakes Basinin order to establish the current economic value of the charter fishing industry in the U.S. waters of the Great Lakes Basin. Informed by a literature review, a qualitative risk assessment identified 35 species that could pose a high or medium risk to the receiving basin, if they were to transfer and become established. Since targeted charter fishing species have not yet been exposed to the identified ANS, potential environmental, economic and social/political effects (consequences) were assessed at a basin scale (receiving basin), rather than an assessment of ANS at a species scale. Fish community responses to invading ANS are variable and difficult to predict in a scientifically defensible manner. Fisheries management techniques could also change the quality or quantity of available fisheries in the FWOP condition. Consequently, this baseline economic assessment demonstrates the charter fishing industry that could be affected if no Federal action is taken to prevent the transfer of ANS between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Basins (i.e., thefuture without-project condition). Further, USACE was not able to obtain a complete set of fisheries management plans from fisheries management agencies, which were sought to aid in the determination of future resource availability and regulations regarding charter fishing activities in the case where Federal action is taken to prevent the transfer of ANS between the basins (i.e., the future with-project condition). Since these management plans were not available, this assessment serves as a baseline of the charter fishing industry within the Great Lakes Basin that could be affected in the future with project condition.As part of the Great Lakes survey of the charter fishing industry, a total of 1,148 Great Lakes charter fishing captains were surveyed in 2012 about their 2011 fishing season, with about a 30percent response rate. The survey aided in the identification of detailed business expenditures, the number of trips taken per charter captain, and the targeted species. In 2011, there were an estimated 1,904 active licensed charter captains in the Great Lakes. Of these, approximately1,700 captains operated as an independent small business, while another estimated 200 were non-boat owning captains. Together they generated between $34.4 million and $37.8 million in annual sales and salary, in 2011 dollars. Due to the low number of respondents to the Mississippi River Basin (MRB) river guide survey, statistically reliable information is not presented for this group.