HOOK LINE & SINKER

New Jersey fishermen spent $300M on tackle

Dan Radel
Asbury Park Press

New Jersey's recreational saltwater fishing economy remains one of the strongest in the country — fishermen here spend about $300 million alone a year on bait and tackle.

NOAA's annual report on the nation's fisheries economics revealed fishermen here made the third most trips, behind only North Carolina and Florida; generated the fourth most sales and was sixth in the number of people employed. 

A fisherman tends to his fishing pole as he watches the sunrise at Island Beach State Park in Berkeley, NJ on 5/10/18

The report was released Thursday and was based on 2016's totals, the most recent data the agency has compiled.  

While there hasn't been much change to New Jersey's position year over year as one of the top fishing economies in the country, the state hasn't been immune to the national trend of declining fishing participation.

Get all the latest fishing reports at  Hook, Lineand Sinker

Nationwide, 9.8 million recreational saltwater anglers fished in their home states in 2016. This number is a 29 percent decrease from 2007. 

The number of fishing trips also dropped from roughly 85 million in 2007 to 62 million in 2016.

FISHING BY THE NUMBERS  

  • New Jersey saltwater fishermen took 4.3 million fishing trips in 2016. That breaks down roughly to 183,000 trips on for-hire boats, 2.3 million private boat trips and 1.7 million shore-based excursions such as surf or jetty fishing. That is about 26,000 more trips than fishermen made in 2015, however, it's down from 7.2 million trips in 2007. New Jersey ranked third in the country behind Florida, 22 million trips and North Carolina 5.4 million trips.
  • New Jersey's recreational fishing industry brought in $2.4 billion in sales and income in 2016. Fishermen spent the most on boat expenses, roughly $700 million and fishing tackle, $300 million. New Jersey was fourth behind Florida, $15 billion, California $3 billion and Texas $2.7 billion.
  • Roughly 15,000 people were employed in New Jersey's recreational fishing industry in 2016. That was sixth in the country behind Florida 96,000, California 17,000, North Carolina 17,000, Alabama 16,000 and Texas 16,000.  

Dan Radel: @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com