December 15, 2021 — The United States has the largest and most diverse recreational fisheries in the world. Each year, millions of saltwater anglers contribute tens of billions of dollars to the American economy while supporting nearly 500,000 jobs. Saltwater recreational fishing is an economic powerhouse, and engaging with anglers remains a top priority for NOAA Fisheries. We work with fishermen, states, and many other partners to safeguard and promote public access to healthy and sustainable saltwater fish stocks.
While 2021 continued to challenge all of us in unexpected ways, we remained committed to achieving and promoting access to sustainable recreational fisheries.
To remain engaged with anglers and on the issues important to you, our team ramped up virtual engagement in 2021. We co-hosted a series of virtual roundtable discussions with NOAA Fisheries regional staff to gather input for the upcoming 2022 Recreational Summit and stay abreast of important local issues. We released our first ever video series featuring five informative and educational recreational fisheries videos from around the country.
We continued our collaboration with numerous private and public sector entities (e.g., Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation and the Department of Interior). We celebrated National Fishing and Boating Week with exciting new content helping to reach a record number of prospective anglers. We also strengthened our partnership with Bonnier Corporation, the nation’s leading publisher of fishing and outdoor magazines, by co-hosting the 2021 national recreational fishing photo contest.
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