New Jersey saltwater fishermen took 4.3 million fishing trips in 2016. That breaks down roughly to 183,000 trips on for-hire boats, 2.3 million private boat trips and 1.7 million shore-based excursions such as surf or jetty fishing. That is about 26,000 more trips than fishermen made in 2015, however, it's down from 7.2 million trips in 2007. New Jersey ranked third in the country behind Florida, 22 million trips and North Carolina 5.4 million trips.
New Jersey's recreational fishing industry brought in $2.4 billion in sales and income in 2016. Fishermen spent the most on boat expenses, roughly $700 million and fishing tackle, $300 million. New Jersey was fourth behind Florida, $15 billion, California $3 billion and Texas $2.7 billion.
Roughly 15,000 people were employed in New Jersey's recreational fishing industry in 2016. That was sixth in the country behind Florida 96,000, California 17,000, North Carolina 17,000, Alabama 16,000 and Texas 16,000.
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The annual Fisheries Economics of the United States report provides economic information related to U.S. commercial and recreational fishing activities and fishing-related industries. Click here for report.
Below, three charts from the report…
