Posted by Darrell
on October 8, 2002, 12:59 pm
Revenues Generated by Hunters and Anglers Would Rank #11 on the Fortune 500
WASHINGTON, DC - Spending over $70 billion dollars a year in pursuit of
their pastime, America's hunters and anglers would rank #11 on the Fortune
500 if they formed a corporation, according to a new report released today
by the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation and the National Shooting Sports
Foundation. Over 38 million Americans enjoy the outdoors - twice the number
of labor unions members - and sportsmen support 1.6 million jobs, well more
than Wal-Mart, the country's largest employer. American sportsmen are a
demographic group worth a closer look.
"Because sportsmen enjoy hunting and fishing alone or in small groups, they
are often overlooked as a constituency and as a substantial economic force,"
notes Melinda Gable, Executive Director for the Congressional Sportsmen's
Foundation. "These impressive statistics actually underestimate the impact
of sportsmen since they do not take into account the millions of hunters and
anglers under 16 years of age, and people who were not able to get out and
hunt or fish in 2001."
The report, The American Sportsman ~ Take a Closer Look, uses 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. When sportsmen's
spending is thought of in business terms and compared to other sectors of
the economy, it is remarkable how much state and federal tax revenues are
generated, how many people are employed and how many sectors of the economy
are impacted as a result of hunting and fishing. While economic analysts
worried about a looming recession in 2001, each American sportsman was doing
his part to keep the economy in motion, and together hunters and anglers
were making a difference across America. From small rural towns scattered
across our country's landscape to the bottom-line of Fortune 500 companies
located in major cities - take away hunting and fishing, and you take away
the equivalent of a multi-billion dollar corporation.
"Hunters and shooters have been widely acknowledged for their role in
conserving our wildlife and natural resources," stated Doug Painter,
President of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, "but they represent so
much more than meets the eye. Hunters spend $2 billion just on food when
they take hunting trips - that's more than Americans spend on Domino's
pizza. These statistics would be even larger if some 30 million sport
shooters were incorporated into the spending estimates. NSSF is working with
competitive and recreational shooting organizations to complete the economic
picture with the inclusion of the non-hunting sport shooter."
While the combined national economic impact of sportsmen is remarkable, it
is even more important to recognize the impact at the state and local level.
In Florida, recreational anglers spend three times more each year than the
cash receipts for the state's orange crop. In Minnesota, sportsmen pay $175
million in state sales, fuel and income taxes equivalent to the salaries for
8% of the state's teachers. In Oregon, sportsmen support more jobs than are
provided by Intel, Nike, Oregon State University and the University of
Oregon combined. And in Montana, annual spending by sportsmen is nearly 3%
of the entire Gross State Product.
"It is a fairly simple equation - hunters and anglers mean jobs in states
and local communities that have made the effort to maintain their hunting
and fishing opportunities," commented Gable. "The economic impact 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."
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