Economic evaluation of inland fisheries in England and Wales

Recreational inland fisheries are recognized to have considerable socioecon omic benefits, not only for individuals participating directly but also for others in both local and wider communities. In England and Wales the Envir onment Agency (EA) has a duty to maintain, improve and develop inland fishe ries. At present, there are no recent economic evaluations of the whole ran ge of UK inland fisheries for the EA to refer to when confronted with resou rce issues. There is a particular need to explore the benefits of fisheries to the wider community, in order to secure more resources for management a nd protection of fisheries. Preliminary results from a multi-modular projec t to study the economic values associated with recreational fisheries in En gland and Wales are presented. Topics examined included recreational angler s' consumer surplus, general public non-use values of fisheries, social ben efits of recreational fishing and impacts of fisheries on local communities .