Economic and Social Impacts of Stocking Cultured Fish

The goal of this symposium is to present information on the impacts of stocking hatchery reared fish, specifically, economic and social impacts.  Some recent papers have indicated that hatchery stocked fish create a high return in economic activity related to both recreational fishing and tournament fishing.  Economic impacts include increased sales of boats and fishing gear, increased travel revenue to hotels and restaurants, job creation and increased tax collections.  Social impacts can include quality family time together, benefits of spending time outdoors and interaction with other anglers.  Some recent publications have indicated that time spent outdoors has both health and mental health benefits especially for children.  The symposium will try to address how hatchery stockings impact these benefits of angling.  It is possible that there is some increase in fishing effort at sites that are stocked and where stockings are advertised, even if the stockings do not measurably increase catch. For other waters, a fishery may not exist or simply wouldn’t keep up with fishing demand without stockings.  The symposium is intended to lead to a better understanding of how stocking cultured fish affects the benefits to the public from fishing.