Page 78 - Clackamas County Watertourism Strategic Plan. Final.v3

STRATEGIC PLAN FOR WATER-BASED TOURISM IN CLACKAMAS COUNTY, OREGON THE MARKET
5-36

When separating Oregon residents from total fishing licenses sold, we see this relationship more clearly. Annual fishing licenses for
Table 5-3 Purchases and Cost of Fishing residents cost $36; for non-residents, the cost is $97. The price for daily fishing licenses for residents and non-residences is the same
Licenses in 2015 (table 4-3).
Non-Resident Annual 17,646 3%
Non-Resident Daily 178,804 26% An Oregon resident can buy an annual license for less cost than a 3-day license, so there are very few residents who purchase 3, and 7-
All Resident Purchases 494,023 72% day licenses (although .3% of resident license holders did exactly that). Less than 7% of Oregon fishing licenses holders bought a daily
TOTAL Purchases 690,473 100%
Cost for Daily Fishing Licenses license of any duration; 93% of them purchased one of the 21 different types of annual licenses available.
License Cost
1-day Angling $ 19.00 Since we know that a large majority of Oregon residents do not buy daily licenses, we can use daily license purchases as a proxy for
2-day Angling $ 35.50 measuring the purchasing patterns of non-resident anglers. A series of figures on the following page show that most daily licenses are
3-day Angling $ 50.50 purchased for one and two days only. The 7-year trend data shows 1-day and 2-day license sales closely tracking total angling licenses
7-day Angling $ 76.50 sold (and total visitor spending) from 2009 to 2015. Seven-day licenses resumed pre-recession sales in 2012 but are now showing a
downward trend. Total annual angling licenses do not mirror total visitor spending, in fact annual fishing licenses, which are
predominately resident purchases, run in opposite direction as the trend in total licenses sold. This indicates that the increase in total fishing licenses sales is due to non-resident
xiv
purchases. Since a visitor spends an average of 3.3 nights in the state doing a variety of activities, this also explains why 7-day licenses are decreasing while 1 and 2-day licenses
are increasing in demand.

The anecdotes that fishing license sales are decreasing appear to be true but only for Oregon residents. However, if total fishing license sales are declining for Oregon residents,
then why does the water-based recreation survey conducted in this study show fishing the clear favorite activity, by far, among residents? The answer lies in the way fishing
licenses are bought. The market does not purchase fishing licenses every year. A national study of fishing licenses purchases over a 10-year period in 12 different states shows
that approximately half of all anglers purchase a fishing license only once every ten years. Only 4% of anglers will purchase an annual license every year.

“These data show a strong relationship between fishing
licenses sold and tourist visitation to Oregon … the increase
in total fishing licenses sales is due to non-resident
purchases.”

Credit: Water Time Outfitters Oregon City OR