Wild Salmon Stocks

A Sound Investment

No Vacancy, RigginsA credentialed study released on February 8, 2005 The Potential Economic Impact of Restored Salmon and Steelhead Fishing in Idaho concludes that a restored salmon and steelhead fishery would bring almost $550 million every year to Idaho's economy.

Download the Ben Johnson Associates study (PDF download).

In 2001 a limited fishery gave Idaho's rural river communities a taste of what true restoration could bring. With only 42 river miles open to fishing, where more than a thousand were once crammed with salmon, Idaho brought in $90 million. A restored fishery, abundant harvestable populations of salmon, that is, would be a 170 percent increase on those numbers, the study reports.

Extrapolating that same increase to the 2001 fishing season impacts of Oregon and Washington would mean than salmon and steelhead sportfishing could bring in more than $5.5 billion per year to the Northwest. Business leaders say that even half that number would bring an economic boom to river and rural towns and a large increase in jobs to the Norhwest.

Estimated Impact of 2001 Salmon Fishing Season

STATE IMPACT JOBS
Oregon
 almost $700 million
 6,400
Washington more than $1 billion 9,400
Idaho more than $200 million 2,180
TOTAL: $1.9 billion 18,000

The full study is available as a PDF download, but here are some highlights:

  • Restored salmon and steelhead fisheries could produce $544,246,822 million a year in economic activity in Idaho.
  • With restored fisheries, direct spending by salmon and steelhead anglers - actual, out of pocket expenditures - could reach $196 million a year.
  • The ripple effect of direct angler spending, or indirect expenditures, could reach $348 million a year.
  • Communities in the Salmon River and Clearwater River basins, from Lewiston to Stanley, would be the biggest beneficiaries of restored salmon and steelhead fisheries - $331 million per year.
  • Communities that could expect the highest economic return from a fully restored fishery are:
    • Lewiston - $51.9 million
    • Orofino - $47.2 million
    • Salmon - $40.4 million
    • Riggins - $35.7 million
    • Challis - $26.8 million
    • Stanley could realize economic benefits of $14.2 million a year.
  • Communities in the Upper Salmon River Basin - North Fork, Salmon, Challis and Stanley - have not enjoyed the benefits of salmon fishing seasons since 1978.
  • Restored salmon and steelhead fisheries could result in angling opportunities for spring and summer chinook, fall chinook and steelhead throughout the year.
  • Fully restored fisheries could spawn 458,000 fishing trips per year, compared to 256,000 during the 1959 season.

This astounding economic benefit to the region is from salmon and steelhead sportfishing alone. Tribal and commercial fishing impacts have not yet been studied in the same way so the numbers are not comparable. However, on the commercial side, the Pacific Fishery Management Council estimated that personal income in coastal communities in 2001 was nearly triple the average for the previous five years. This was due almost exclusively to stronger salmon runs. Even without restored runs the Pacific Coast salmon fishing industry was still estimated in 1988 to be worth at least $1.25 billion to the Northwest's economy, supporting more than 60, 000 jobs.

In Stream Fishermen


Potential Econ Benefit to Idaho from Fishing Study
Download Report as pdf (247.8 KB)

Direct and Indirect Spending from Fishing Chart
Download Fishing Impact chart as pdf (107.9 KB)

Idaho Community Economic Benefit Map
Download Community Economic Benefit map as pdf (361.6 KB)

Fishing Season, 1950s v. 2001
Download 1950s v. 2001 Fishing Season map as pdf (346KB)

Note: The Idaho Study is The Potential Economic Impact of Restored Salmon and Steelhead Fishing in Idaho February 2005, by Dr. Don Reading, Ben Johnson Associates. The study was reviewed and endorsed by the Office of the Mayor, Riggins, Idaho; City of Stanley, Idaho; Stanley-Sawtooth Chamber of Commerce; Lemhi County Economic Development Association and North Custer County Economic Development Association. It is based on current economic data, and fisheries data from the 1950s, when full salmon and steelhead fishing seasons were last allowed in Idaho.

Oregon and Washington numbers for the 2001 season were derived by using sportfishing economic output and jobs figures from a 2002 American Sportfishing Association report based on US Fish & Wildlife Service survey results. These numbers were then multiplied by the relative percentage for just salmon and steelhead sportfishing in each state. These percentages are also from the 2001 US Fish & Wildlife Service survey results and are Oregon - 50 percent and Washington - 59 percent. These numbers are conservative due to the fact that salmon and steelhead fishing are more expensive than other types of sportfishing and account for more than just their percentage of the total. However, those precise calculations are impossible without further studies.

  • Sportfishing in America: Values of Our Traditional Pastime (2002), American Sportfishing Association
  • 2001 Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation (2003), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Neither the Idaho study nor the Oregon and Washington 2001 numbers include any of the substantial economic benefits from commercial or Tribal fishing.

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With a combined membership of over 6 million, the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition (SOS) is a nationwide coalition of conservation organizations, commercial and sportsfishing associations, businesses, river groups, and taxpayer advocates working collectively to restore self-sustaining, healthy, and abundant wild salmon to rivers and streams of the Pacific Northwest.