How Far Is It? Understanding Urban Angler's Constraints to Fishing Participation in the Southeast

Fishing is one of the most popular outdoor sports in the United States of America (USA), contributing billions to the economy, and providing funding for fish conservation, habitat restoration, and public fishing access (PFA) through the Sport Fish Restoration Act. Even though we have seen a 9.7% population increase from 2000-2010, we have not witnessed an increase on fishing participation. This research aimed to understand how distance to fishing access facilities act as a constraint for fishing participation by urban populations. We used ArcGIS to determine the distance between major urban areas and PFA facilities at five states in the Southeast. We found that on most states more than 50% of boat ramps are located further than 20 miles from major urban areas. Meanwhile, in all states more than 50% of the public fishing areas are further than 20 miles from major urban areas. Our results also show a significant negative relationship between angler visitation and distance of PFAs from urban areas, confirming that location does influence fishing participation. With rural populations decreasing and the face of USA diversifying we suggest that natural resource managers use urbanization prediction models and social data to determine optimum locations for new PFA projects.