Conservation Corner: November 11, 2002

Anglers/Hunters Have $1.2 Billion Economic Impact On Mississippi
by James L. Cummins

In 2001, 357,000 hunters and 586,000 anglers spent $670 million in Mississippi in pursuit of their pastime which supported 12,258 jobs in the state. These figures were released on October 1, 2002, by the Congressional Sportsman's Foundation, a bipartisan, bicameral, Foundation which represents the largest caucus in the United States Congress with over 250 members. On the national level, 38 million sportsmen age 16 and older spent more than $70 billion dollars in 2001 - that would rank hunters and anglers #11 on the Fortune 500 if they formed a corporation.

Because so many sportsmen enjoy hunting and fishing alone or in a small group, they have often been overlooked as a constituency or as a substantial economic force in Mississippi and this nation. Mississippi's sportsmen annually spend more than the value of the state's cotton crop ($670 million versus $406 million). That is a huge impact to the state's economy and certainly a constituency worth listening to.

The new report entitled The American Sportsmen - Take a Closer Look, takes the results from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation and compares hunters' and anglers' impact on the economy with other industries. These statistics are impressive and if anything they underestimate the impact of sportsmen since they do not take into account the millions of hunters and anglers under 16 years of age or people who were not able to get out and hunt or fish in 2001. When sportsmen's spending is thought of in business terms and compared to other sectors of the economy, it is quite remarkable how much state and federal tax revenues are generated and how many people are employed.

"Hunters and anglers have been widely acknowledged for their role in conserving our fish, wildlife and natural resources, but they represent so much more than meets the eye. Sportsmen in Mississippi annually pay $55.6 million in state sales, fuel and income taxes - this could pay 1,881 teachers' salaries or fund the annual education expenses of 10,488 students. Sportsmen support more jobs in Mississippi (12,258 jobs) than Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation (10,000 jobs), one of our state's largest employers. And the ripple effect of Mississippi's sportsmen is $1.2 billion on our state's economy," said Congressman Charles "Chip" Pickering, Co-Chairman of the Congressional Sportsman's Foundation.

"It is a fairly simple equation - hunters and anglers mean jobs in our local communities that have made the effort to maintain their hunting and fishing opportunities," continued Pickering. "The economic impacts that sportsmen have on state economies should be a wake-up call to state governments to welcome and encourage hunting and fishing in their state." The American Sportsmen - Take a Closer Look with national statistics and an interactive map of state-specific information is available on the web at www.sportsmenslink.org.


James L. Cummins is Executive Director of the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation in Stoneville, Mississippi. Known as "Wildlife Mississippi," the Foundation is a non-profit, conservation organization founded to conserve, restore and enhance fish, wildlife and plant resources throughout Mississippi