Did you notice a drop, and do you care?
Southwick Associates—always with a finger on the pulse of the fishing world—reports that fishing license sales fell last year from peaks in 2020, but still outpaced where they were pre-pandemic.
This from Southwick: License sales in 2021 were down 6% compared to 2020 but remained above 2019 levels. First-time license buyers especially saw a decline in 2021 compared to the previous year. Initial indications for 2022 suggest an 8.5% reduction in license sales compared to 2021, representing a return to 2019 levels. Explore historic license data on the license dashboard and stay tuned for the full 2022 predictions!
1 Comment
If I read those charts correctly non-resident fishing licenses continued to climb. Western region took a massive hit during Covid that hasn’t fully recovered, but other regions (Southeast and Midwest are the only ones shown) have clear rises in non-resident licenses. Looks like destination fisheries are still busy for better or worse…