Economic evaluation of inland fisheries in England and Wales

Recreational inland fisheries are recognized to have considerable socioeconomic benefits, not only for individuals participating directly but also for others in both local and wider communities. In England and Wales the Environment Agency (EA) has a duty to maintain, improve and develop inland fisheries. At present, there are no recent economic evaluations of the whole range of UK inland fisheries for the EA to refer to when confronted with resource issues. There is a particular need to explore the benefits of fisheries to the wider community, in order to secure more resources for management and protection of fisheries. Preliminary results from a multi-modular project to study the economic values associated with recreational fisheries in England and Wales are presented. Topics examined included recreational anglers' consumer surplus, general public non-use values of fisheries, social benefits of recreational fishing and impacts of fisheries on local communities.